The big one takes place at Loftus this evening.
The Bulls will want revenge after taking a smack at Kings Park earlier in the season. The Sharks are protecting a proud unbeaten record and will want to show that they can win on the road as well as at home.
Kick-off in Pretoria is at 7:10pm.
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Sampie Mastriet, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Dewald Potgieter, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Morné Mellett, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Jono Ross, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Ulrich Beyers.
Cell C Sharks: 15 SP Marais, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Sibusiso Sithole, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Lubabalo Mtembu, 21 Charl McLeod, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Andre Esterhuizen.
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Evening folks. Beautiful highveld evening here at Loftus. Weather is pretty fair, slight chill in the air. Pitch looks okay. A little patchy in places but judging by the warm-up match it’s suited to a running game.
Sharks Forever!!!!
@vanmartin (Comment 1) : Coooool!! 😎
My goodness that #invisiBull ad is the most embarrasing thing on tv!!
Cant wait for tonights game !!
Wheres the sell out crowd? probably still in the pub. Speaking about the pub did I see correctly last week that beers were being drunk at Kings Park. I presume the ban must be over.
Just love the way Beast pumps his chest when running out of the tunnel
Yoooohooo game time!!!
Pat to kick off
Game Time! Do us proud Sharkies!!
I wish Coetzee would pass sometimes.
Hope Coetzee can put in another MOTM game. Scrum pen against Sharks.
Breakdown will be crucial today
Pat should learn to kick it out.
Serfontein not releasing.
Steyn to kick for poles.
Lambie off.Swiel on
Alberts jou doring!!!
Beauty!!!!
OutRAGEOUS!!!
Let’s keep this up boys!!!!
Lambie looks like a Bicep injury
What happened to Pat?
@Die Kriek (Comment 21) : oh
0 – 7
Swiel conv.
Bulls don’t know wtf to do with the ball. 😀
Pen. Bulls
Sharks off feet
Pottie going for posts
3 – 7
Mcleod on
Reinach off
why is reinach off
@Son Of Mayhem (Comment 28) : Im not sure.
Bulls getting momentum and Pottie puts a DG over
6 – 7
Cobus het n gewrig besering
Lewies getting att
Steyn tackling Serfontein hard 🙂
Bissie’s not the same player since he’s become captain.
aimless kicking Swiel
Matfield playing centre
If our tactic is to play in their half we’re way off the mark.
@rhineshark (Comment 37) : Jake will sort them out at HT
Steyn converted a long range pen
6 – 10
Insane. 🙂
@klempie (Comment 38) : Let’s hope so. 😀
My kingdom for a Sharks forward who knows when to pass. 🙄
Fransie lining up another one
6 – 13
He’s insane. 😎
Clueless on attack!
Our only saving grace thus far is that the Bulls are trying things outside of their comfort zone in order to take us out of ours.
Kicking is the Bulls’ game, we should not play it with them.
@Son Of Mayhem (Comment 48) : Kicking is OK, but kak kicking isn’t. We always seem to end up worse off.
Im getting a sinking feeling about all of this. How many years in the past have the sharks started well, winning lots of games without getting out of second gear. All along we keep the hope that when they get out of second gear they will really be a force, only to watch them slowly work their way back to first gear, then reverse. Sounding a bit pessimistic I know, but it would be great if the sharks win in style. These games where they play 10 mins of great rugby then sleepwalk their way to the win is not exactly convincing.
That Swiel kick was a case in point.
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 50) : We haven’t lost yet.
Great defense by Steyn and Swiel.
@rhineshark (Comment 52) : Agreed, but its more the way we are winning…
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 54) : I know. I’m also in that camp. 😀
@rhineshark (Comment 55) : I mean I hope Im wrong, but this is all beginning to look a bit familiar.
Alberts not passing and pissing away possession. I really thought JW would have drilled mindless bash-it-up crap out of them. Seems not. 😥
WTF is up with our scrum at the moment???
awful awful tackling
And because of a kak decision by Alberts on the Bulls 22 we end up conceding a try.
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 58) : Forget the scrum. What about the lineouts?
Bulls are crushing us in the set pieces.
It’s going to shit now. 😕
This doesn’t look like a champion team at the moment. I’m trying to figure out our game plan. Got the Plumtree-era deja vu.
This is going very pear shaped
Can someone please tell me what the [email protected]#$ happened at halftime?
I thought Jake said he had the Bulls figured out?
Well, there’s 14 unanswered points for you
I think the Bulls have the most pace of all the teams…Basson left Sithole and Mvovo behind…JJ outsprinted everyone with the Sharks kickthrough in first half and Mastriet got good pace too…
Think JJ is the fasted player at the moment…
Eish the Sharks gotta win…they need all the points to finish top of the log
@rhineshark (Comment 67) : Maybe that’s why they’re playing all this unpredictable rugby. Next time he should keep his mouth shut.
@klempie (Comment 70) : 😆 😆 😆
The Bulls are superior in every aspect of the game right now. Set pieces, kicking, defense. I would like to say its a wake up call, but who knows how the sharks will respond
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 72) : So far so not good at the moment…
That lineout maul was painful to watch
Cudos to the ref. Haven’t even noticed him.
Have the sharks even threatened the bulls 22 in the second half?
Why the fuck is Kanko bashing it up? 😯
Our runners are constantly isolated. There are no quick passes, no support, no runners off the ball. Just predictable BS
Why kick away turnover ball you moron McLeod??????
It’s sooooo slooooooow
Must be the worst Sharks game I have seen in a long time. Aimless kicking, no support at the breakdown, no back line play to speak of.
Players looking absolutely disinterested.
He Sharks cannot score if they kick every single ball
I’m dreading our overseas trip right now. This is just plain rubbish. Bissie’s captaincy is non-existent.
We basically have a whole new tight five on the field
Fuck this shit!!! 🙁
Awesome. Just awesome. Ok break, lost forward, the best attacking position of the second half over before it started.
Seriously…wtf was that Kanko? Running away from support…trying to get clever with chip kicks…ai
Chadwick crunches bulls … wow
Chadwick making a difference. Who woulda thunk?
wow, and suddenly we push the bulls off the ball.
@rhineshark (Comment 83) : I’ve been thinking that about Bis all half.
Swiel has been too deep
If we win this I’ll be highly impressed.
Bulls are giving us a sniff. Let’s take it!!
Guys, even if the sharks manage to somehow win this, can we really feel good about it?
And our kicking is terrible
@rhineshark (Comment 93) : The word you’re looking for is ‘relieved’ or ‘flabbergasted’
So we get a scrum on half way and our tactic is to kick it down Visser’s throat. 😯
Come on Fransie…
Fortunately the Bulls front row replacements are an embarrassment. Not sure about the kick.
What a boykie!!
@klempie (Comment 97) :
so, one early try, a penalty and 3 fifty plus meters bombs. Thats what we are pinning our hopes on…
Esterhuizen so surprised that Bissie passed that he drops it.
Most important scrum of the game
Another chadwick bomb
@klempie (Comment 105) : and the boys deliver.
Chadwick to the rescue
Shit…
Bissie might as well not have been on the park tonight.
Game over one would think
Nope guys. Not this week
Kanko has had a shocker. 😯
Weve contested nothing in the air tonight
Kanko fucks up again!
Great scrumming by chadwick but the hof is having one of those games
Kankowski fucking useless today!
Damnit.
Look on the bright side, a losing bonus point?
please bring back Keegan!!! Kankowski can’t hold on to the ball at all tonight
We don’t deserve to win this.
Pathetic.
Well done Bulls. We were fucking woeful!
Well that hurts! We really needed this win
Worlds worst kept secret was that the sharks would lose this week. It was close in the end, but they played a diabolical game of rugby. Lots of work to be done now the honeymoon is over.
I had this feeling when the Chiefs lost this morning. Back to the drawing board it is.
Pathetic is the only word I can find to describe this game from the Sharks. We are very lucky to get the losing bonus point.
Ok … so the only positive from tonight … chadwick with oosthuisen behind him can scrum
Never even came close to scoring a try in the second half. Cant remember having possession in the bulls 22 even.
@byron (Comment 128) : Very impressed with Chadwick….VERY, he’s turning me into a fan
The champion sides of late all have forwards who can pass. We have fuckall of those.
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 129) : We scored a lucky try from the Reinach break. Other than that we didn’t look like scoring a try all game long.
@rhimeshark … we actually lost it at the breakdown. Committed too few players and the bulls formed up beautifully… lined us up. Swiel was poor. His kicking was way too deep
Our game fell apart as soon as Lambie and later Reinach went off.
How poor was Kanko, I mean I’ve never ever seen him play this badly, except for his first game for the Springboks.
McLeod also returned to his regular programming.
Bismarck has been very average thus far this season.
Swiel was average, though he’s very young and very inexperienced.
Roll on the bulls supporter ridicule….eish 🙄
@byron (Comment 133) : That’s what happens when you play mindless bash-it-up crap rugby. Ask the Stormers.
Eina. Such a nice atmosphere here on Loftus tonight. But we pitched up with no game plan. Jake spoke about predictable play and that is what we did while they ran us to shreds.
Very disappointing very.
You cant blame Swiel … fowards getting slow ball and inexperienced.
@KILLER SHARK (Comment 136) : we lost our flyhalf 5 minutes into the game and our scrumhalf 10 minutes later. We have to at least account for that.
Plumtree must be happy that we’re still playing his kind of game.
@robdylan (Comment 138) : That doesn’t account for no game plan. Surely everybody has the same one?
Most blame from my side goes on Kanko…he was the weakest link between the forwards and backs.
Knocked the ball how many times….got turned over how many times…got caught holding on, giving away penalties how many times…and then they didn’t even sub him?!
Look… the question is HOW are you going to play a non predictable game against the bulls. Its always going to be a forwards arm wrestle with lots of kicking. Pity we lost lambie early
On the bright side, we once again played like our rings and almost won despite it. And away from home this time.
@rhineshark (Comment 139) : I think you have a point. Anyway, we got dominated upfront. Our locks are non existent, time to give Sykes a call. Fred needs to be in the match 23 going forward. That boy is a match winner. Result is not a train smash. We have a lot still to do. Jake and Brendon need to talk….our game needs to evolve.
@rhineshark (Comment 143) : And we did so without our super star flyhalf and scrummie.
At least we know that we haven’t hit our form too early in the season…so we still have something to look forward to.
Losing our flyhalf and scrumhalf so early killed any momentum we have been building.
But, let’s be honest, we were terrible!
At least the Bulls tried to play some rugby. The Sharks simply just kicked and hoped. When we did try and run the ball, we used one off runners, got totally isolated and just lost the ball. Lineouts one would expect the Bulls to have the upper hand, but the scrums were rubbish too. At least Chadwick and Adriaanse started dominating as soon as they came on.
The Sharks backline was absolutely clueless. The forwards were monstered at the breakdown. The one of runners are so easy to defend against.
The rot started with the captain – Bismarck unfortunately looked totally disinterested for most of the game.
This team will not win the S15 – unless some drastic changes occur – starting with attitude.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 130) : But is he turning KSA into a fan, once that happens he will know that he has arrived.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 144) : The loss is not the problem….the loss to the bulls is.
I mean really, the bulls should be the bottom SA team, 1D game plan…brain dead administration, yet they’re still able to stay on top of things.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 144) : That and Bissie doesn’t seem to have the ability to get the players together and take control. We need leadership more than anything else.
Since Bissie became captain he’s been nowhere near his usual standard plus we’re minus a leader. Huge hole right there.
@rhineshark (Comment 139) : Plum is too busy polishing his six nations medal to notice.
@robdylan (Comment 138) : yip we missed Lambie and Zeilinga to back him up. The occasion seemed big for the youngsters and with the boys kicking almost every ball away or trying to barge it up…we were bound to fail. We shall be back.
Too much kicking. Kanko should have been subbed he just couldn’t do anything right and Steyns drops were uncharacteristically off.
Everyone calm the f down. They played the game of their lives and we played the worst of ours. Without our halfbacks! We lost by 4. This is no more than a speed bump ffs
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 151) :
I want to start a bring Keegan back campaign. Kanko???
@West Indies Cricket Board (Comment 154) : That’s not the issue. We had NO PLAN. If we did, can you explain it to me?
@FireTheLooser (Comment 149) : If the Bulls have a 1-D game plan, what did we have tonight – 0-D?
@Bokhoring (Comment 158) : The beat us by thinking out of the box and playing 2-D.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 148) : Ooh, you’ve got a point there….if he keeps this up though, even KSA will come around.
@rhineshark (Comment 150) : Yep, very concerned about Bismarck, uninspiring play, uninspiring leadership.
We’ve got a problem, we’re missing Keegan.
@rhineshark (Comment 157) : Forwards crash the ball up, backs kick. Rinse and repeat….
You could see the intention was to win with kicking and defending. Problem is we let in two pathetic tries, or it might have actually worked.
I d rather not say anything right now.
Except maybe this … suddenly I have stormer and Cheetah supporters on my case as well … Didn t see that coming!
@Seth101 (Comment 161) : That’s what I thought. Wondered if Windie saw something that we didn’t.
Hey guys, would someone be kind enough to give a rough translation of frans’ man of the match speech?
Appreciation in advance.
Might not be a bad idea to start with Chadwick and Adriaanse next week – give Beast and Jannie a break.
@Greg Constantaras (Comment 165) : I’d love to mate, but I didn’t see it.
Anyone else?
@Greg Constantaras (Comment 165) : He said the Proteas inspired them tonight.
@Greg Constantaras (Comment 165) : Just kidding. 😉
Didn’t see it.
Frans Steyn got man of the match?
@Greg Constantaras (Comment 165) : @robdylan (Comment 167) : Ag shame…poor guy was in tears, can’t remember his exact words, but took a lot of the blame for how the team performed and he was very disappointed.
Someone else might be able to remember the exact details of it though….got MOTM though.
@Bokhoring (Comment 170) : Also surprised. I thought JLP would have been the best candidate.
Yeah, Felt bad for the guy, had tears in his eyes.
@Greg Constantaras (Comment 173) : He clearly loves the Sharks, which is inspiring.
Maybe the rest of the team will learn from his passion…
@Greg Constantaras (Comment 165) : fIRSTLY HE APPOLOGISED FOR SPEAKING IN aFRIKAANS AS HE WAS FEELING VERY EMOTIONAL about the game (excuse the caps there). He then mentioned that games between the 2 teams were always huge and that just as the Bulls didnt like to lose against the Sharks, so too the Sharks hated losing to the Bull. He also mentioned that if he had naile dall his kicks that the Shraks would have won.
@rhineshark (Comment 168) : 😆 Sharks and Proteas fans really had it bad today.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 175) : Oh and he ended it off by thanking oom (uncle) Kobus. He also did this when he won his first ever MOM award in his first CC game against WP, but then he was thanking oom Nick Cowley.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 176) : Ja, at least the Blitzbokke won their games today…some respite.
He’s a class act that fransie. Never gave up in that match and humble in reflection. Thank’s for the translations guys.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 177) : Gavin Cowley?
@rhineshark (Comment 157) : According to Nick Mallet our (Jakes) game plan is and always has been that of the Bulls. Dominate up front, and only then play wider, kick and chase with the backs. There was no chase today.
@robdylan (Comment 180) : Sorry, yes Gavin. Nick was his cousin who I knew from PMB days
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 181) : I think the scary thing to me is that these are probably SA two best hopes for making the playoffs, but the quality of play from both teams does not give one a lot of hope. At least the Bulls tried a few things, competed at the breakdowns, chased their kicks.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 176) : Jip, kak sporting day. The Stormers and Cheetahs losing to overseas teams was bad as well. The only positives were the Blitzbokke and the Force.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 181) : That describes Plumtree rugby as well. Maybe Jake tried coaching us to play like the Brumbies, but gave up?