Wow, what a game! I think there will be very little disagreement that as a collective – and for sheer guts and determination – the Sharks deserve 11/10 for that display.
Let’s go through the line-up with a slightly more critical eye, though and rate the players within the context of a truly stunning first-ever away win over the Crusaders. Don’t look here for low numbers, folks. Not this week!
1) Beast Mtawarira. A good outing in his 100th game for the Sharks. Scrummed strongly and was busy indeed on defence. 8/10
2) Bismarck du Plessis. Stood up as a leader among leaders. His personal standard of play was exemplary, his discipline beyond reproach and his leadership in a real crisis situation second to none. Well done skipper! 9/10
3) Jannie du Plessis. A big game in his 100th, Jannie was particularly active on defence, where he was seen to put in a lot of really big hits around the fringes. Pinged unfairly for a scrum infringement or two, when it was clear opposite number Crockett was the man scrumming in. 8/10
4) Ettienne Oosthuizen. Showed good evidence as to why he is so highly rated by coach Jake White. Ettas played like a guy with at least 30 more caps than he has and it was his line out play, in particular, that stood out, with some great takes under pressure. Discipline was great too. 8/10
5) Stephan Lewies. My pick of the tight forwards. It is simply incredible just how far this young man has come in just a few short months. His work rate is simply incredible and he’s now confidently calling – and winning – line outs against the Crusaders in Christchurh! 9/10
6) Tera Mtembu. A very adaptable player who can put in the hard graft required at number 6 – this he showed in a phenomenally industrious 70-odd minutes at the AMI Stadium. Tera was immense and simply has to keep a spot in this side, somehow. 9/10
7) Jean Deysel. We’ll not rate him this week, for obvious reasons.
8) Willem Alberts. Looks a lot more comfortable at loose forward and put in a big physical display, that was spoiled (only a little) by a rather harsh yellow card. 8/10
9) Cobus Reinach. Had a few wobbly moments with some kicks that perhaps didn’t quite go where they should have, but redeemed himself with the sort opportunistic try that only a player with his speed and awareness would have been able score. 8/10
10) Frans Steyn. Big composure, nailing some truly match-winning kicks. That break for Sithole’s try was also vintage Steyn. Kicking out of hand was not always brilliant, but he made up for that many times over with the good things that he did. 8/10
11) Lwazi Mvovo. Playing at wing, he made us realise just how much better he is at fullback! Mvovo simply didn’t end up with ball in hand often enough, but performed the defensive wing role as well as any. 8/10
12) Paul Jordaan. A very strong defensive performance, with “little” Paul tackling like a terrier and always getting himself in the way of so many otherwise threatening Crusader backline moves. Had little to do with ball in hand, but that’s just the plan at this stage. 8/10
13) S’bura Sithole. What a try! What a game! S’bura was defensively a major thorn in the opposition flesh, marking his opposite number out of the game and closing down many attacking moves with clinical ball-and-all tackles. Needs to watch his penalty count at the breakdown, if we’re going to look for a negative. 9/10
14) JP Pietersen. Stood up as a senior player and showed his experience. On a day when running with the ball wasn’t going to be a big factor, JP used his size and experience to shut down his opposite number, forcing one of the opposition danger men into mistake after mistake. 8/10
15) SP Marais. After a tough few weeks on the bench, SP was back with a bang. His decision-making was spot on and kicking out of hand superb – in fact, SP was the best of the bunch when it came to that aspect. 9/10
16) Kyle Cooper. Rugby is a funny old game, isn’t it? After weeks and weeks with no game time to speak of, Kyle gets 20 minute here and goes on to score the most important Sharks try in about the last 3 years. Superb! 9/10
17) Dale Chadwick. Mr Dependable just keeps trucking on. At a time when the Sharks needed a big boost up front, Dale and the other front row reserves were ready and willing. 8/10
18) Lourens Adriaanse. Earned himself a new nickname – “Mr Furious” was hugely committed and fired up, but perhaps needs to cool his ardour just a bit in future. Picked up where Jannie left off, though and was incredibly industrious during his cameo. 8/10
19) Ryan Kankowski. On a day where we lost a man for 60 minutes, we didn’t even need to use all our subs to win the game!
20) Keegan Daniel. Wasn’t quite on long enough to rate, but I saw one tackle on Richie McCaw that warranted a 9 all on its own!
21) Charl McLeod. A good, composed outing and a key player in that immensely important last try. 8/10
22) Tim Swiel. After the pressure he’s been under, to step up and nail those two pressure kicks to win the match? Unbelievable balls. 9/10
23) Heimar Williams. Had the best seat in the house from which to watch the performance of the season.
Well done Sharks! Bloody well done!
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I’m still on a high. 😛
😥 beautiful
Sharks do it again…they’ve re-invigorated my excitement for rugby…going into this game, I started wondering why I even bother watching any more.
Well, now I know!
@FireTheLooser (Comment 3) : I didn’t know my neighbour from across the road but now I do as we both screamed and ran outside when cooper scored that try.next week we will watch together no point in getting two different noise complaints for the same thing 🙂
I couldn’t agree more on the ratings. Alberts was unfairly carded as he bought the dummie, there was no intent on taking the guy out without the ball. And as for Swiel, I’m not his biggest fan, but damn that kid deserves a Bell’s for the balls he showed with those 2 kicks.
@KingRiaan (Comment 5) : he looked extremely nervous which got me worried but the kid came through
AND WE SCORED 3 TRIES!!!!!
One of our greatest days. Still cant believe it. So proud.
@Poisy (Comment 4) : probably the best comment we’ve ever had on this site!
We’ll, soos hoe die manne die spel aan die gang hou met ,kophou en dissepliene,dan loop alles reg en die spel vloreer en teken punte aan. Daar is altyd maar n bietjie woede in n spel ,maar al wat tel is as almal saam werk sal niks verkeerd loop nie. Baie dankie Sharks span ,julle maak my en die ander ondersteuners trots. Welgedaan !
Brilliant ratings and the guys deserved every single one! Also thought Albers was harshly carded, as the Saders got away with the exact same offence throughout the game. Other than that.. superb, amazing, all around incredible! 🙂 🙂
@Poisy (Comment 6) : Jeez, but Tim had a weird expression on his face when he kicked that second one. It’s almost like he forced himself to leave his own body and watch from somewhere else!
@robdylan (Comment 9) : 😛
@FireTheLooser (Comment 3) : They certainly are reinvigorating my excitement for rugby.
Referees and their blatant asshat decisions are something which is making it very difficult for anyone to be excited about rugby.
I’m not defending Deysel, like White said there can be no defence for that BUT the incident was the refs ultimate fault and his assistants were negligent in blowing the rules equally for both sides. At the beginning of the season they were instructed that any players seen to be taking players away from the game should be penalized. (We’ve had a couple of tries and potential tries turned over because of this rule). The Crusaders were allowed to do this at will on Saturday and Deysel had the ultimate brain fart and decided to take the law into his own hands.
Its the same problem as in all the years before in that the rules simply don’t apply to all teams equally. Rugby will be a much more enjoyable sport as soon as rules are applied on a blanket basis.
*climbing down from my soapbox*
@Another Nick (Comment 11) : Oh and Swiel! Take a bow lad! Knocking those pressure kicks over as he did.. after the criticism he received.. wows! Happy days for ages!! 😛
@robdylan (Comment 12) : I saw a smile
@Poisy (Comment 6) : Yeah, it actually made me look at him with new eyes. Maybe this will give him the confidence he needs to start becoming a factor at this level. The kid has talent, but has looked so nervous from his first outing onwards, unlike Pat and Fred that took to SupeRugby like a fish to water. I’m sure once he learns to deal with the nerves all his talents and skills will be on show.
@KingRiaan (Comment 17) : I hope so. Hopefully steyn showing him the ropes
Very good game. Well done to all the boys and the coaching staff. Hard luck Deysel, we know you are not a dirty player. Keep your head up. Big improvement by JPP, hope it’s the start of the upward improvement in play. Like SP at fullback, think he offers us good decision making from the back. Lwazi has lots of potential at 15 but think he should continue at 11 for the rest of the campaign. Pray things go well for us with regards to Deysel’s hearing. The guy has played well snd deserves a Bok call up.
@Butchie34 (Comment 14) : It was a disgrace by the ref to let them get away with that. For example the Sader player that blatantly took out Cobus in front of the ref and touch judge
Reinach’s try made the big difference in the game – put the belief into the team that they could actually win the game. Up to then the team was really scrapping hard just to survive.
@KingRiaan (Comment 20) : It’s something which happens far too often and is simply overlooked. I know that the refs are reviewed after the game but it doesn’t seem as though the “punishments” being dished out are adequate to prevent these kind of one eyed decisions.
Cant believe I missed this game. Of all the Sharks games this season, I go and miss this one. Farking weddings!
And forget to PVR it nogal. Hopefully it will be the Match of the Week on supersport later. Ive only seen the 30 min highlight package.
Who was man of the match?
@Bokhoring (Comment 21) : THe one thing I can say about Reinach, he knows how to make amends every time he stuffs up.
The guys must keep their feet on the ground , yip a excellent win and I hope they celebrated in style but the blues haven’t lost at home ( even though we are playing them at their “second” home) it will be a tough game and the season is still way too long to get ahead of yourself. Black and White nothing else matters
@BR (Comment 25) : and we have a short turn around from the last game will be a extremely tough last game of the tour
@FireTheLooser (Comment 24) : If he can improve his scrumhalf basics (box kicks and passing), he could be a Bok contender.
@John Galt (Comment 23) : NZ never announces a MOTM as far as I know.
@Pokkel (Comment 28) : Especially not when their team was on the losing end.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 29) : 😆
Words cannot describe how proud I am of the Sharks.
@BR (Comment 25) : are we playing them in North Harbour?
@John Galt (Comment 23) : I can help you out if you’re willing to download 1.2GB. Mail me: vanmartin @ gmail dot com.
@robdylan (Comment 32) : Yes.
Should’ve just given everyone, including Deysel, a 10/10.
On topic: so proud of the Sharks! I’m still struggling to think of a particular player that stood out above the rest. This was an amazing team effort.
The Sharks have also acquired a new motto: “Don’t make us angry, you wouldn’t like us when we’re angry”
@John Galt (Comment 23) : I watched it again and it’s still as nerve-wracking as seeing it live. It’s up there with the tension of the 1995 RWC Final and the 438 ODI at the Wanderers.
Just something special!
@robdylan (Comment 32) : @rhineshark (Comment 34) : I suppose this improves our chances of beating them? If we needed any more boosting after Sat! 🙂
Can’t really disagree with the ratings. However, I thought the Doc played one of his best games ever, despite having Crocket scrumming into his ear the whole game. Talk about a blind ref!
I’ve defended Reinach from a lot of unwarranted criticism in the past, but while his x-factor is critical, his tactical kicking and decision making needs to improve. Still a good game, but I would like to see more vision on front foot ball and better execution of the box kicks.
Tera was phenomenal. Another player (like Sbura) benefitting from having a coach willing to back him.
@Poisy (Comment 4) :
Awesome story!
I had a board meeting all day and missed it. But couldn’t hide my growing excitement while following the live updates! Watched it yesterday. What a performance. Yes, there were still mistakes, but wow…the guts they showed! I really get frustrated by quite how much off the ball holding and obstructing the Crusaders got a
Also gotta say; nice to have a positive vibe on the site for a change. 😆
I had a board meeting all day and missed it. But couldn’t hide my growing excitement while following the live updates! Watched it yesterday. What a performance. Yes, there were still mistakes, but wow…the guts they showed! I really get frustrated by quite how much off the ball holding and obstructing the Crusaders got away with…my word! What does one have to do to get officialdom to do something about that? But at the end of the day this was really BIG…on the field, in the face of all sorts of adversity and most importantly on the log! Now it’s just important to follow this up with a goodie against the Blues… COME ON MEN!!
I think the backline was tremendous in this game. And at last we can put it to bed that Steyn will not be a scrummer in his next life! 😀
Hats off to the Sharks. Really impressive win. Haven’t ever shouted for the Sharks – until Saturday. Held South Africa’s name high down in Christchurch. The team looked genuinely like a main title contender.
Besides the Deysel incident, it would have to be one of the matches of the tournament, so far. Reminded me alot of the game also against the Crusaders – at Kings Park – some years back with Odwa scoring in the corner in the final minute and Pienaar to convert. Well played.
How good was Terror?
Really excited about him, he brings a ton of energy.
And Oosthuizen, he’s more than ready for SR as a 4. Keep him there, and keep Alberts at 7 or 8.
SP at fullback – more fluid. I like Lwazi on the wing. Swiel did well!
Still cannot believe the awesome win!!!!!!!
@Blue Centurion (Comment 44) : thank you sir!
@robdylan (Comment 12) : I think they all did,not sure what was put in their water at half time but wow,pure pure master class,should rate them 20 actualy,this is why Southern Hemisphere rugby is superior and I think ,just like Man City,the SR15 is the Sharks to lose
@Blue Centurion (Comment 44) : We can all take a lesson from you in the way you handle yourself on this site. Thanks for the support on Saturday!
Jake White: 9 – After taking some slack in the last couple of weeks, his team was better than ever and the personnel changes he made before the game effective and during the game, gutsy and delivered the winning impact.
Have to give it to Jake, I don’t think any Sharks team before had it in them to take the Crusaders in Christchurch. There’s just something about having JW as a coach that has to boos, if anything, at least your confidence.
Seems that Tera had a good game this weekend? From what I gather he could have even been MOTM.
Just goes to show how ridiculous Peter Mullers rankings are in the Sunday Tribune each week.
He had Tera down at a 5 after having been anonymous most of the game.
Jees I sometimes wonder if he even watches the games.
Rob what is Pieter Muller’s problem,I know your ratings are fuelled and inflated by euphoria,but his in the Tribune are so negative.The guy never has a decent thing to say about anyone in a Sharks jersey,he’s as bad as Nick Mallet and Bobby Skinstadt.
Why do the Tribune pay him to spread his bile.There must be some one beter to do the ratings.
Snap there John
@vanmartin (Comment 33) :
Thanks Van but it will be the Match of the week at 6.30pm on SS1 later.
Will watch and record it then.
Cheers.
@The hound (Comment 53) :
Yeah exactly.
Don’t know where he gets his ratings from.
I am very proud of Jannie he showed he can actually complete a tackle and was well behaved. Cobus has a big box kick he just has to improve the acuracy thereof,playing with 1 loosie for 10mins and still win the game thats a 10 for team performance!!
@John Galt (Comment 54) : No worries bud, enjoy!
@The hound (Comment 52) : Former rugby players, especially those from the amateur era seems to be quite bitter….they seem to think that praise given to other players and teams will expose their sporting shortfalls. 😈
You will find that these negative nancies are not involved in rugby, save for commentary and sporting columns.
They are in fact irrelevant to the sport.
Rob, you’re probably on it as we speak but just in case you missed it, the first Bok training camp has been announced. One or two surprises in there!
@John Galt (Comment 51) : Well according to Vodacomrugby, they have given Tera Mtembu the SupperGees player of the week! Muller must put that in his pipe and smoke it!
One of my most favourite games in Sharks history. Well done boys! Since Saturday my shirts are feeling a bit tight, especially around the chest area.
Interesting stat from Sharksrugby.
“The Cell C Sharks have now earned nine points on tour from two wins and a losing bonus point. Already, they have accumulated more points than the combined total of the four other South African sides in 15 games on tour”
7) Jean Deysel. Wasn’t quite on long enough to rate. 😆
@Poisy (Comment 4) : LMAO this is the best comment I have ever read on SW!!!! Extremely funny boet!!!!
@Ice (Comment 63) :
Yip, SA total games played on tour 18 (2 to go), won 2, lost 16. The Sharks are the only SA side to win a game on tour this season. And since we are playing more tour games than Australasian teams, we aslo have the most tour points overall.
I don’t know about if you count NZ games in Aus with their games in SA (probably not), but it has to be close.
@Letgo (Comment 65) : shhhhhh don’t tell the SuperSport commentators they will never survive the shock!!!!! They still think the Stormers can win Super rugby this year! !!!
I would say those 8 and 9 ratings are a bit excessive.
There were a good number of sloppy kicks by both Steyn and Reinach and poor play under the high-ball. The events leading to the Crusaders try for example.
Regardless of the great effort by the Sharks, the Crusaders could have won the match had they landed only 2 of the missed penalty kicks or scored on only 1 of the butchered try opportunities. Then your ratings would have been all different.
I think a more realistic average rating for the Sharks at 6 or 7, considering that they won because the Crusaders performed at 3 or 4
@fyndraai (Comment 67) : don’t you think that perhaps the reason the Crusaders were weighed,measured and found very wanting is due to eg The Great Whites tic tacs,the defence of the Sharks,not being bullied at the break down etc etc etc.That even with 14 then 13 the tic tacs were so spot on that the Ref could not even help the Crusaders .just asking hey!
@benji (Comment 68) :
The Sharks defence was great (maybe +1 for that), but there is nothing the Sharks did to cause some of those knocks or the missed penalties.
The Crusaders were sloppy. Or perhaps they’re not as good as we thought they were.
But I’m not knocking the Sharks. They’ve won matches all season whilst being very sloppy themselves. Once they cut out the errors (hope it’s soon) they’ll be most formidable.
@fyndraai (Comment 67) : That’s kinda the point of all the back-slapping and high-fives around here. The Crusaders were in it until the vert last second and the Sharks still managed to pull off the win anyway. The only inaccuracy in your comment is thinking that it warrants a 3 or 4 for the Crusaders. If the Crusaders were so close to a win (as you state) it’s only fair to rate them higher. Heck, our boys usually manage around a 6 even when they’re on the losing side. It’s okay to enjoy a historic win!
@vanmartin (Comment 70) : just for the win the guys starts with 2 extra points.
@vanmartin (Comment 70) : and nogal at the Holy of Holiest
@benji (Comment 72) : @vanmartin (Comment 70) : just hope the players don’t celebrate the victory to much and forget to prepare for the Blues game. The Sharks must go out and play to win against the Blues as they would have seen what the Sharks did to the Saders and will be ready for a massive game on Friday. Blues will not roll over and play dead just because the Sharks victory against the Saders, the Sharks will need to go out and beat them!
@JD (Comment 73) : Agreed
Just off topic…did anyone else notice Conrad Hoffman on the bench for the Brumbies?
@JD (Comment 73) : I think it is going to be tough mentally to replicate the same commitment they showed a week later. However I do think the team should be a lot closer as a unit today.
After the euphoria I do hope they can start cutting down on the mistakes.
@Bokhoring (Comment 76) : that’s my problem with this game against the Blues. Sharks needs to put in a huge effort and not think about going home.
@SheldonK (Comment 75) : no but seems Force is trying to do a Saracens and become the SA team in OZ. Already four SA players in their match 23.
@Bokhoring (Comment 76) : Their bodies will be hurting, I’m sure. But I believe if we cut down on the mistakes we will edge the Blues. Steyn is not a 10. Hope to see Tim get a start at 10.
Having Cobus at 9 and Frans at 10 is a problem. Neither of them seem to posses the ability to pass a ball properly 8 times out of 10.
@Ben (Comment 80) : sorry boet but I don’t see JW change to much for the next two weeks. Injuries and bans will likely be the only reasons for changes.