A predictable approach from the Sharks against the Bulls at Loftus on Saturday won’t help their cause in the early stages of the competition. At times over the last few seasons the Sharks have really played some brilliant rugby, stepping up to the occasion and when their backs were against the wall pulling together as a team and achieving the unexpected.
Unfortunately they’ve also become a bit predictable over the last few seasons, and adapting to a certain style of rugby. Bashing it up with their forwards and trying to run their opponents into the ground.
Their opening round match against the Cheetahs was pretty much a typical South African arm wrestling derby, trying to force their dominance down on their opponents and crashing their forwards to a stand still in the process.
We saw a different side from the men in Black and White against the Lions, and though one would have thought taking in account the weather conditions, another brutal fist fight with more Springboks leaving the field with injuries, but on the contrary their approach was quite a refreshing and positive to watch.
The Sharks, however, had a different approach playing positive rugby in otherwise flooded conditions.
The first try of Odwa Ndungane was just evident of that, a pinpoint accurate cross kick from Pat Lambie finding the winger unmarked, very little teams would dare to do that even in dry conditions. And also later in the game chasing the bonus point through scoring the four tries.
Turning our attention to Loftus this weekend, I think most of us don’t expect too much from an entertainment point of view. We’ve all read the story before and we know the outcome.
Out of fourteen games since 2006 the Bulls have won nine, with the biggest being 32 – 23 in Durban, 2011. The Sharks have won two out of seven games played at Loftus, 26 – 23 and 29 – 15 in 2011 and 2008 respectively.
The Sharks have some momentum going into this game, and one should always back yourself against a somewhat struggling Bulls side, you never know when you’ll get the opportunity again.
A win against the Bulls on Saturday will definitely help their cause early on in the competition as they still chasing that elusive Super Rugby trophy.
Returning Sharks eightman, Ryan Kankowski summed it up perfectly when he said; “As everyone knows, you can’t win Super Rugby in the first few rounds but you can lose it.”
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Well the weather report is saying it’s going to rain buckets this weekend in Pretoria, so the lions game was good practice for our guys! Haven’t rained that much the last month up here in Pta, so the bulls are going to struggle a bit I think.
Has anyone noticed how bad the Loftus pitch looks? Imagine how it’s going to look if it rains buckets.
Mmm I wonder if the sharks will target that Bulls prop thats always losing his head for penalties! Pollard will counter Lambie….my gut says its a tight 5 game and we might have the edge at 9 as an unknown…centres cancel each other out…newly confident Kriel as Bulls Fb will try to carry on where he left off so I would push to play in their half and wait for their errors but it will be a good game of chess regardless. ..so pumped for it!
The Bulls have a good side make no mistake. Our forwards wont have it all their own way on Saturday. How well we deal with up and unders will determine a lot
@Nita (Comment 2) : Nita, the pitch is in its chops. Its like they drag a plough through certain sections just for fun
@Sharkfinn (Comment 3) : Dean MacGuyver Greyling? That dude actually legally changed his name to MacGuyver when he was 16.
And then got the spelling wrong 😆
@SheldonK (Comment 4) : SP will play a big role on Saturday, I fear.
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 7) : 😆
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 7) : Hahahahaha
If the weather turns foul (which is all we have been getting lately) it’s going to be a nasty clunky meatslapper. Good thing the sharks have so many big bruisers in reserve. Pity about Arno Botha I would have liked to see him test his mettle he has so much potential.
Here is the Bulls team for Saturday’s game.
15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Handre Pollard 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Morne Mellett
Substitutes: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Hanro Liebenberg, 21 Tian Schoeman, 22 Travis Ismaiel, 23 Jurgen Visser
How many times did Lambie pass the ball Saturday? Seems like zero. Long kicked in his own half and pass kicked in the Lions.
Worked fine on the day but it was seriously predictabull.
If they keep it up, I may turn Sharks fan soon.
As I always seem to be saying every season – only a fool writes off the Bulls. They have a consistent game plan and pipeline of talent, so they can always stage a mid-season resurgence when othere teams are getting stale.
People are glossing over their backline: I think they are missing a few seasoned heads there at the moment, but they have far more firepower than us. A few opportunities in open play is all they will need to put the game away if we give them room.
@Big Fish (Comment 14) : A voice of reason?
@Big Fish (Comment 14) : @KingCheetah (Comment 15) : playing the Bulls in Pta is always hard. Going to be tough and I hope the guys do not underestimate them!!!!!
@KingCheetah (Comment 15) :
More like the voice of someone who was at Kings Park for the S14 Final in 2007…
@Big Fish (Comment 14) : Agree two teams you never write off, Saders and Bulls
@Big Fish (Comment 17) : I still remember texting you to say congrats and then oh dear
Wait !
Pierre Spies?! I didn t know he still played rugby LOL
@Original Pierre (Comment 20) : To be honest…..she doesn’t 😈
@Original Pierre (Comment 20) : @BarendL (Comment 21) : Nice disappearing act from him again last week. Bloody magical!
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 19) :
That was funny in hindsight!
@Big Fish (Comment 23) : Nothing about that day was funny…ever!
@Pokkel (Comment 24) :
It was a smile lest you cry kind of day mate
@Big Fish (Comment 25) : Culling Song and I were in tears. 😥 And then drowned our sorrows in a bottle of Jack.
@Pokkel (Comment 26) : we don’t speak of that day, thanks.
@Big Fish (Comment 25) : Saddest sporting moments ever was that day and the 1999 Cricket World Cup semi final.
@robdylan (Comment 27) : Sorry Boss but The Feesh started it!
@KingCheetah (Comment 15) : One does not simply win at Loftus… or something to that effect. Forgetting about the Bulls dangermen for a moment, it’s a very tough ask purely because the Bulls do not want to lose 3 at home.
@Pokkel (Comment 28) : 100% in agreement on that.