The Sharks head to Sydney for the third match of their tour – still looking for that vital win that’s eluded them for five weeks now.
Kick-off is at 11h40.
Waratahs: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Stephen Hoiles, 5 David Dennis (captain), 4 Will Skelton, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tolu Latu, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements – from: Hugh Roach, Jeremy Tilse, Paddy Ryan, Mitchell Chapman, Jed Holloway, Jack Dempsey, Tala Gray, Pat McCutcheon, Brendan McKibbin, Matt Carraro, Peter Betham.
Sharks: 15 Lwazi Mvovo, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Etienne Oosthuizen, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Marco Wentzel (captain), 4 Stephan Lewies, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Kyle Cooper, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Waylon Murray.
Tweet
Late changes for Sharks. Beast out, Chadders starts, Stevens bench, Alberts starts, Oosthuizen bench. Botha & Cooper out, Giant bench
Sharks: 15 Lwazi Mvovo, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Marco Wentzel (captain), 4 Stephan Lewies, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Dale Chadwick.
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Giant Mtayanda, 20 Etienne Oosthuizen, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Waylon Murray.
Taken my seat at the stadium, come on Sharks!!!
@RuckingFun (Comment 3) : good man, hope it goes well
Great defense Sharks! 🙄
Waratahs 7 – 0 Sharks
2 minutes.
Oh boy…the Tahs score in the first minute!! This could be a long day!!
Several phases, but we’re going backwards!
That should be a Sharks lineout…Steyn kicked it against Hooper…but Tahs get the feed…
Hahaha a try in the 1st minute. Sport24 describes it as “terrible tackling”. Oh dear. I am so glad I am not near a TV.
One can only laugh in shame at this Gold led shambles.
Come on Sharks. Come on Gold. Prove me wrong and make me laugh with pleasure once more.
Ahhhhh…Mvovo should have scored there…drops the ball!
@pastorshark (Comment 12) : At least we’re well conditioned apparently
STOP KICKING AWAY TURNOVER BALL FUCKNUTS!!
And by that I mean Steyn.
Twice we’ve taken it into the maul and can’t get it out…turnover!
At least our scrum is a bit of a positive.
Come on boys!
Ohhhhhhh…this time Ungerer almost through…not the greatest pass and Ungerer juggles it and then knocks!
Hooper runs through a HUGE hole…and then drops the ball with not a soul near him!!! What’s up with our defence…
Penalty Sharks at scrum time…Jannie has put pressure on their no. 1…
@pastorshark (Comment 19) : Ask Horak
Steyn to take a shot…
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 21) : Ja no…
Steyn nails the kick to make it 7-3…
We have created a few chances…need to take a few of those!
Now Foley runs through a HUUUUGE hole!! Come on man…how can we not sort that out!!
For goodness sake! The Tahs have a penalty…and will stretch their lead!
10-3 after 20 minutes…
Our defensive coach needs to pack his bags and go back to the Kings!
Same old same old shit defence
Good pressure by the Sharks off the kick off…
The Sharks get pinged again…got within 5m of the line and then held on at the breakdown!!
Losing the breakdowns 6-0
Frustration!
Ohhhh…almost intercepted by Pietersen!
The sad that not is they aren’t even playing well, we are just worse.
Forward pass by Foley…we have an attacking scrum…come on!
@Seth101 (Comment 36) : That’s about right…but we are at least still in this…pull it together men!
Our territorial game has been good thus far, but we’re not capitalising.
Oh crap…that is such a rubbish decision…Tahs awarded a free kick at the scrum…what rubbish!
Im so sick and tired of being on the wrong end of kak refereeing decisions!
Great turnover by Bismarck is spoilt by a rubbish forward pass…oh goodness!
@VanWilder (Comment 41) : I think the ref has been fine… We have been making the mistakes.
Oh for pete’s sake! How can the ref call that forward?!!!?
Well I am going to watch paint dry or something, not in the mood for this crap.
@Seth101 (Comment 43) : Although when the Aussie commentators say that the Sharks have had some really harsh calls against them…well…
Well, the first 20 minutes the ref was all right, but the last 3 minutes they were just thumped by him…that is the last thing we need!
This ref is shocking!!!
Foley nails another and makes it 13-3…
And then we stuff up a lineout…oh my word!
I wish all our okes could tackle like Marcell!!!
Waratahs make meters at will.
Off a black hand…
Right…lineout in the Tahs 22…dare we hope?
A few phases and then a rolling pass by Ungerer brings things to a grinding halt…
Did JPP read Sharksworld last week ;-). Tackling MUCH better today !!!
Just too many mistakes!!!!!!!!!
Robotic is the only way to describe Sharks rugby in a nice way.
I think they are doibg very well barr nerves from pressure. ….and the kak ref
Steyn running into his 10th defender
Steyn narrows the gap…13-6…
Brilliant kick by Ungerer – past halfwayline – clearance from kickoff.
Poor defence…and then great defence!
This ref is super kak!
And some “how’s your father?”
A bit of push and shove…nothing in that…just play on!
Ref has a chat to their hooker…and a warning…
This ref is just a palooka!
I rest my case about the ref!!!
Half Time
Waratahs 13 – 6 Sharks
I guess, given the frustration of all the rubbish dished up, several very poor decisions and the many mistakes…I suppose 13-6 is the best we could have hoped for…
In Supersport studio: “the ref has dropped the ball…” haha!
The ref tells the Sharks it’s halftime…they just stab it into touch 5 metres from their own line…then he says it’s not halftime and says the lineout must take place…then the lineout forms and everybody waits…before Bismarck takes a quick throw…and the ref allows that to go on…oh my word!!
After all that we are only behind by the first minute try…
The last time we lost six games in a row is 15 years ago.
The studio is VERY critical of the ref…which is fair enough, because since the 20th minute he has just totally lost it. Comments about the ref in studio:
– “confusing”
– “hard done by”
– “50-50 calls to the home team”
– “his calls are hurting the Shark”
– “inconsistency of the ref is building frustration”
Look, all of that doesn’t excuse our plethora of mistakes…but flip…where do they find these guys?!
@Ben (Comment 75) : Very sad…
Ref only refereeing 1 one side, only chance we have is stop kicking it away
@Ben (Comment 75) : 😥
Some good running there by the backs and Sithole is bundled out just short of the line…
Ungerer almost intercepts the lineout throw, but knocks it…
I’m no rugby sage, but any team that allows a try to be scored against them in the first minute of play is a team in need of serious mental conditioning…
@RuckingFun (Comment 78) : Of course then he blows perfectly good passes as forward!!
For flips sake…he blows us at the scrum again…
Now it’s a crap call by the ref re: inside/outside the 22…
Palookas all round.
Is he allowed to then just change the decision because the producer shoed it on the big screen…they really need to sort that out!
This is ALL a bit frustrating!
Great kick by Ungerer after the Tahs stuff up a lineout…
Again our defence is nowhere…
Although we do ultimately keep them out!
That’s more like it! Great try! They catch the Tahs napping…
What was that? 😯
Wow totally against the run of play some brilliance from the Sharks 😯
Wonderful cross kick…who was that? And Odwa scores!!
Both teams have been kak. Almost as kak as the referee.
Steyn misses it from the touch line, so it is 13-11 after 50 minutes!
Waratahs 13 – 11 Sharks
51 minutes.
Tahs get a penalty and kick for the corner…
Great tackle by Mvovo on the huge man…but TMO will check…
Unlucky Mvovo…looks like it could be a try…
Try awarded…damn it…Illegal play by the Tahs at the lineout should have been penalised…but it goes in the Tahs favour again!!! What a crap official!
Waratahs 20 – 11 Sharks
53 minutes.
Oh well…wedding preparation time so I’ll miss the last 20…
Marco told Hoffmann to check to lineout infringement if he wants to save face.
Lineouts have been terrible
Clearly i dont know rugby, these calls are absolutely disgusting
Sharks playing some rugby for a change
Well done Lionel. Frans Steyn scores.
Waratahs 20 – 18 Sharks
59 minutes.
Bothma must work on his tackle technique
Fucking bullshit decisions by this piece of crap ref continue…
Waratahs 23 – 18 Sharks
62 minutes.
Some great hands by the boys!
Why we stay on the field we should walk off in protest
Sort out the lineouts FFS!!!!
Steyn kicks the ball away again from a turnover.
Hierdie ref WEET hoe om ‘n game te wen – hy is blerrie briljant !!!
Probably another “Brave Sharks go down in Sydney” headline written by all and sundry for the match reports.
Waratahs 26 – 18 Sharks
70 minutes.
Brillant Cronje!
This 50-50 call will go against us for sure…
Didn’t we just know it?!
Every 50-50 call has gone against us…
We’re not exactly our own best friends either
Fuck this reffing bullshit!
Was that a 50-50
He wasn’t supporting his own body weight!!
Bloody useless.
WTF is this dumbass slow crap now all of a sudden?
So we’re officially the kakest we’ve been in 15 years
FULL TIME
WARATAHS 33 – 18 SHARKS
Beaten by the ref,sorry to sound like a Bulls supporter,even Phil Kearns agrees.
Hofmann goes into my book next toLourens van der Merwe as the worst referee in the world.
But whereas van der Merwe is basically stupid,Hoffman is a credit to his criminal ancestry,a fucken thief.
As useless as the ref was, we would be flattering ourselves if we feel the Sharks deserved to win this game.
Can’t actually write a report now, sorry fans.
Need to clear my head
I try not to moan about referees but Aussie referees are cyclops of note!!
My sharksworld app on my S4mini wont work it simply does nothing
Manne as ons regtig eerlik wil wees. Die Sharks “wil nie” wen nie ………. Jammer en hartseer maar waar …
And yes gentleman – I am not missing, discounting the Refs significant impact in the game !!!
Ref has been shocking. But our guys are in serious need of coaching in all aspects of the game including tackle urgency and commitment. Ruck technique and positioning. JPP is still disgusting.
@John (Comment 137) : any way you can send a crash report?
@robdylan (Comment 135) : No hard feelings.
But how about a change of approach. Why not write up a performance report on that ref???
I know Im one of the more critical of this bunch, but fuck me that was some ‘Bryce Lawrence – esque’ disgraceful officiating.
Still some glaring weaknesses in this squad, but a genuinely improved performance overall!!
Was it just me or did Lionel Cronje have an excellent game??? – I rate that last knock wasn’t his fault.
I have no clue how to
look, we made mistakes, but so did they! They were terrible and we always seemed to have our dominance snuffed out by these wrong calls
When there is refereeing like that can we not say it is practically match fixing?
The last 15 minutes all the calls went their way. That butterball was not on his feet when the tahs got the penalty in the last 5; the Sharks in their 22 and tahs offsides, no advantage to the Sharks; if the tahs 2nd to last try was given (the grounding was unseen), then Sithole’s try was legit…the sideline referees and tmo were not interested in the least in reporting any waratahs misbehaviours. Will anything happen to the referees? of course not
Don’t know every saw this but Israel Falau kicked the ball out, the assistant ref raised his flag where it went out, the crowd booed him and he walked another 10m down the touch line towards the sharks tryline, incredible stuff
Some lazy kick chasing from the Sharks, poor tackling as usual. Ref was poor, but the Sharks did not help their own cause either.
@Bokhoring (Comment 149) : wow, I actually thought the kick chasing was very good for the the most part. One or two from Cronje were a little long, but otherwise thought we did well in that area
@GreatSharksays (Comment 140) : @Ben (Comment 134) : @The Brand (Comment 138) : @Spirit of Rugby (Comment 131) : Yes ref or not
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 111) : tends to go high a lot, doesn’t he?
@robdylan (Comment 150) : There was a number of instances (e.g. Ashley Cooper getting away on his goal line) where one player chased like mad (Cronje in that case), and the rest just jogged slowly after the chaser. In each case the Tahs managed to get themselves out of a tough situation, and then proceeded to run through a number of poor tackles on top of it.
@pienaar111 (Comment 143) : That was a poor pass from Ungerer. He is getting his opportunity – needs to cut down those poor passes.
@robdylan (Comment 152) : Yes. It seems to be a habit he’s picked up of late.
@pienaar111 (Comment 143) : He adds more value than Fred that’s for sure. Yes he will make mistakes but be sure of the fact that he will set up his team mates and make the backline a little unpredictable.
BTW did anybody notice Venter in the coaches box – I don’t recall seeing him there all season.
@pienaar111 (Comment 143) : Agree. He was one of the best backs on the field.
Attacking game is starting to look a lot better. The kicking game was better than last week, but the defense is still a serious problem. The Sharks allow the opposition to make just too many meters with ball in hand.
@Bokhoring (Comment 159) : vulnerable to the inside pass.Even a mug like me can see it miles away
@robdylan (Comment 160) : Yup…
@Bokhoring (Comment 159) : no intention or commitment to dominate the opponent in the tackle with a hard tackle….ala Alberts, PSDT, Marcel and Sithole. The rest compete to see who can give the best hug. Pointless beating this dead horse.
Not a single SA side picked up a win this weekend. Was hoping the Lions would at least draw level with the Bulls.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 162) : I was really impressed by Sithole’s attitude.
That referee was really, really, really really, really, really bad today.
@vanmartin (Comment 163) : That’s because the Stormers had a bye! 😈
SA sevens team proving to be useless against the Fijians. They look like a bunch of Sharks players!
Just waisted 14 minutes of my life watching this shit! 🙄
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 164) : Yeah, he impressed me too…
@fyndraai (Comment 165) : Sjoe, wasn’t he just…quite ridiculously inept…it doesn’t excuse all the Sharks mistakes, but yoh!
@vanmartin (Comment 163) : It wasn’t a great Superbru weekend either!
Despite what happened to the Sharks yesterday, I thought we scored some really excellent tries; with Ndungane’s sneaky grubber pick-up one of the better tries I’ve seen from the Sharks in years.
Lionel Cronje had some deft touches in all of our scores but ultimately his inconsistency let him down and pretty much summed up the Sharks season.
A measure of just how far the Sharks have sunk when after 6 losses in a row and a 15 point hiding people say “even though we lost I was still happy with…”
GOLD OUT
@Feather (Comment 173) : This is getting a bit monotonous, it is not great where we are in the log however, having the turnover of coaching staff as we do, we need some continuity and cohesion moving forward. Would firing Gold be constructive? and if so who would take the poisoned chalice?
To say we have to work on our defensive lines will be a massive understatement, we don’t even have a defensive line most of the time.
@Ben (Comment 175) : This part of our game seems uncoached, obviously. 🙄
So can someone please tell me what Michael Horak gets paid for every month?
@feather I agree with you but change is needed but I think its the 2nd level coaches.Gold deserves a fresh start post Rwc.
@Ben (Comment 175) : When Gary said, in the article below, “I thought we defended extraordinarily well,” I almost choked on my popcorn…
http://www.rugby365.com/article/66314-sharks-have-no-right-to-complain
@pastorshark (Comment 179) : 😯
@pastorshark (Comment 179) : “We are not in a position to take anybody lightly where we are at the moment, we are fighting for a huge amount of pride and to resurrect the last few games and show our supporters how much it means to us,” he said.
The last few games? It’s been six Gary! I don’t think that qualifies as a few! 🙄
@Ben (Comment 181) : And that’s the six in a row. It’s been 9 in total. 🙄
@Ben (Comment 181) : I think he means the last three games left in the season… 😆
@Ben (Comment 180) : A comment like this one about the defence really concerns me! Is he delusional? Does he not recognise the areas that let us down and that we must work on? Or is that really what he is satisfied with? Oh my word!
@pastorshark (Comment 183) : 😳
For some or under reason I thought he said ‘rectify’. 😳 😆
@pastorshark (Comment 184) : It’s concerning indeed.
@Ben (Comment 185) :
@Ben (Comment 182) : What a disappointing season it has been!!! 🙁
There was a moment in the game that summed up the whole season for me,a single camera shot into our coaches box.Front and centre and in obvious charge, Brendan Venter and Horak.
You could feel the neurosis in that box.really unhappy place.
There was a moment in one of the New Zealand games where a young guy tried something and it nearly came off but he cocked it up.He came out of it smiling,and the commentator said,thats the smile of a guy who knows he nearly got it right.
Contrast that to the sorry state of our team,Cronje created two brilliant tries,but most of the guys here and ,the fans and I am sure the coaches only remember the mistake he made at the end of the game.
I really hope Venter ups sticks and goes and takes Horak and all his Saracens over the hill mates with him
@The hound (Comment 189) : is anyone really blaming Lionel for that try? Hell, I don’t…. it would be ridiculously unfair to do so.
No, I’ll stick my hand up and admit I’ve perhaps been unfairly harsh on Lionel. He was pretty good in Wellington and close to brilliant in Sydney.
@robdylan (Comment 190) : Rob merely trying to illustrate the toxic environment that the Sharks are playing in.
I feel we played really well against the log leaders and the current champs in consecutive weeks.
We hardly disgraced ourselves in both games,very few teams and no South African team will win those two games in consecutive weeks away from home.
In both games we were in it for most of the game,had perfectly good try disallowed and played against embarrassing referees.
We scored some amazing tries,for which no credit is given,but guys here are only concerned to harp on at the defensive errors we made.
@robdylan (Comment 190) : Lionel seems to be one of the few players who has not yet had all the exuberance and enterprise coached out of him yet; I’ve really enjoyed what he’s been bringing to the team.
On a related topic, is it just me, or has the move from right wing to left really rejuvenated Sbura?
@The hound (Comment 189) :
Not Horaks fault that the Sharks have suddenly been overcome with an embarrassing inability to tackle properly.
You can have all the correct defensive lines and strategies in place but nothing will help JP forget to put his arms around a person and hang on when he is supposed to tackle them.
Not that I blame JP, he is being asked to play a position that is VERY difficult to defend and takes years to master.
How they keep playing him there is beyond me. He had 1 good game there against the Stormers years ago and now they thing he is a 13?!
Boggling.
@robdylan (Comment 190) : I’ll always back a player who tries something as opposed to a player who takes no risks. Thought Lionel has some great touches. Pity about the fumble at the end, but at that stage the wind was out of our sails anyway…
Nice little screenshot of the lead-up to the Waratahs first ‘try’, with even the commentator asking “Is that obstruction?”…
http://imgur.com/RI9H5WW
As you can see the two waratahs players are in contact with each other which makes it accidental obstruction and offsides anyway….
Waratahs second ‘try’
http://imgur.com/FcQcsrN
Terrible officiating from the ref, the touch judge and ultimately the TV ref.
@John Galt (Comment 193) : Tanna Umanga started as wing so did Ma Nonnu.
I think they both moved inside once they lost a little of their pace.
The thinking with JPP would be the same.
He is an enigma,however,always marched to his own drum.When people say he can’t tackle,I immediately think about that match saving tackle in the the WC game against Fiji.
Hell he was only 21 then and that tackle as much as anything won us that cup.
I just think he is another victim of the toxic neurotic atmosphere in the camp.
Guys lay their bodies on the line when they believe in the cause.
We can blame whoever e like and keep making excuses but excuses only get you so far and dont win you the next game. Nothing can be done about the Tahs game…what can be done is how do we get a win vs the Reds? Our inside man is not working hard enough leaving huge gaps on defense. We still spill the ball to much in the tackle and get dominated physically. So forget blaming the ref etc etc..anyone of the coaching staff got some of those solutions things that actually win you games?
@Culling Song (Comment 192) : Had the pleasure of Mr Cat and The Jackal entertaining us at a wedding this weekend. Awesome stuff and nice guys too.
Ps they smaak Bronkhorspruit and the resident bootlegger.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 199): Awesome! Really amazing musicians, with the bonus of not being a bunch of dickheads… Apparently they are heading up this way next month; can’t wait, it’s been way too long.
@Feather (Comment 173) : @Feather (Comment 173) : Exactly,losing is now becoming the accepted consistency and norm ,what a mess
So according to Keohane 6 consecutive losses equals the “franchise record” for the Sharks.
Wow. That’s how bad this season has been.
And with a game in Brisbane to come the odds are good that Gold and his merry bunch of joker assistants will take us to a new record of consecutive defeats.
If this new low does not set in motion action (read getting rid of the rot) by the management board then how much lower do we need to fall?