Fans, patience is going to be required for the next few days, please.
As most of you know by now, my job doesn’t require frequent travel, but when it does require travel, that tend to happen at pretty short notice. I’m about to embark on just such a trip, heading to the charming southern US city of Atlanta tomorrow, for a few days.
Articles will be slower than normal next week – please bear with me as I do my best to keep you all (or y’all, to use Atalanta-speak) updated, despite the change in time zone and requirement o do lots of work too.
Thanks for all your support, as always, and glory to the Sharks!

Rob, sw app bombed out again now. Could not submit the report as it all closed automatically before I could do anything.
@Uli Boelie (Comment 1) : was there a particular article you tried to hit?
Safe travels Rob
@pierre_mackie (Comment 3) : thanks pal
Y’all travel safe now…
Stay safe Rob.
Enjoy the trip celebrations with the eagles London sevens win. Great game
Safe travels my friend!!!!
Safe travels, Rob.
Enjoy Rob! Travel safely.
Safe trip, dont make a detour via Waco, Texas and if you do change the name of that town immediately, generations to come will thank you.
@robdylan (Comment 2) : Same issue as before, new article arrives , I double tap notification. app bombs out.
If I however go to the app manually it works perfectly. its only when I get notifications.
Montpellier are set to announce the signatures of the du Plessis brothers this week as they look to recover from a disappointing season.
Saturday’s defeat to Stade Français ended Montpellier’s hopes of reaching the Top 14 play-offs, and they need a bonus-point win over Clermont next week to have any hope of making the Champions Cup play-offs.
As a result Jake White has embarked on an ambitious recruitment drive, with the Sharks pair Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis on their way according to RMC.
@grant10 (Comment 13) : Interesting.
@grant10 (Comment 13) :
Personally I cant wait for them to go.
Their season with the Sharks is over and Jannie in particular wont be missed.
Hope Jake takes Odwa, Waylon and a few others as well.
@John Galt (Comment 15) : Dismal here in CT as well John…..the loss of so many players overseas has seen the local franchises, and superrugby as a whole, suffer from a quality perspective. And sadly it is only going to get worse….
@Uli Boelie (Comment 12) : I’ve been having some issues on the server. Need to fix it when I get back.
It will be good when we eventually have a clear out of the “manne”. Let’s face facts, having a vaunted “all Springbok frontrow” and the other egos has never won us this competition. The mix of individuals is wrong.
@Feather (Comment 18) : Maybe not, but I think they have made us at least competitive in the scrums and many a time dominant. Love him or hate him, our scrum is not the same without Bismarck and to a lesser extent Jannie.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 19) : And until we can teach our other hookers to throw in properly (at least most of the time) we will also miss Bismarck at line out time.
@grant10 (Comment 13) : So the Du Plessis brothers obviously have no issues with Jake’s training schedules then?
@Bokhoring (Comment 21) : If the rumour is true, perhaps they don’t mind the salary offer?
@Bokhoring (Comment 20) : Not that Bissie is a role model, with regards to throwing in at lineouts. been very inconsistent at crucial times.
@KingCheetah (Comment 23) : Agreed, but compared to the rest of the Sharks hookers he is a dead eyed marksman.
@John Galt (Comment 15) : free up some money to allow the recruitment of at least 4 good youngsters.
@Bokhoring (Comment 24) : For sure, the hater will hate, yet they will be the first to moan about how bad our youngsters and coaches are once they have left.
@Feather (Comment 18) : Be it as it may, “Die Manne” makes a huge difference to the Sharks team. Something that cannot be said about any of their deputies.
Have a cool trip Rob. Atlanta is a nice city. I have family there. Take care.
Thought you guys might enjoy these big hits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mjmmgjyNFI&feature=youtu.be
Why isn’t Werner Kok a Shark?
Say what you want, imply what you want, but the Sharks are a bunch of individuals. Until the mix is correct we will never win anything. In the same bracket are Kanko, JP, Steyn…
@Feather (Comment 31) : Team work is something we need to work on.
Read the article by Mallett on sports24 about how NZ coaches differ to their SA counterparts.
@StevieS (Comment 32) : I’d seen it. Mallett was always our most intelligent, forward thinking coach. Oh for more like him.
@Feather (Comment 33) : Without the ego though lol
@StevieS (Comment 32) : Although his comments focus more on the fact that Kiwi teams practices put more emphasis on match day situations as opposed to drilling pre-planned moves as SA teams do.
@Bokhoring (Comment 35) : True, but it’s something we in SA need to do more. If Plan A doesn’t work then we don’t know what to do.
@StevieS (Comment 32) : Link please?
@vanmartin (Comment 37) : http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Super15/Mallett-Coaching-in-NZ-differs-from-SA-20150518
Worth a read and makes sense when you look at how the NZ teams play.
@StevieS (Comment 38) : Thanks!
@vanmartin (Comment 39) : My pleasure.
My first post using the SW app on Cyanogen 5.1.1. Running well so far