This big coastal derby takes place at Kings Park today.
Kick-off in Durban is at 17h05.
Sharks: 15 Odwa Ndungane, 14 Wandile Mjekevu, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Francois Kleinhans, 5 Marco Wentzel (captain), 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Gerhard Engelbrecht, 2 Monde Hadebe, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Dave McDuling, 19 Christiaan de Bruyn, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Heimar Williams, 22 Garth April.
Western Province: 15. Cheslin Kolbe, 14. Dillyn Leyds, 13. Johnny Kotze, 12. Huw Jones(starting debut for WP), 11. Seabelo Senatla, 10. Rob du Preez, 9. Nic Groom (captain), 8. Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7. Rynhardt Elstadt, 6. Chris Cloete, 5. Ruan Botha, 4. Jean Kleyn, 3. Wilco Louw, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 1. Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16. Bongi Mbonambi, 17. Oli Kebble, 18. Chris van Zyl, 19. Jurie van Vuuren, 20. Jano Vermaak, 21. Demitri Catrakilis, 22. Kobus van Wyk
Tweet
Hope sometimes feels foolish but (1) it’s the Sharks and I’m not going to hope in another team and (2) there are nervous province fans out there right now. And wouldn’t it be lovely to have 3 in a row; the world might almost make sense for a night
Hope I can find a working stream for this one. Go Sharks!
Right, are we ready for this?
@vanmartin (Comment 3) : YES YES YES!!!!!!
GO SHARKS!!!!!
Wow let’s hope the team has the same desire as the fans for a win!
I know these commemorative jerseys can be a distraction and all but man this one is pretty! Would love to own one.
@vanmartin (Comment 6) : Me to!
Now let’s see how the Sharks scrum!!!!!
3-0 Sharks after 3min.
Penalty WP. Going for touch.
WP try in the corner.
7-3 WP after 7min.
Nice steal from Thomas leads to Sharks penalty.
Another penalty to the Sharks. 7-6 WP after 10min.
Penalty to WP. 10-6 WP lead after 12min.
Sharks giving away to many penalties!!!!
Cobus is a dida
Cobus is a disaster. He has no feel for the game at all. As a result he doesn’t know his next move. Hence the pause at every ruck
25 kicks from hand in 20 minutes. That’s what’s wrong with SA rugby.
Some huge Sharks legends in the crowd!!!!
Very cool to see Frederico Mendez there! Did he cone over just for the anniversary or is he assisting with our scrum?
Another penalty to the Sharks as Thomas gets over the ball!
Man our lineouts are a mess
Sharks forwards doing good to make ground but then they lose it again. Sharks lucky to get a penalty. 10-9 WP leads after 27min.
We are playing better overall but eish the finishing
Plumtree also there
@ChrisS (Comment 21) : must say some great Sharks legends in to watch the game!!!
@sharks_lover (Comment 26) : I thought that was him. Come back Plum!
@sharks_lover (Comment 26) : ja well he is a Sharks legend!!
@JD (Comment 27) : Wish that we could put some of them on the field! I think they would make a difference! Lol
Silly play by Reinach!
Bit silly by Jordaan to dive on Kolbe.
@coolfusion (Comment 28) : only if he’s assistant coach – he was and will always be a very average head coach.
Fuck off with the stupid kicks! Holy shit man!!!
Please keep us updated on the score
@ChrisS (Comment 30) : ja brings back some seriously good memories of Sharks hearing all those names!!!
10-9 WP leads after 34min.
Andre running over players and he scores in the corner!!!
@JD (Comment 36) : I wonder why more of them aren’t involved in coaching. Some serious intellectual property there!
Well done by Marco to keep him in!!!!
Great try!
Much better!!
Sharks lead!!!! 14-10 after 36min.
@JD (Comment 40) : Yup good support play. Stayed bound
Very smart play by Wentzel to keep Esterhuizen in the field of play!
Marco wentzel deserves credit for that try as well…
@JD (Comment 40) : nice to see that. Shows smarts!
Not a knock-on!
Hell if you lose the ball it’s seen as a knock on even if it goes backwards!!!
@Hmmm (Comment 46) : Definitely! Very good play!
Wow what a strong run by du Preez!!!!!!
Amazing run by Du Preez! Remind me of a movie I watched recently…HULK SMASH!!!
There was no way that was a knock….
Reffing today a bit wishy-washy…got a number of calls wrong!!!
Joe going for poles. Sharks lead 17-10 at halftime.
@ChrisS (Comment 52) : Andre also been watching that movie!!!!
Joe Pietersen is a footballer of note.
@Hmmm (Comment 53) : To be fair, it might have been an assistant ref call.
Must say not a perfect performance by the Sharks but waaaaayyyyyy better than in the previous games!!!!
Pick and go is good. Offloads good. So far I am a happy camper.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 56) : ja very glad Sharks signed him!!!! All of a sudden Andre is a monster again!!!
@ChrisS (Comment 52) : Hulk Smash du Preez. Yeah, that works!
@ChrisS (Comment 48) : @JD (Comment 49) : @Hmmm (Comment 53) : Knock on in my opinion. Ball went forward from his hand, but momentum took it back.
I think beter from us and ref been ok in my book
Our set pieces are struggling though.
Let’s see if we can finish this game off. We will need a very strong second half showing.
@Ben (Comment 62) : ball fell behind where he’s hands touched it so it can’t be a knock on. For a knock on the ball must fall forwards and touch the ground in front of the place where his hands touched it.
Nic attacking defence by the Sharks until conceded the penalty.
WP scores under the poles. 17-17 after 43min.
And so the Sharks lineout goes missing again!!!!
Must say Kolbe looking good.
Beautiful try WP!
Easy score again for WP!!! WHAT HAPPEND TO THE SHARKS AT HALFTIME?!?!!!
You cannot win if you tight 5 is crap
WP leading 24-17 after 47min.
And my stream has vanished. Showing bloody tennis now! đ
Fuck Sharks seems as if they fell asleep during the break!!!!
After oosrhuizen hit rasta he has been very much against us. Reinach not helping at all
Great run by the old man!!!
@Ben (Comment 75) : be glad Sharks are shit at the moment!!!!
Hooker weak, TH weak, both locks weak ffs
WP leads 24-20 after 51min.
Perfect quick ball and Reinach has ONE player to pass to. WTF!!!!
Marais on.
Mjakevu is nowhere
WP getting over our line seemingly at will.
Fact is we do not have the players, yes playing beter but still poor
WP score another try!!!! 31-20 after 53min. So WP scores 21 points in 13 min?!?!?!?!
21-3 to WP this half
@sharks_lover (Comment 84) : hell he’s bad!!!! Wondering if Kabous vd Westhuizen can’t play?!?!!!
Second penalty not kicked out by Pietersen.
One team wants to play rugby and the other just kicks the ball away aimlessly. Sharks are hondkak I am afraid.
Game over for us it seems
Sharks has been no where since halftime!!!!!!!! Great 40 min and then nothing!!!!!!! Think it’s time for me to move on. Good night folks!!!!!!
I am so glad the WC is starting next week. I can’t watch this shit anymore.
That was not a penalty….Bongi never had his hand on the ball….
Another ‘special jersey’ occasion seems to be going for a ball of shit.
Pietersen playing alone it seems. Where is the mid field?
I didn’t see daylight there.
Stop chasing 3 points now time is against us.
@JD (Comment 93) : Great 40 mins???? Shit 30 mins then a decent 10. That’s it!
That’s 12 ruck penalties against WP and no yellow wtf
So thats about the 30th red zone penalty
As a Lions fan….the 1 player I have never been sad in losing is Mjekevu….
What a try by the old man. Bit of better play by the Sharks.
Odwa! Tell me again he was a bad pick.
Ndugane having a good game under circumstances
Sharky putting a tackle in on Odwa…
@Hmmm (Comment 103) : I wonder why?!?!?!?!
@Hmmm (Comment 103) : agree 100%
Nice try Odwa, but one gets the feeling WP will just come back after the restart with a score of their own.
WP leads 34-27 after 61min.
Odwa making me look like a dick right now.
Did the Sharks awake from their sleep?!?!?!
Jordaan has been terrible. Can someone fucken teach him to pass?
Esterhuizen playing a powerful game…Jordaan not firing 100%….had some good moments but making silly errors as well….
@John Galt (Comment 112) : you did that all on your own John lol
@JD (Comment 108) : Cause the Lions make good purchaces?? lolz
@John Galt (Comment 112) : hahaha ja boet last year I was also calling for him to go and then I started to watch closely what he did during a game and quickly changed my perception of him.
Notshe had 1 good run but been terrible on defense….think he was bumpt off 5 or 6 times….even by a stationary Esterhuizen….
Wonder if Mendez is available to coach the scrum?!?!?! Fuck the way he looks he can still play for the Sharks!!!!
What has happened to the Sharks scrum the last while….
Sharks scrum gets absolutely demolished.
WP won’t complain about that handling error – means another scrum.
@Bokhoring (Comment 123) : if you own your opposition like they do you pray for handling errors!!!
Sithole not 100% either….the Sharks 2 best attackimg players Sithole and Jordaan are not on form today….
1st offence on Reinach late and no arms. Why no call?
Are our forwards just useless, or do we not have a scrum coach, or is it a combination of both?
Why is Claassens not in the field yet?!?!?!
Scrum coach and personnel for scrum sorely needed ….. hooker and lock especially
Forwards working hard with pick and drives and then they lose the ball AGAIN!!!!!!!!
@Mephisto_Shark (Comment 129) : props as well!!!!!
@Bokhoring (Comment 127) : The players are soft. They are playing for their paychecks at the end of the month. Nothing else!
@JD (Comment 130) : Pick and drive through 10 phases. That is looking for shit.
Gold takes his best and most physical backline player off ??
Latest score please
@JD (Comment 128) : Simple, the answer is Gary Gold.
@coolfusion (Comment 133) : Backline fucks up every move – so forwards have no choice
@Orlok Tsubodai (Comment 135) : 34-27
Reinach has made so many cockups but 75th minutes, he’s still on …… Gold does not have a bloody clue đ
What the hell was Pietersen thinking kicking that ball….what a moron….
As good as the Sharks looked in the first 40 so poor they looked in the second 40!!!!
WP deserve to win the game as they were way better in the second half!!!!!
Ek is skaam om myself n sharks supporter te noem. Die donerse blinde skool speel beter rugby. Eks oor die [email protected]!!! Smit en gold moet maar bedank!!!! What a disgrace đ
@Bokhoring (Comment 134) : Hy het n pudding brain
Wonder how long has Kebble left in his contract with WP?!?!!!
And yet another scrum penalty will surely win the game for WP. 37-27 with couple of min left!!!! Good night folks!!!!!;
We deserved to lose, and no not the Refs fault, we are not up to scratch
Wp props keep scrumming in. Our props are bad but look worse thanks to rasta what an useless idiot
GAME OVER! well done WP! Sharks should move down to 1st Devision. IDIOTS!!!!
‘Brave Sharks go down in Durban’ đ
@jdolivier (Comment 147) : Seriously?
Thanks guys
Dear John Smit.
Please take Gary Gold’s hand and fuck off. The both of you.
Thanks
From a fed up Sharks supporter.
It is no coincidence Kevin Putt is at the stadium today, because I am afraid we are back to his days in charge.
John Smit has driven this once great franchise to shit. I’ve lost all respect for him.
What a fucking embarrassment having this clueless team playing in front of the heroes like Teich and co
I would have Claasens in and moved Reinach to wing. Or esterhuizen wing and Heimar in.
I couldn’t watch the game today but I think I have read enough to say….
GOLD OUT!
Joe Pietersen. If only we had 3 more of you in our backline. And Odwa too.
If anyone else feels Gold must go then hit me with a …
GOLD OUT!
Joe puetersen missed about 10 tackles
How can a team like the kings play valiantly at home and cause an upset. When a top 5 union like the sharks can’t even spell rugby let alone play the sport. Dock the players game fee for each loss and see the shit stop. Also include John Tit and Gary Golden handshake to this clause.
did petersen miss a penulty at the end ? I missed the last 5min
@revolverocelot (Comment 162) : Yes. He should not have kicked. Hobbled to the kick and never looked settled.
How Esterhuizen didn’t get man of the match is beyond me. That flank just had a good performance for someone eating grass the whole game.
GOLD (SMIT) OUT!!! Mxm I haven’t enjoyed this once beautiful game of rugby in a very long time… Thanks JS for all the wonderful things you’ve done for sharks rugby.
Sad really. You can see that a lot of work has been put in by the boys and they are trying to speed up their game. The challenge is that they just look a season behind everybody else. Effort and hunger was a 100%. What messes them up are the tactics and coaching. We’ve got the players.
10 piss poor minute cost a potential tight win.
Same as last year, our forwards arw nowhere. Monde has had too many chances and is really costing a lot of momentum with lineouts and scrums.
We need an experienced scrum coach as the province front row outplayed and used all the angles.
Tollie looked disinterested and both locks were unfortunately nowhere. Tight 5 cost this game
@Orlok Tsubodai (Comment 159) : GOLD (SMIT) OUT!!
@Stiko85 (Comment 168) : nice one buddy, it’s time this clarion call becomes a hurricane of shit which the Sharks cannot avoid hearing… keep it up
GOLD OUT!
@GreatSharksays (Comment 166) : don’t think we really have the players to be honest. We got destroyed in the scrums and the line outs. Can’t win games if you can’t win your own ball.
Not trying to exempt gold from doing a poor job, but if you look at the squads on paper, the Sharks don’t have a top squad, we’re average, and playing to expectation. We need to address the issues of poor recruitment of experienced players and why the academy isn’t producing enough quality players
What an absolute disgrace
@RuckingFun (Comment 171) : fully agreed
We will probably squeek one against the Kwas at home, but I can’t see us winning any other games for the rest of the Currie Cup. The ease with which WP scored their tries were just shocking.
@Stiko85 (Comment 165) : You should thank the board who appointed an ex-player with zero / nada /zilch experience as the CEO of a major rugby union.
@RuckingFun (Comment 171) : I would like the following for now as additions as the good juniors will need another two seasons:
Herbst, Kebble and Burden for front row
Paul Williams, Klein and Kanko (5) as locks
William Small Smith to solve our 13 issue. Jordaan ans SP could supplement Willie, Sbura and Lwazi
The pack needs to get some mongrel asap!
@Bokhoring (Comment 175) : talking of the board is Doc Louw is on board?
Maybe Nick Mallet should come out and say that the board of the Sharks approached him about the CEO position at the Sharks.
What a complete waste of an evening,not even pissed off anymore just very depressed.
We were beaten by an average team,and although our youngsters tried hard,du Preez was magnificent,Esterhuizen too,there wan’t much else.
How that Moron Gold could wait till 78 minutes to bring on Claasens is beyond me.
Reinarch must go ,Wentzel must go , Oosthuizen must go that prop must go,Hadebe must go,but most of all people Gold must fuck off.
@durbsguy (Comment 177) : Sorry – don’t know
@RuckingFun (Comment 171) : I agree with most of what you say,but we have recruited well recently,Peterson,Claasens,Willie and Coenie and we have great youngsters that we have produced,the twins Thomas,Eesterhuizen,Jordan,Sithole,
They are just so badly managed.
@The hound (Comment 179) : You sound upset
@The hound (Comment 179) : Reinach just had his world cup spot stolen from him, so come on. If it wasn’t for Marco we’d be worse off by a lot, he’s given his all. Oosthiuzen and hadebe was useless though.
Cant win a game without set pieces. Scrums and lineouts was so bad it, robbed any chance of stability or momentum.
Oosthuizen and Hadebe has had enough chances and we surely cant do worse in these departments. Back row cant compete with the poor base this team has.
We are competing for 4th and will have to beat Cheetahs twice
Shit guys, cant the team for once look like they have some fun?
The confidence is so low and every mistake seems to make it worse.
Scew the season, just go out and have fun.
Sorry to say but jeez the Bulls Lions game is showing how big the difference in class is
The size of the Bulls locks are humongous compared to our stock. Bulls front row probably similar to ours.
Sharks tight 5 is really weak and probably ranks 6 or 7 in the comp. Therein lies the crux unfortunately.
Kleynhans, Dup x2 and Vd Walt cant do much going backward the whole game.
Joe P keeping Sharks in contention of a semi.
@Dragnipur (Comment 183) : Jow much has Marco played this year? His play unfortunately looks his age currently.
Surely the two unknowns in McDuling and De Bruyn (?) cannot do worse than Marco and Oosthuizen.
Doing the more of the same will not help unfortunately and some inspired / bold decisions are required.
So much legends there today, surely they can add value. Jeepers enough is now enough.
Have fun and give your all and no one can complain ( including mgmt in this). The squad is not in the top 2 but they are not performing anywhere close to even 70% of ability.
Hard times… Can the Phoenix rise again?
@Dragnipur (Comment 183) : Are you sure it was stolen? Two forward passes by him for the Boks in 2 separate matches not to mention his slow game. Sorry, Cobus isn’t good enough at the moment. His core skills at 9 are poor. Put it this way, I would kill to have Cronje back from the Lions.
Bulls vs Lions = high class entertainment. Hopefully our Ceo took notes and compared the crowd numbers…
Bulls/Lions…..what a game.
A bit of promise…and then poof! đ
@GreatSharksays (Comment 188) : Symptoms of playing in an environment where there is no confidence. How many games this year has he played in a loosing team? Surely close 80+ % for Sharks and Boks this year.
A little confidence will do him world of good but Claasens should be starting. Same with Jordaan. Jake viewed them as the two key strike runners but they look shadows of themselves.
They need a kop dokter ASAP. Kobus Neethling needs to be involved ASAP. Seen his work firsthand and he and Naas has done research of the brain profiles of ideal players per position. Wonder where Reinach would match up? Wing vs Scrummie vs Fullback?
@Kabouter (Comment 184) : We only play Cheetahs once I think…but your point is spot on…
@Ben (Comment 178) :
@pastorshark (Comment 191) : Poof is sugar coating it. Implosion more accurate. Scary part this now becoming a pattern. Lions, Kings and WP all had these periods of utter crap / going to sleep. Resulted in two losses and damn lucky not three.
Same vs Waraths and Canes in SR. Dammit, there is clearly a problem in the team syche.
Smit, time to earn your mettle and step in and show those famed leadership ability and rugby brain. Gold not up to up and as Orlok says GOLD OUT!
@capesharks (Comment 142) : Goeie bliksem, kan nie beter stel nie. Daar was soveel meer passie in die leeg NMB stadium Vrydag, maar dit was vet pret. Hierdie bollie dryf selfs my laaitie tot skaamte as ek hom sy trui laat aantrek op Saterdae.
Genoeg is nou genoeg! Sorteer die gemors uit of moet die ondersteuners petiesies / sit stakings begin voor Smit / raad intree?
That performance was absolutely abysmal – Sharks lost the game those first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. One wonders whether they were drinking champagne with the Sharks legends at half time… What a poor display on the 125th anniversary of the NRU, no way to honour that and those Sharks legends present.
Fact is very few of the current Sharks team are good enough to polish the old Sharks’ shoes. Let’s not kid ourselves about “improving” or the result being “closer than expected”, we lost meekly to a very average WP team…
Pietersen was one of the few backs to perform, but was still the second best fly half on the park, behind the rookie Du Preez, which puts things in context…
@Le Req (Comment 197) : Glad you’re alive, though. On the upside.
Barely after that performance…. đ„
Howdy Rob, been a long time! All well with you (apart from the Sharks)?
Just had to vent after the season the Sharks have had, the lack of improvement etc. Seeing those old Sharks at the game brought back good memories, made me nostalgic of the good ol days where the Sharks Jersey was actually worn with pride.
@Kabouter (Comment 195) : Poof was my attempted imitation of an implosion…
rob du preez looked good, kicked well, passed well to create the deyln leyd try, had a nice chip and regather. So we let that kid go an fred leave so we could have a depth chart behind lambie of cronje, pietersen, inncy and willie
@revolverocelot (Comment 201) : Ar that time it was viewed by Jake as:
Pat
Frans
Tim
Fred
Lionel
If memory is correct, he wanted to play so went to Maties on loan and then asked to be allowed to leave. We also lost JL Du Plessis same time. Yip, we lost out badly with those two plus Fred’s implosion and Tim heading to England.
Inny is some light in the darkness but same as with locks, we went from overstocked to completely nothing
@revolverocelot (Comment 201) : Fred always had to go. He has no BMT and don’t regret we let him go. My problem was letting Robert go for Tim. The way I saw it then was that Robert should have been groomed to back Lambie up. Never understood why we released him. Problem is Fred was Everitt’s pet project which blinded him to the obvious. Smit,#bringbackRobert.
I am trying to understand how people are saying Pietersen had a good game? a shining light one said??
He missed around 10 tackles, he never once hit the gain line, he just passed as quickly as possible so the WP defence had no problem knowing what to do.
Then you see flyhalves from other provinces????? oh hell we are in groot KAK.
Only ODWA,( for John Galt)
and Esterhuizen had good game from a backline point of view
Only Thomas, VD Walt and JL du Preez were solid amongst the forwards. 5 out of 15
How do we expect top win when you have 5 out of 15 on the field performing?????
My team ratings:
15 Odwa 7
14 Mjakevu 3
13 Jordaan 5
12 Esterhuizen 7
11 Sbura 4
10 PIetersen 4
09 Reinach 4
08 VD Walt 6
07 Du Preez 7
06 Franna 6
05 Wentzel 3
04 Oosthuizen 2
03 Engelbrecht 3
02 Monde 1 1/2
01 Thomas 6
16 Marais 5
17 Chadwick played only 3 minutes
18 Aussie McDuling 4
19 De Bruyn, did not play long enough or was invisible to me đ
20 Claasens 6, Looked sharp when he came on
21 Williams, DNPLE
22 April, DNPLE
Our recruitment surely needs to improve asap and make decisions that make sense. But we can’t ignore the fact that we actually have a good squad at our disposal. Not the best but a good squad. When Mitchell took over the Lions 4 years ago he had a very young side which destroyed our big name side in the CC final. It all boils down to coaching. Just compare how the Lions and Bulls ruck to the way we ruck. It’s like day and night. Look at the fluidity of their game compared with our stop start and handling errors type of game. How we train is how we play. If knockons and a slow game is tolerated during training then expect the same during the match.
Let’s do the math:
Ungerer and Cronje combo – Sharks lose
Claasens and Cronje combo – Sharks lose
Reinach and Cronje combo – Sharks lose
…time to drop Cronje
Reinach and Pietersen combo – Sharks lose
…time to drop Reinach
Claasens and Pietersen combo – (probably another Sharks loss)
Gold’s conclusion: The problem has to be with our halfback combo đ
What a coach!
GOLD OUT!
@FireTheLooser (Comment 208) : Hi Fires, fact is we do not have great playing personnel either, We do not have a quality 10 as backup, we do not have good wings
I have kinda kept quiet when people rave about Sbura, once in a blue moon he shows some class but other then that??
Reinach to be honest is a little up and down,
Centers? only Esterhuizen is showing any form so far
Mjakevu?? oh hell can we all pay to see him go back to France?? left here before like a spoilt child whining, show me where he has shown any class as a player?? With him I will use the word Useless.
Odwa? pity we did not have 5 more Odwa’s in our backline yesterday
Pietersen is ok, but to slow too small, no defence, yesterday they ran all over him.
This is just backline issues. đ
@Bokhoring (Comment 137) : No argument.
Lets go through the Sharks purchases of late.
Coenie, might never play TH again, who knows how long he will stay match fit?
Willie, OK purchase
Joe? running from team to team as he is at the end of his road,poor buy
Mjakevu? Poor buy
Vd Walt, OK buy
Potgieter OK buy
Claasens, OK buy but also at the end of his road, maybe another season.
Engelbrecht, Still young so maybe OK
Cronje, Run from franchise to franchise, never reached any potential.
Cannot think of the other young props name but he too still very young so who knows?
McDuling? till now a poor buy.
@byron (Comment 160) : At least he was there to make the tackles. The rest of the midfield just dissappeared.
Now if one must put together a list of players lost in the last 1 to 2 years it is scary, we are replacing top players with 3rd grade players, even Potgieter is a now and then I will have a good game player.
And add to that a poor coach?? and a CEO that is losing it or never had it??? WALLLLLAHHHHHHH you have it we are in SHIT
@coolfusion (Comment 212) : Nope mate, Esterhuizen and Odwa were the only 2 putting their bodies on the line, Jordaan was not to bad defensively, but was poor on attack and distribution.
The hooker situation also needs to be adressed urgently. Vd Merwe should start but we need better. Line outs were best guess efforts scrum was barely holding together. I don’t see us getting there this season. Gold must be out of ideas and still no joy. Forwards looked the business in first half bar the set pieces.
I can’t believe the line that we have a team full of losers. The common denominator is coaching no matter what combos we throw at it.
@coolfusion (Comment 216) : Sorry Cool, but the players are just as much to blame, Yes the coach is not great but was he on the field? there is no HEART in this team.
@sharks_lover (Comment 217) : “there is no HEART in this team.”
That to me points to a coaching problem.
@sharks_lover (Comment 217) : Read this.
Gary Gold has confirmed that Friday nightâs friendly against the Lions in Maritzburg will see a large group of players afforded game time, with the coach set to change his team entirely at half time.
âMost guys will get 40 minutes,â said Gold yesterday, âso youâll see us rotate at half time. We hopefully wonât have chopping and changing but will do a clean swap over, so youâll get to see a guy play a full 40 minutes.â
With nearly half of the squad of the squad representing the Sharks for the first time in Currie Cup, Gold admitted that a large focus of last weekâs camp on the South Coast was to ensure cohesion. âThereâs been a really big clean out and weâve had to do a lot of work on that. A lot of guys havenât met each other before and the week was less about or players and playing styles and more about what we want to be about and what we want to produce.â
âforgetting about playing styles â and all of that â the issue is about the hunger and the desire. All I really want Sharks supporters to see is that this is a team that comes out with that hunger and desire. Weâve seen it again this year with the Lions â they were given absolutely no chance in Super Rugby but they came out of it with credibility because of the way they played the game. Thatâs all I want us to do, is to play to 100% of our potential 100% of the time. Then, I think, with this group of players we should win a lot more games than we lose; if we win it, we win it and if we donât, we donât, but that is the minimum requirement.
âIâm trying to stay away from buzzwords here, but we have to play with that intensity â that people go âjeez, these guys want to play and they want to play for this jerseyâ. Thatâs what I can control.â
Gold confirmed that a captain will be announced next week, with Jean Deysel and Marco Wentzel the most obvious candidates. He also confirmed that Pieter-Steph du Toit will play on Friday, saying âI donât know what SARUâs plan is, but our plan is that heâs currently contracted to us and weâre going to play him as long as heâs with us. Iâm really excited to have him back.â
@sharks_lover (Comment 217) : @Ben (Comment 219) : âIâm trying to stay away from buzzwords here, but we have to play with that intensity â that people go âjeez, these guys want to play and they want to play for this jerseyâ. Thatâs what I can control.â
That is what he can control? The guy is failing miserably. Gary Gold is the issue, not the players.
Here’s a link to that article.
http://www.sharksworld.co.za/2015/07/28/two-sharks-teams-to-get-40-each/
A lack of “heart” suggests apathetic players and that fault lies with the team manager – it suggests they either have no faith in his ability, tactics and methods or they collectively cannot understand him or they feel he is a buddy and there are no consequences for not giving everything.
All of these are problems which can be laid at Gold’s door. Sure, the players must be questioned too (and they will all be tarnished by this Gold tenure). But bring in a new (competent) coach and watch these same players transform overnight. Something just stinks about Gold.
GOLD OUT!
@sharks_lover (Comment 211) : vd Walt is a good buy! Problem is the tight five is like an Italian battle tank at the moment (much like the Cheetahs) 5 reverse gears, and one forward gear đ
@KingCheetah (Comment 224) : Joe Pietersen was a good buy too.
I am sorry, but i cannot agree with the statement that the players in the Shark’s squad are not good enough and we need to go out and buy a whole lot of new guys. Any coach (and management) worth his salt will take whatever talent he has at his disposal and turn them into a cohesive unit. Look at Johan Ackerman at the Lions and Jimmy Stonehouse at the Pumas, they took what they had available and through proper coaching and leadership molded the players into a team with the necessary skills and befief in themselves. Look at a player like Ross Cronje. Nothing wrong with him as a player, but he is a journeyman at best, certainly not a superstar. Yet, with decent coaching at the Lions he is turning out performances far superior to that of both Ungerer and Reinach, yet I would argue that these two have far more natural talent than Cronje.
Going out and buying more players is not the solution, we have a great bunch of players already, all we need is a coach and a management team that is able to inspire them and get the best out of them. Clearly Gary Gold is not managing to do this.
I said this a couple of months ago and pissed most commentators on this site off quite badly.
The Sharks lack a collective culture (that I cannot identify as an outsider) to which everyone buys into and believe.
You are asking things of them and they don’t know how to achieve, not because they do not want to (no team or coach does this stuff to lose, they all want to win), but they are struggling to find the base formula around which to go about it (culture/values).
In rugby there is something often referred to as a ‘default play’, it is your go-to play when what you try doesn’t work out so lekker.
It is the play you are 99% assured of will get you results and has the least amount of risk.
Default plays are often built around the collective strength of a team, the one thing you are shit good at.
It is the type of play that traditionally defines your team, the one thing every opposition team knows about but can do little to disrupt. Default plays does not necessarily end up in points, in fact, they seldom do – but it is the play which allows you to CTRL-ALT-DEL as a team, re-assess, and get back into things.
The Sharks now are trying everything (I am not talking on the field of play here), and the more stuff don’t work the more desperate they are getting and the more desperate they are getting the more fearful they become. It is when this happens that you need to calm the hell down, and go back to your ‘default play’ – take a breath, take a step back, and talk a language and perform actions that everyone immediately associates with, understands, and trusts.
This is your team culture, values, and ethos.
Without it you are like a treasure hunter with half a map. All you see is the starting point and the spot marked X, but no points of reference (familiarity, knowing) to guide you.
This team needs to find its points of reference, its familiarity, its default play – the culture around which everything is build.
@jonnow (Comment 226) :
Currently the players are not good enough…
Some like Lionel Cronje may never be good enough (think cowardly shy away from ball vs Kings), some may well be but are lacking confidence/additional focus and work on certain elements of their play (ie throw ins and line outs). Latter 2 would undoubtedly be due to coaching…
Something that add weight (literally) to the coaching point is Lardy Stevens game for Toulon yesterday. He played better than he ever did for the Sharks and looked like he’d manage to shift a bit weight too. Maybe someone told him to improve his conditioning, which could only ever improve his play.
@MornĂ© (Comment 227) : yes but that to me is the main problem for the Sharks is that the default culture had to change,from proverbial runners up/chockers/chillout culture and no SR trophy to a true,proper professional WINNING culture,a 180 degree turn ,the entire franchise that is,Jake was a start but hey let’s get rid of him and now we just clueless about everything and my view as stated before is that a hardcore,autocratic heavy weight coach is needed to drive change both upwards as well as downstream ,until then all we have will be an absolute disgrace
@Quinnyshark (Comment 228) : yes average players,no depth,massive expectation,recipe for an absolue disgrace
@sharks_lover (Comment 211) : that sums it up isn’t it,it is what it is,average players at best
@jonnow (Comment 226) : Yup my sentiment too.
What is easier to replace one underperforming coach or a team of underperforming players?
@Ben (Comment 225) : Agree. But it seems he has do all the work and then we complain about how many tackles he missed. He is good he just needs a team who play at a higher level.
I would really like it if Gary Gold doesn’t say a thing this week in the media, nor Ryan Strudwick, nor Sean Everitt. There is no force behind their statements. I’m not sure this season that they have earned the right for people to listen to them. The Sharks play the lions in Joburg and as night follows day they will lose. Is there a question in anyone’s mind about this? Should the Sharks win at some point in the remainder of the competition, then they can start talking. I’m not even sure I want to watch the embarrassment that will be our portion on Saturday coming. At least the Kings showed enough fight to win on Saturday just past. How the flip did we end up here?
@sharks_lover (Comment 209) : The team seems plan-less.
I don’t think Gold knows which tactics he expects the players to execute on game night.
No amount of talented players will ever turn Gold into a half-decent coach.
He has an average record at every team he had ever coached – and at the Sharks currently, an average coach will be slaughtered.
Also, Smit’s dream of turning the Sharks coaching structures into what you find in the English leagues is a complete failure – making an average coach DOR, and then employing nobody coaches to execute the plan has failed miserably.
Smit is still keeping the boardroom happy with sponsorships, but soon these too will dry up, and then Smit will also be called to book, unless he finds a decent coach very very very soon.
@Quinnyshark (Comment 228) : please stick around, Q! We need all the voices to speak as one this week.
@Orlok Tsubodai (Comment 222) : Agree.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 236) : Lol…..”No amount of talented players will ever make Gold a half decent coach.” Hahaha…Gold is a trojan horse planted by all the coaches Smit screwed over. Who knows, maybe Venter also feels screwed over by Smit.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 239) : Judging by the number of quality coaches breaking down Sharks gates to get the head coach gig (spot the sarcasm), Smit is clearly not the flavour of the day at the coaching fraternity….
….so you may well be onto something there. đ
As a Sharks fan I expect the boys to win their home matches against the likes of the Bulls, WP and Lions and to have at least an even chance of beating these same teams away.
But against the Lions next weekend, I think they have zero chance.
Against WP at home yesterday I expected the Sharks to lose.
This is unacceptable. How far Gold has sunk this team…
GOLD OUT!