A critical game for both teams at Kings Park today, with interim supremacy in the Africa 2 conference at stake.
Gary Gold has repeatedly stated that he needs his charges to take their opportunities better, to execute well and make good decisions once they are in prime attacking territory. Against the Lions, one feels the Sharks should perhaps enjoy a number of opportunities, particularly if their strong defensive game comes to the fore once more. Whether the home side is able to profit from those moments is the big question.
There is little doubt that the Lions will bring their typical high-risk helter-skelter style of rugby into this encounter. Should the Sharks allow them the space and time to get that game going, it could be a long afternoon for the men in black.
Kick-off in Durban is at 17h05.
Sharks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Tendai Mtawarira (captain).
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Keegan Daniel, 21 Michael Claassens, 22 Garth April, 23 Odwa Ndungane
Lions : 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Warren Whiteley (c), 7 Warwick Tecklenburg, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira/Lourens Erasmus, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Dylan Smith.
Replacements: 16 Armand van der Merwe, 17 Corné Fourie, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Ackermann, 20 Cyle Brink, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Howard Mnisi.
Tweet
Well there is almost no reason humidity here at the Tank, so that won’t be an excuse for bad handeling
@KingRiaan (Comment 1) : good luck Sharks!
Lewies out, Andrews to start with Giant coming onto the bench
@KingRiaan (Comment 3) : Hope it’s nothing serious.
Go Sharks!
@Ben (Comment 4) : The same here, hopefully Gold would let us know in the post game conference
The Sharks got this Matthew Mole dude to sing before the game, geez this dude is so depressing, totally bummed out the atmosphere
Good luck Shark supporters.
So nice that my side has finished for the weekend, so I can sit with a something cold in hand, ready to put some meat on the grill, and have no stress or worries 😆
Big result this for both teams
Purrty rugby vs. Smart rugby…..which will come out on top?
@FireTheLooser (Comment 9) :
My money is on smart
@KingRiaan (Comment 7) : wrong genre
Wonderful. A try butchered already.
What a start for the Sharks!
Pass was a mile forward
So far forward
Lions score under the posts
Lions 7 – 0 Sharks (15min)
Have the Sharks forgotten how to hook? Scrummy can’t get the ball from under the locks feet?
Well it seems as if the scrums is not fix!!!
@Bokhoring (Comment 18) : silly mistake!!!
@Bokhoring (Comment 18) : We’re getting our arses handed to us in the scrum, so Marais is pushing instead of hooking.
10-0 Lions after 19min.
10-0. Game is starting to get away from the Sharks.
Lions 10 – 0 Sharks (20 min)
Sharks better wake up and start playing rugby!!!
Coenie needs to be pulled
Sure looks like Lions no.1 scrumming in.
V d Walt is causing us a lot of grief.
Sharks are really looking clueless!!!
@FireTheLooser (Comment 9) : That smart rugby is looking great…..
Too easy for the Lions at the moment.
@Nostraseth (Comment 30) :
Yep, and in my case, a fool and his money is soon parted.
Coenie pass you muppet!!!!
Nice attack until the ball got to Coenie, pity it couldn’t go further through the hands
@Nostraseth (Comment 30) : One side playing smart and purty. Not fair.
13-3
Good clearance from Joe.
What the fuck is going on with the Sharks?!?!?! Are they already on tour!?!?!?!
And now Marcell is going off!!!
@Bokhoring (Comment 37) : And then he drops the ball on his line.
For fuck sakes Gold, teach your players to catch the fucking ball!!!!
Jo Pietersen having a nightmare. First a stupid drop kick, then out on the full and now knocking it on our tryline. Jantjies has been streets better in just about every facet.
@JD (Comment 38) : Sharks pack is being monstered by the Lions and the pressure is working on the whole team.
Js sitting looking dumbfound!!!
Does Reinach know any of the laws???
Keegan on!
Marcel is a huge loss.
On the positive side the twins haven’t knocked on yet.
I’ll rather lose to a better team, than losing because of players not having basic skills.
@Bokhoring (Comment 43) : sorry to say but Sharks are letting the Lions monster them. There’s no reason why they can’t stand up to them!!!
Fuck they are useless
Coenie is being monstered.
Lions no.1 getting away with his illegal scrumming.
We had our good run up to the Stormers game, from there on in it’s downhill. Same old Sharks from last year.
20 – 3 coming up
O dear. Now the famous defence also goes walkabout.
The Sharks are really fucking pathetic!!! Wake the fuck up!!!
We need a new front row
This really shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Difficult times for Sharks fans…so hard not to get overly emotional.
Surely they made contact with 1 red player there?
The thing is this is no different to how we have been playing, we just not being carried by the defence this time round.
Finally
Fuck’s sake! Just stay in the changing room for the rest of the game.
Can see why the Sharks kick every ball away. These guys have lots of work to do on handling.
And Adriaanse makes a immediate impact!
Adriaanse needs to start every week. The scrums always improve when he comes on
Lourens makes a huge difference at tight head. Can Coenie just move back to loose head please?
Why not go for touch… You’re allowed to now.
2015 all over again!
18-6 half time. We can still win this
Don’t worry guys. Apparently we’re on an upward curve.
No further comment. 🙄
18-6 Lions leads halftime. Wonder if the Sharks can catch a wake up and maybe start playing in the second half!?!?!
@Nostraseth (Comment 69) : Because they won’t know what to do after the lineout.
Does Vodacom realize how rubbish that ad is?
@Ben (Comment 73) : not looking good at the moment!!! The most frustrating is the Sharks have the players to perform way better!!!
Hoping to see Beast living on the edge of legal scrimmaging in the 2nd half – ref clearly not clever to it.
Another wasted season and the tour of hell to come.
The only game the Sunwolves will win this year is against the Sharks.
Can someone give Gold Spur’s number urgently?
@Bokhoring (Comment 76) : apparently not!!! That advert is even worse than the Sharks first half performance!!!
@Bokhoring (Comment 76) : They probably realised they can’t out-rubbish the half-time “experts” with that as 😉
i knew the Lions are better than us but wow, their the fifth best NZ team thats how good they are
Too many selfish players in the Sharks. When are the guys going to understand team???
@FireTheLooser (Comment 83) : *ad
What kinda shyte forwards coach do we have that can’t teach players how to scrum. Let’s not even get into how rubbish of a player Coenie is. On par for useless with Cooper, if not worse.
Saying that, this ref seems full red blinkers …….
@GreatSharksays (Comment 85) : When we quit buying superstars
Do the Lions have better players than us, no. Do the have better skills than us, no. Do they have a better foundations than us, no. (all the excuses people use for NZ teams being better)
Do you know what have better than us, coaching.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 86) : Whoever came up with that Ad is an As (s)
Wherefore out there Lambie
That Coenie sub was 40 minutes too late
Ok vey
@Bokhoring (Comment 90) : Not sure which is worse, Sharks rugby today or that ad
For a team that has been poor,with some players bordering on abysmal (take a bow Coenie) they are still only trailing by 12.
They were outplayed for most of the 1st half, but are not finding themselves out of touch with the score.
Jordaan trying Mapoe’s idea and it works well.
Take the lineout man.
Scary thought, that might be the last time we ever see Marcell in a Sharks jersey.
Highlander’s came back from a bigger deficit this mornin and scored some tries to get close, this game can change very quickly.
Sharks need to score some tries though, and they need to score one first in this half
Reinach taking too much Ritalin before the game?
Discipline!!!!
@nortie (Comment 95) : Howzit, Norts, was wondering where you were lurking – didn’t think you could give up completely!
@Just For Kicks (Comment 102) :
Hi JFk, all good and your side?
21-9
Pathetic
11 phases must be a record for the Sharks.
Have absolutely no clue how to build an attack. How many points have we scored off phase play this season?….I can’t think of many.
That was poor, really poor.
Confidence has gone for a walkabout
@nortie (Comment 103) : Nice quiet afternoon. Kids away, wife at work, only problem is I am having to fetch my own beers.
Sharks need to relook at how they handle rucks. Ball is just not getting fast enough.
@Just For Kicks (Comment 109) :
Ha ha, that’s not right, ask Jake’s son, he is good at that job.
I sent you a mail.
Beast is losing his cool with the ref. Ref has no idea at the scrumsm
Lovely kick from Reinach on turnover ball.
Get Claassens on the bloody field!
@Bokhoring (Comment 113) :
That guy has no clue
How many turnover balls has Reinach kicked away????
Another wasted opportunity.
April adds a lot of urgency to the attack. Suddenly Willie also gets involved.
Looking tons better with April
@nortie (Comment 115) : I am trying to be positive 🙂
Another wrong decision by this ref .. ut is a penalty to luft a player off his feet and hold him there to form a ruck
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 116) : Then look at how kiwis exploit turnover ball and how a lot of their tries are scored from turnover and not kicking that possession away.
Sharks… sal julle asb grond toe gaan in die tackle. Daar was nou al 6 tackle turnovers. Leer net forfucksakes
@FireTheLooser (Comment 122) : Another typical SA trait to kick away turnover possession
Bleddie goeie exit lions. Well done!!!
@Bokhoring (Comment 120) :
Not sure how, the Sharks are playing poorly, they’re not being smashed on the scoreboard, so there’s hope, but it doesn’t look like something will happen.
Poor decision making at crucial times
@nortie (Comment 111) : Replied
@SharksRTB (Comment 125) : V d Walt has been very impressive.
Hahaha!! Ons isbaie kak vanaand
oh yay, here comes no lineout wins man ……
Good to see April come on when he can’t even catch a ball
Not straight before the knock mr ref
Too bad we can’t get some intercept tries. Because apart from that we have no attack.
Lions learning from the Kiwis. Taking penalty kicks 5m in front of the mark and getting away with it.
And every single mistake from the Sharks turns into the end of the Sharks world.
Attacking rugby vs crumble under pressure rugby 🙄
That should be a pebalty … hes gone straight through the tighthead
Faf’s on. We’re screwed.
Reinach does well to steal that ball.
@Bokhoring (Comment 68) : Can coenie just move on. Adriaanse not only better at scrum he actually works at getting the ball being on time for rucks. Coenie is fat and lazy and a mediocre scrummager.
Goeie exit reinach.. omtrent 15 meter.
Usually you only get 10
I’m more frustrated with the team tonight that what I have been in ages, they are lackluster and tires, see tollie walking around on the field after tackles, not concentration from them, a shit load of handeling errors, just plain Kaj all around
This is probably the worst performance so far this season
Sorry, but these guys don’t look as if they have a plan to win this game.
Sharks trying to run but not really sure of themselves. Just keep at it boys – intent is the start of any process.
Well it didn’t take long for the Gold curtain to drop and return all the fans to his mediocre and shyte style of clueless rugby. I wish more than him being the twit he is, for his fans to just shut up and see what the rest of us can see.
Less articles all over extolling Gold, more angry supporters to get him the hell out.
@SharksRTB (Comment 141) : It gets progressively worse every week. 🙄
Done, can’t even single out anyone that has played like a Shark tonight. To hell with them.
Cant catch a ball if someone pointed a gun at our heads
24-9
Let’s see the “character” now
So today the lack of a real attack gets exposed. No lucky steals, interecpts weak opponents nothing. I hope someone is paying attention we have no attack and no finish.
So much for entertainment value…I’m finding it increasingly difficult to justify why I watch the Sharks play.
I can get over losing, but a mistake ridden “performance” like this has me wondering why I bother.
Sharks just cannot keep the ball in the tackle.
Stupid late tackle from Andre on Jantjies.
The Lions deserve a bonus point victory
Games like this is why I won’t take the time to go to KP….lots of fans showed up to support the Sharks, and they are having to endure this.
Is it worth the hard earned money paid?
@FireTheLooser (Comment 155) : looks like a good turn out tonight, don’t think they gonna get that in a while again..
@FireTheLooser (Comment 155) : Those are the idiots keeping Gold in the pound seats. When people stop showing up and no articles get printed praising him, they might actually take note.
I can’t wait to hear the bullshit spin from Gold after this
@FireTheLooser (Comment 151) : You can see why the Sharks kick everything away. The guys have a lot of issues to resolve on attack. We can either hide them in a kick and defend game, or start working on them.
Keegan Daniel is playing like somebody that wants to represent the Sharks…a lone positive light in an otherwise dim performance.
Lions learnt how to defend after last week, Sharks have no clue at the moment.
They were hardly in the game, Lions sacrificed the all out attack for a more defense minded game.
They will probably get the bonus point try in the last 5 minutes.
Poor game by the home side.
It’s going to take some world class bullshittery to try and find the positives in this mess. I must ask why Hyron Andrews is the choice starting lock and Oosthuizen the starting tighthead.
5th time Andre lost the ball
André actually catches a ball but then looses it into contact.
Esterhuizen actually catches a pass just to piss it away in the tackle.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 160) : He has impressed. Slowed Lions ball down, pounces on loose ball.
They are allowed to stand up in the scrum… we are not…
Hhmm ref, you really dont like us there
Reg voor jou dondoosref
Willie was tackled without the ball. At least TMO sees it.
@Bokhoring (Comment 159) : We’re in deep trouble….all the blind passion in the world won’t fix this mess.
Issues need to be addressed, not hidden behind “character”.
Time for the coach to take responsibility, far too easy to tell us where the team failed….we need to know why they continue to fail – without blaming external factors such as ref, conditions, travel, girlfriends, price of KFC etc.
Hand on Willie you that.
At least we have Jonker on the payroll 😉
Mvovo falling over Jordaan just sums it up…
Hahaha!! Stopit asb!!! Ons verneder ons self
@FireTheLooser (Comment 170) : Players can’t do the basics. End of story. Time for skill coaches to earn their keep.
Fireworks??? What the fuck…
Best the Sharks can do: pass it into touch.
Just blow the whistle please ref!
Sharks send on the cavalry 😆
Think some of those kids might have put up a better show today
@Gold’s Member (Comment 173) : Hate to say, but you packed your purse and stormed off, vowing to never return….so much for that then.
Disgraceful.
@nortie (Comment 180) : Sure deserved wearing the black and white more than the boys masquerading as Sharks players.
Rugby lesson 101…
Sharks managed to make more than 6 passes there, Andre did not drop the ball and we made about 20 m with ball in hand.
Well the best way to describe this performance would be hond kak
It’s painful boys. Very painfull. I just hope Marcell is ok.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 183) :
I was surprised at the Sharks today, it was not just one of the worst Shark performances I’ve seen, but one of the worst performances of any team I’ve seen in a while.
Lions fully deserved their win, it’s not as if they were great either today, they were made to look good at times.
So there are going to be a lot of people complaining about the loss and how bad we were tonight but lets be honest to each other, the Sharks haven’t shown us anything aside from their defense in previous games(this one is useless to mention) to take them seriously. The whole character thing isn’t really showing to me, its more like a smoke screen. Look at some of the older more experienced guys faces. It’s not faces beaming with confidence or belief. Like I said, it’s not just about this game, it’s been there all along. Those who are surprised about this game wasn’t attending class in the previous ones.
Time to start with Claasens and April. Teach Andre to hold onto the ball. Look at our rucks.
Is the clown act not over yet. Worst fucking circus ever, only clowns and Lions.
That was pathetic. What a shame… i really didnt think we are still this KAK…. im in some disbelief that we are this KAK??? Are we really this KAK?
That was just awful. Can’t even score a single try at home. Poor poor effort
Thanks for the game Sharks. Good luck on tour. #Lions4Life
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 186) :
That pretty much sums it up.
@Quintin (Comment 189) : i do agree. But surely not this kak??? I knew we had lots of work, and probably only counting on defence to win a game. But not this ?
Can’t help but feel a little vindicated.
To lay down and take a beating like this at King’s Park is……
@Mutley (Comment 195) : Congratulations. Fully deserved victors.
Safe to say, we’re in deep trouble.
Does Gold have the ability to fix this? Evidence thus far suggests NO.
Clue less Sharks does it again
@FireTheLooser (Comment 199) : Definitely not. 2015 proves this.
@Nostraseth (Comment 196) : Vindicated? Sharks lose like this, and your primary emotion is selfish vindication?
Last thing I’d gloat about is beign correct about the Sharks demise.
Gentlemen, we butchered 2 tries, were terrible in the line outs and our handling sucked. However, 8 scrum penalties against us were WRONG!!!!!! The lions were allowed to transgress in the rucks, and every single time they tried to force a scrum off a tackle they played illegally. So all in all if anyone would like to be a doom prophet, we played badly, we did not play worse than them. We were beaten by a luckier team on the day. Golds member if you do not like the sharks, their coaches or their supporters. Please leave, your constant aggrevation of rob is no longer amusing
So I was asked a question several times by the Gold supporters clubs. “Do I think we have improved since last year”. Well considering the downward curve this season is taking, I will give you a resounding NO.
I wonder if the Gold supporters will start throwing out the personal insults again.
@Nostraseth (Comment 204) : I think smug remarks should be a default red card.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 202) : When people other than myself make it personally matter, my first reaction is always going to be vindication when proven right.
How that equates to me being happy with the result is beyond me.
@SharksRTB (Comment 197) : This was worse than the previous games I agree, but like Gold’s Member said, there has been a trend of the 2015 Sharks since the beginning of the season(bar the French games), it was just a matter of time when that trend was exposed.
Gary set the tone last week with his behaviour towards the TMO. And it showed in this match, loose no discipline even Beast started arguing with the ref. I truly hope this is a wake up call the team needed, but my mind keeps telling me we are unravelling and that things are going to get worse.
@Gold’s Member (Comment 173) : The thing I think you do not get, is that we know the sharks are not nearly the finished product, but since you are criticizing the Sharks so much, I doubt that you are a real supporter and just a troll, you had nothing good to say about any game anything since before the two warm up games, I know and will admit that the sharks played shit tonight, but I belief that they only need time, how long did it take the Lions to get where they are, how long did it take the highlanders, and yet you on here stating NZ team are like this and like that, I’m a South African supporting a SA team, and we will get there, so take your trolling put it in your mouth and fuck off as you promised
@nortie (Comment 188) : Sharks messed up a good opportunity at the start of the game, got penalised at about every scrum in the first half. Lions used the territory from penalties to get ahead – granted helped through some poor tackles from the Sharks. Sharks had to start chasing the game – have no clue on attack. Got turned over at will.
@jdolivier (Comment 203) : dont agree 10p% with you. They (Coenie) got smashed in the scrums. Maybe not deserved everytime, but most of the time it was correct. Our handling was crap, our lineouts were about 80% which is on par for us, however second last success rate in the comp. We dont exit well at all. Very poor decision making on turnover ball aswell as not finishing off the two tries because of poor decision making.
All in all, we were pretty much kakker than the lions.
@YamYam (Comment 208) : Correction *Gary’s behaviour two weeks ago*
@Henkb (Comment 209) : I think he is one of the more keyed in and interesting commentors on this site, but hey when someone’s opinion doesn’t match yours they have to be a troll.
Coenie is no tight head. Most of the penalties against him were fair IMO. Thereafter the Lions scrum got the run of the green in the refs mind. Time to start with Claasens, April and Adriaanse.
@Nostraseth (Comment 213) : That is not what I said, and I do not say that everyone must agree with me, but he has been on here talking a lot of crap over a while now, and always have only a couple of things to say, I will be the 1st to admit that we were utterly shit and deserved to loose tonight, but I don’t want to change the team into a NZ team, as he wanted to do the whole time
@sharksRTB no arguments that we were shoddy. Mapoe’s try was a bit of luck, besides that 9 of their points were from very debatable penalties. That puts us back at 10-9 which would be a more accurate description of the game. They were not good either. Neither teams would stand a chance in any form of play off.
we’re ok, lions are very very good
they were so good at ripping the ball
they carried the ball up so so well
Janjies is on fire, his in the form of his life
akermann is coaching these guys incredibly well
we need our injured players back, and clearly we need a better back up option that joe and april
losing coatzee hurts but his also been been hot and cold thus far this season
the twins looked great in pre season (they still look good) but this is the toughest rugby tournament in the world they still have a ways to go, and im not sure we’re doing all we can to prepare them
the lions play players you’ve never even heard of and they fit right in
all is not lost though, we can still get the into the quarter finals as the third best sa team and hopefully from there we can do something
we do need to add depth at lock for next season, some one call Lood
we looked so so poor today, i feel for beast cause the ref was strange but we didnt lose cause of the ref, we lost cause the lions are amazing
Lions absolutely dominated us in the first half
@nortie (Comment 187) : lions were not good at all – compared with their previous games… guess we should be thankfull for that
@Nostraseth (Comment 206) : It’s in poor taste to gloat about it.
We’re all hurting, by Monday we can debate the merits of your vindication….but not directly after this game.
@Bokhoring (Comment 210) :
Yep, the two good opportunities you had were both unfortunately squandered. Like us, you will struggle to play catch up rugby once you are 2 scores behind.
SA derbies just don’t make for good viewing.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 219) : True, we are all hurting now, and I knew that he would come on here with his long stories, and I do feel that we played more than terrible tonight, as if the guys were not on the field or they did not want to be there
@Henkb (Comment 215) : You still beating the “we need more time” drumb, that argument is voided by the downward trend that is blatantly visible this season. We are not improving with time (I have always stated all I want to see is improvement). Regardless what your personal opinion of which brand of rugby is best, his comments have been far more interesting, relevant, direct, and factually backed up then almost anyone else on this site. Getting petty and personal will just make this site a one sided circle jerk when people decide to leave.
@revolverocelot (Comment 217) : All of that without a full stop. Wow. 🙂
@jdolivier (Comment 216) : mapoes try came from a knock on by Joe P on his tryline… handling and not exiting.
Do agree with a couple of dodgy penalties that should’ve put the score closer to each other
@SharksRTB (Comment 218) :
Yep, agree, poor defense gave them more front foot ball and space over the advantage line.
Which is strange, Sharks defense was really good up to this game.
@Nostraseth (Comment 222) : You are truly welcome to believe what you want to, and to feel the way that you want, I have never said that I think we played well and that we are not where we are supposed to be, especially with the talent that we have, I feel although we have not won against the crusaders, we still played with our hearts and was 100%beter than tonight, but you can beat the drum which ever way you want, and you might have liked his comments, but according to me, he will be better commenting on sport 24
@Henkb (Comment 215) : The guy never asked for the Sharks to turn into an NZ team (I assume you mean run all balls from your goal line – team). He asked that the Sharks tries to play a more balanced game and not just kick every ball away.
How can people complain about a few penalties going against us? We couldn’t even score a try, we were mud simple as that
@Bokhoring (Comment 227) : That I do agree with also, and would love to see us having a more balanced game, but he kept on comparing the sharks to NZ teams, and let’s face it no SA team will be there anytime soon, they will have to start changing structures on school boy level, but I will be the 1st to admit that our handeling needs serious attention
Most of the good NZ teams including the All Blacks often kick a lot more than the teams they play. The point is they kick with thinking. SA teams kick and hope.
@RuckingFun (Comment 228) : yes. Regardless of complaining about some penalties, we were kak all round tonight
Beast’s management of the ref was also questionable…needed far more diplomacy.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 232) : By the sounds of it beast got to worked up to have a proper conversation with the ref
Sharks kept going into panic mode as soon as they made a mistake, and just never recovered from it.
Mistakes are bound to happen, but seeing the Sharks folding under self-imposed panic was the most damning tonight.
People, just swallow the pride, for me there has been no concrete proof this season that we have changed that much from last year aside from our defense, which really wasn’t that great tonight. It’s not all doom and gloom like some are saying, this is a seriously fucking long competition and we might get a surprise from our beloved Sharks, I just wouldn’t bet money on it.
I think the tour will show whether it’s pressure from us fans, or pressure from the coaching box.
Scrum penalties seemed debatable.beast debated the ref a few times 😀 handling errors cost the sharks momentum, and put the team under pressure .the sharks and lions still to play each other in jhb.opportunity to regain what was lost tonight.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 236) : will have to rethink my Superbru strategy for the next 6 weeks when it comes to sharks games.
@Henkb (Comment 233) : Probably also a sign of the pressure the Sharks are experiencing.
If you’re going to lose, you might as well do it with some freedom in your game.
I know we cant get rob dup back from the stormers cause his first in line now there but cant we get the kid who start for them this week back atleast
lets see what april can do in the mean time
Im starting to think maybe playing Willie at 10 and mvovo at 15 with sithole and mjekevu on the wings is the way to go
@FireTheLooser (Comment 234) : Team in a catch 22 situation. Need to relax and start enjoying the game, but difficult to relax when nothing is working for you.
My biggest complain / concern tonight was that it seems as if the bye week did us no good, and the guys came back as if they were still on off time, there was so many mistakes made and we created so much pressure for our selves and we could net get our selves out of the rot, but credit to the Lions they did their homework and out played us in all the areas
It could ,and should ,have been the lions standing under their goalposts after 2 mins of the game,waiting for joe pietersen’s conversion kick.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 239) : Agree, they should have thrown everything and two kitchens sinks at all the moves the last 20 minutes plus, you never now that might have just been the thing they need to get the creative juices flowing
Whenever they made a mistake we made one right back.
We turnedover their ball a couple of times, and 2 / 3 of those times they turned it backed within 1 phase.
They over throw their lineout twice, and we knocked it on immediately.
@Bokhoring (Comment 241) : That is true, like I wrote a while ago, the moment the guys start enjoying the game and being on the field, they will improve immensely
@Bokhoring (Comment 241) : We need cool heads out there…so much panic on display.
We started with a strong attack, nearly scored a try, and then fell into lose-our-heads panic rugby….Joe seemed to have lost his nerve – that knock on our tryline….shocking.
keegs looked solid tonight, he didnt play much at all against the bulls, but tonight he got stuck in
we need to just make the play-offs and see what happens from there
going to be a fight between us and the bulls to see who gets the third sa spot cause the stormers schedule from here on is mostly teams they should beat
@revolverocelot (Comment 248) : if the stormers beat the lions in jhb next week,it will be the lions 2nd home defeat,also.
@Henkb (Comment 246) : Keegan seemed to savour every moment that he was on the field….maybe our boys need to remember what a privilege it is to play in Black and White.
And now we fight amongst ourselvs. I have taken to not commenting after a sharks win or lose as it is always fuelled by emotion, I’m sure we are all hurting so monday we can talk about it and debate. For now cheers guys I hope we all have a better sunday
@Poisy (Comment 251) : Sharks won’t be playing..so our Sunday shouldn’t be in much danger. 🙂
@FireTheLooser (Comment 250) : Seems though he enjoyed himself, and that contributed to his on field play, we also had a bit more bite with April on, think they should really make a lot of rotational changes on tour, Reinach also cost a lot tonight, and I think he should be benched a bit as it is the same now for a couple of games
@FireTheLooser (Comment 250) : i really thought that the passion and pride was back big time!!! Thats the impression they created in France, and the first three rounds.
Couldve foolled me… well,they did actually
@FireTheLooser (Comment 252) : eish I still got my spurs vs man u. So its ify
happy with hyron,lewies,uanivi ,botha to play no5 lock.no4 is only oosthuizen and mtyanda.potgieter if he comes back from injury can play both no4/7.lood will cost a bit of money (and is only a possible option for next season).
@Poisy (Comment 255) : Will be a close game though
Btw, tour squad has been announced … seems today was the culmination of a lot of issues…bye week, leaving for your tomorrow.
At the end of the day, bone of the above makes me feel any better about “performance” today.
@Henkb (Comment 257) : I have 1000 bucks on spurs winning 2-1
@FireTheLooser (Comment 258) : *tour
*none
@Poisy (Comment 259) : Thankfully, I’m not much of a soccer man…BlitzBokke are playing tomorrow through, but they don’t quite evoke the amount of passion the Sharks do.
I actually wanted us to sign trevor from the cheetahs not coanie, bulls beat us too it
@FireTheLooser (Comment 261) : well I’m sure they will score some tries
@revolverocelot (Comment 262) : Choices are simple…Gold needs to select team on form, not based on price tag.
Drop Coenie, Reinach and Joe….and give Adriaanse, Classes and April more then just a single game to prove themselves.
@Poisy (Comment 259) : Hope they make good on that for you, my team on the other hand is facing relegation this season after how many years
@FireTheLooser (Comment 261) : The way they started against England, I hope they improve tomorrow, as the put Russia away but also struggled a bit against Scotland, if they want to win the HK leg, but they have never done so befire
thomas,ruan botha,potgieter,lambie and chilli all have not played a single minute of sr this season.need to remember this.still dont think the sharks should have let bissie go,but that ship has sailed.was in impressive form at the breakdown last night .
thomas,ruan botha,potgieter,lambie and chilli
as good as these oke are they cant save us completely, we need better prep and technique in all aspects of your game
we’re a decent team, but we’re up against it, its going to be a long season
hopefully we beat the blues and lose within 7 against the next two nz teams, possibly pull off a win against the canes
we still gotta play the lions in jozi !! Dear god
@revolverocelot (Comment 268) : and the ‘haguarez’ in argentina
@Poisy (Comment 259) : Manchester United to win by the same margin, even if they are not the better team they seem to find a way to win against the “big” teams. I am quite torn in two hoping Man U lose so that van gaal must go and wanting them to win and finish in the top 4 for champions league
when will the travelling squad be announced ?
@revolverocelot (Comment 272) : already been announced on the sharks website
are we only allowed to take 27 players ?
Why only two scrum halfs on tour
marcell must be ok cause his in the squad, or did they set the squad days ago and just not bother to make and changes to the list
nice to see chilli
Thanks Sharks for hosting the Lions tonight.
As to the game I feel the Skosan try save at the start somehow knocked the Sharks out of the game. after that they never really threatened again.
Best wishes with your tour.
@Baylion (Comment 274) : thanx and congrats on you teams victory! They deserved it!
@Poisy (Comment 259) : @BR (Comment 270) : for sure hoping for a ManU victory! Glory Glory Man United!!!
@Henkb (Comment 265) : newcastle? Sorry bud
@Poisy (Comment 277) : You know, I started to support them in the time of Alan Shearer, but they are now a team thats giving me endless great hair
Just want to say that I’m sorry about my outburst Las night and the comment I posted(209) I should have rather stepped away and calmed down before trying to respond to the person, and do apologize for this and the language that was used, but I will now know better in future
@Henkb (Comment 278) : the way things are going you won’t see them much next year as they will be in the championship. From what I have seen you guys lack good defenders something I am very firmiliar with at spurs but seems like its gotten better this year
@Henkb (Comment 278) : almost the same as my team ManU maybe that’s why we support the Sharks as we’re suckers for punishment?! ;-P
@Poisy (Comment 280) : I have made peace with it that I won’t see them next year really, but I hope they clean house and start revamping so that they can be back the season after
@JD (Comment 281) : Must be that we are suckers for punishment with the Sharks, at least Man u have turned it around before it was to late for them
@Henkb (Comment 283) : maybe but still no where near where they’re suppose to be with the quality players on their books!
Interesting not much mention has been made of the Sharks running the ball a lot more on Saturday than they did vs the Crusaders….perhaps falling into the trap of trying to play like the Lions and them being better at it. People have asked for a more ball in hand approach and have said they dont mind losing if thats the case…well that happened. If you do keep the ball in hand more you do become susceptible to handling errors and the resultant scrum penalties killed the sharks. Also interesting to note that the attack or lack thereof is directed at Gold yet Rob DuPreez was signed as attack coach and no mention made of him. Personally i thought the Sharks intent was a lot better but execution was a lot worse than previous weeks.
@SheldonK (Comment 285) : my main concern is the forwards! They seem out of sort and not nearly as good as in the beginning! This Sharks pack has the potential to be a good unit yet they are getting bosses around the field. As for the running only the first 5 odd min was good the rest was from side to side without going anywhere!
@JD (Comment 286) : The forwards are being outmuscled…we have to accept that. Its why we take half our pack to secure any ball which leaves most of them on the ground and unable to play the next phase or two…that doesnt help your attack at all. The Sharks did keep the ball in hand (when we didnt drop) it a lot more…teams do move it side to side across the field looking for gaps and mismatches…you cant go straight through all the time. The Lions rush defense also caused us trouble. It seems the Sharks are intent on not playing a rush defense themselves for some reason. Could it be a lack of fitness…?
@SheldonK (Comment 287) : but why is the pack being outmuscled? Beast, Coenie, EO, Marcell, Twins is all big and strong so I really can’t see a reason why the Sharks pack is not performing better!
@JD (Comment 288) : Big and strong is all relative depending who you compare to. At the moment its nothing sneaky or tactical that the opposition are doing- they are just out muscling our forwards in the tackle and rucks. Our guys need to man up and show exactly how tough and strong they are or are those muscles just soft and for show.