The Sharks head to Canberra desperate for some Super Rugby success this morning, but I’m afraid the odds remain stacked against them this week.
The Australian capital has, I’m afraid, not been a happy hunting ground for the Sharks in the past, with a surprise win over the much-fancied Natal side of 1996 (when the Brumbies were still a team of hastily-assembled misfits) setting the tone for home team dominance in fixtures at this venue. In fact, the Sharks have only tasted success in Canberra twice over the course of 11 fixtures, with wins in 1998 and 2012.
This year’s Brumbies squad doesn’t look too hot on paper – and playing against rookies at 9 and 10, one would hope the Sharks might be able to use their better halfback experience to dictate matters here. That said, Stephen Larkham’s young side played with real poise against the Crusaders last week and very nearly recorded a win in Christchurch, in so doing eliminating any hint of complacency amongst the Sharks.
Kick-off is at 10h45 South African time – let’s hold thumbs that the Sharks have a big performance in them today.
Brumbies: 15 Aidan Toua, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 James Dargaville, 10 Wharenui Hawera, 9 Joe Powell, 8 Jordan Smiler, 7 Chris Alcock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter (capt), 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Josh Mann-Rea, 1 Nic Mayhew.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Abel, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Leslie Leulua’Iali’I-Makin, 19 Tom Staniforth, 20 Lolo Fakaosilea, 21 De Wet Roos, 22 Andrew Smith, 23 Isaac Thompson.
Sharks: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie (captain), 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Lubabalo Mtembu, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Philip van der Walt, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Stephan Lewies, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Jean Droste, 20 Jacques Vermeulen, 21 Michael Claassens, 22 Jeremy Ward, 23 Curwin Bosch.
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Holding thumbs: thumbs are in knots in my stomach. Stefan Terblanche always talked about butterflies in his stomach and how with experience he still got them but they tended to fly in formation. I do hope the Brumbies have an off day, but more so I hope the Sharks have a good day. But Pa Gustafson said you can wish on the one hand and poop in the other hand and guess which hand gets full first.
@SeanJeff (Comment 1) : wise man, Pa Gustafson
Level of ferocity and physicality in the New Zealand debris is two notches higher than anything else in rugby, much more intense even than six nations, talking Blues/Chiefs/ and Saders/Highlanders.
I am amazed these guys have 15 men available for an AB side at the end of the competition.
Playing touch rugby will give us a cricket score hiding. We look shit and it’s only 3min in
@jdolivier (Comment 4) : Slight case of premature ejaculation there mate.
@The hound (Comment 5) : you sure about that…?
@SharksRTB (Comment 6) : No
Set piece is a shambles
@The hound (Comment 7) :
Reinach not kicking from the base of the ruck, would like to see more points from possession.
Much better ball retention from the Sharks, but need to improve on the options on attack
Aussies mention that recycling is too slow
I am all smiles. Already a 100% improvement. Well done to everyone involved. Lambie has just been sex….all good.
Damn – that was a good opportunity lost. Although that could have been a penalty for the Sharks
Greg Martin makes me so happy that I never emigrated to Australia what a complete doos
De Wet Roos at 9 – very Aussie sounding name 🙄
SHIIIIIIIITT
Remind me again why we signed Chiliboy
Would not mind either of the Brumbies scrummies to join the Sharks – nice quick service
We need to get rid of Claassens and this box kick crap !! Is putting my tv in danger !!
Curwin jou doring!!
Well done boys… Great game.
Great little kick by Bosch
Curwin yster !!
Much much better by the Sharks. Haven’t seen them retain so much ball on attack for ages. Now work needs to be done on speeding up the clearing of the rucks, and a few more ideas on attack.
@Bokhoring (Comment 25) : Agreed. I’m over the moon. Boys played really well.
Ruan Botha my man of the match
@SharksRTB (Comment 6) : Yes
@The hound (Comment 27) : What a steal at the end! Excellent result despite dodgy breakdown reffing.
A lot of tick boxes regarding improvements tonight but need quicker.swrvice from CR
@The hound (Comment 27) : it was my first time seeing him playing this well.
EPIC!
Backline gained so much meters running out wide. Kobus did well to stay inside for most of these raids. Clear strategy to have loosies out wide to ensure ball can stay inside and be protected.
Nice to see improvements after all the lack of attacking edge last week
Why are we addicted to rugby they ask: because of moments like that!
decent game by us, but certain aspect were frustrating again.
we were very lucky with that final backline move. we had so many opportunities to score more points in this game, but again the brumbies looked better than as in many aspects.
I never thought we would win it all this year, I do see some good signs, but we still have a long way to got, and we need to be more accurate against the Tah or we will lose to that quality team.
brumbies backline is really good, but it helped us that most of their forwards were in experienced
Ja not perfect but a huge improvement compared to last week!!!
At last the Sharks backs showed some attacking skills!!!
@The hound (Comment 5) : Agreed, if they start like they did today, it just brings back the same old feelings of the last three seasons worth of dribble
Lions giving Waratahs what for. Very high scores both sides for a first half. Just wondering how good defence is on both sides?
@coolfusion (Comment 37) : We will have to tighten defence and find a way to capitalize on attack. I don’t think we have the lions attacking game yet but Warratahs seem vulnerable on defence. If we can keep the board ticking and prevent them from coming into the game.
See what happens when Sharks have game plan,retain possession, and back line attack gain line, great improvement only negative is Sharks need a quicket 9 and Ward must start at 12
lions are exposing the waratahs lack of experience in the forwards
however we cant expect to dominate the tahs like that, lions look like the standard in sa again, but lets see some more from the cheetahs and the stormers. bulls and sharks look about the same right now, early days though.
tahs losing foley, phipps and skelton didnt help them. they will definitely use izzy folou against us more
I expect a tough game next week, but a eventual win for the sharks. though having lions in our group
kings looked decent agains sunwolves after travelling all the way there, we better beat the sunwolves away
@coolfusion (Comment 38) : I’m hoping the attack game will improve. What makes it difficult is that we don’t have out and out threats in the backline. Real positive was our ball retention and fitness levels.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 41) : Do we need out and out threats or some good basics and decent support play though? I think we can manage against the tahs with that and some good defence. The rest maybe we’ll need something extra. Just some good finishing and support play would have meant a lot against the reds. A well oiled machine is just as good as having star studded lineup sometimes.
Stormers sealing the deal nicely at the end.
Du preez junior would have done a better job at FH starting though.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 33) : Great moment that, also great seeing that you are still “around”.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 45) : Decided to take a break from all things rugby – then saw Kobus van Wyk with the Sharks, and realised that I’ve been out of the loop for too long.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 46) : Welcome back… 😀
@pastorshark (Comment 47) : Dankie pastoor