A golden opportunity to extend the lead at the top of the log – or a nasty banana peel fixture set to open the Currie Cup field up once more? It’s one of those two outcomes for Ruan Botha and the Sharks today – but which will it be?
Kick-off in Kimberley is at 17h00 as the Sharks go in search of an impressive eighth successive win in the competition.
Griquas: 15 Adriaan Coertzen (captain), 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Kyle Steyn, 12 Johnathan Francke, 11 Enver Brandt, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Renier Botha, 8 DeWet Kruger, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Pieter Janse van Vuren, 4 Jonathan Adendorf, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 Abraham le Roux, 1 Nicolaas Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Wilmar Arnoldi, 17 Liam Hendricks, 18 Sintu Manjezi, 19 Shaun McDonald, 20 Tiaan Dorfling, 21 Andre Swarts, 22 Eric Zana.
Sharks: 15 Garth April, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Sibusiso Nkosi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Tera Mtembu, 7 Tyler Paul, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Ruan Botha (captain), 4 Jean Droste, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Juan Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Hyron Andrews, 19 Wian Vosloo, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Tristan Blewett, 22 Inny-Christian Radebe
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Slow start to ruin our nerves, ending with a bonus point win
@jdolivier (Comment 1) : That is the norm lol, just maybe they will do it better today.
@sharks_lover (Comment 2) : Let’s hope so, this abusive relationship that is being a sharks supporter gets tough
@jdolivier (Comment 1) : Prophetic words
Kwas lead 7-0
Try Louw.
7-7
Griekwas mascot a dinosaur?
Good play by the Sharks followed by a stupid dive by Paul at a ruck surrendering the ball
Geez this ref misses alot
@Bokhoring (Comment 9) : The guy was on our side of the ruck
@McLovin (Comment 8) : Maybe oom bushy finally turned into a fossil
Does anyone else feel their try came off a forward pass?
@byron (Comment 11) : If Tyler Paul had not left his feet, the clean would’ve been legal
@Hulk (Comment 13) : Yes it did,
@Hulk (Comment 13) : The entire 2017 rugby season in all formats has been pathetic at identifying forward passes, this ref and assistants are not the first and surely won’t be the last
Geez ref … why stop play. I know there is an injury but game has moved 20 meters forward away from injury
@jdolivier (Comment 12) :
Forgot about him.
As predicted, same old shit.
Ward try
I need to say same old shit more,
Good try from the Sharks with Keegan prominent
@sharks_lover (Comment 19) : A lot of wild passing in the backs
@Bokhoring (Comment 23) : Yup
Geez ref … no release
A lot of speed in the Kwas outside backs
Where is the defensive lapse happening that they keep getting round our outside on the counter ?
Odwa is really just too slow – damnit
19-7 HT
3 Tries to 1 and even though scrappy they keep grinding out a try here and there.
But Ross scores eventually – 19-7
When Thomas, Akkers, Andrews come on we will see forwards dominate more.
@sharks_lover (Comment 30) : Kwas living of scraps – Sharks doing most of the playing. Just need to be a bit more accurate
Also Vosloo will bring more speed to the break downs.
@Bokhoring (Comment 33) : For sure, many wild passes, just need more patience on the ball, Kwas are playing to disrupt the game rather than win the game so their aim is to see that they do not lose too big.
2nd try Louw,
Louw just ran over 2 players … nice try
Louw scores his second.
That is the BP 26-10
Great try Keegan.
33-10
Shocker from the Kwasse. How do you throw a dummy and still give an intercept away. 🙄 Swak.
Who is that blonde kid? He’s not on the team sheet.
@Hulk (Comment 43) : Tristan Blewett
@Hulk (Comment 43) : Is that not Tristan Blewett?
@Bokhoring (Comment 45) : Yes
Who’s the blonde kid?
Great try.
Kwas now running everything and Whitehead breaks the line again.
Lots of passing and running but going nowhere fast are the Griekwas. 🙄
@sharks_lover (Comment 44) : thanks. Couldn’t make out what the commentators were saying.
Sharks must not let this game become too loose. Need to show more patience
Louw had some good moments but now he is coughing up the ball too many times
@Bokhoring (Comment 52) : so much for that.
@Bokhoring (Comment 53) : perhaps it’s a fitness issue.
Some good offloads from the Kwas and they score another one
33-22
Ward scores his 2nd
And the Sharks strike back with a great try
40-22
couple of concerns, Injuries is one, this uncontested scrum is BS, as soon as the Kwas saw we hurt them in the scrums they quickly get injured, its a joke.
not sure when last we had 4 tries scored by the 2 centers, I might be wrong but i could swear Tristan Blewett played 10 at junior level?? if some one knows please try confirm?? If so i would try him if he has a good boot, As fond as i am of Bosch his lack of defense is going to cost us big come crunch time. April blows hot and cold like a hair dryer.
@sharks_lover (Comment 60) : It’s the stupid 22 man game squad. Is any other league/competition in the world still playing with only 22 vs 23? Quite ridiculous.
@sharks_lover (Comment 61) : With Inny’s injury (sorry to see) perhaps we will see more of Rhyno Smith.
Looks like anyone can turnover the sharks.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 62) : Do not think so, 23 man squads seem to be the way all other countries have moved to.
Sharks becoming masters at the last minute scoring.
39 log points should be enough to already qualify for a home semi I think.
BTW Rob I think your fixtures page has the WP and Sharks games swapped, hence Sharks gifting 5 log points from today’s game to WP 😆
@coolfusion (Comment 64) : Hard to comment fairly on that as Kwas were allowed to play on the offside line more often than not, yes a few penalties went against them but mostly not.
@sharks_lover (Comment 65) : As I understand, IRB laws call for 23 man game day teams, the Currie Cup has to have a special dispensation from that law. Nuts.
@sharks_lover (Comment 68) : I thought this ref was pretty consistent in his rulings.
I don’t think we conceded as many turnovers with the dupreez boys and Coenie and even Adriaanse on there’s a little something missing at the front. Aggression, skill. Granted we have a bunch of newbies so I’ll give them time. Still on the whole a lot of improvement we aren’t letting the minows give us so much trouble as last year this time and even in supers. But we must tighten up a bit.
Bosch had a much better game this week – contributed to two tries with good passing.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 70) : Ref was much better than most of our Currie Cup refs
@Dancing Bear (Comment 70) : if by consistent you mean he missed alot … no bias but poor
guys not saying Ref was bad but he did miss a lot, is he better than the likes of VD Westhuizen etc??? million times.
Our sloppy play didn’t help us. We should be able to beat a ref as well given the competition and difference in class. I’m sure Rob isn’t too happy with the forwards squandering opportunities. We need a quality forwards coach we could be great.
@sharks_lover (Comment 75) : Less quality refs than quality scrumhalfs in SA at the moment.
@coolfusion (Comment 76) : IMO it was more the backs stuffing up momentum with wild and poor passing at times, interspersed with some really great pieces of play. However the overall skill level of the team is really showing improvement – tight forwards are showing some good handling skills for a change
I really hope the Dick muir rumours are true. He understands the union and feeding pools. He will add a lot hope we can bring him back into the fold.
@byron (Comment 74) : By consistent I mean he ruled the same way on both sides of the ball. If you think he missed a bunch of calls, OK, but it was not one sided, and quite honestly all a team can ask from a ref is consistency, nobody is going to interpret the laws exactly the same way.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 80) : I agree with you. It’s not always a bias issue. It’s a lot of competence issues as well. It doesn’t serve SA rugby well. As a whole.
@sharks_lover (Comment 61) : yeah I’m starting to worry about Bosch and his fragile defensive especially after Ben10 defends so well. Granted I wouldn’t leave Bosch out either so is a move to fullback an option and play Ben10 at 10? I’ve been really impressed with Ben and would like to see more of him this tournament before SR2018.
@Hulk (Comment 82) : Ben 10 just needs some skills coaching on passing and strategic kicking. But he has improved a lot.
@Hulk (Comment 82) : Players like Naas and Mehrtens were never crash-tacklers but they contributed hugely to their teams in other ways. Bosch will never be a Lem, but he is showing some other attributes in bits and pieces (way he managed the S18 game against the Lions at Ellis this year) that shows huge potential for a future at 10. He just needs to be managed well. As long as he does not need to be hidden on the wing and can slow the player down enough for someone else to cut him down
@sharks_lover (Comment 61) : had a look in the old Hiltonian magazines and it appears he only played in the centres
@Bokhoring (Comment 84) : We can have both. In Ben 10 and Bosch alterating. A good defender and line breaker and a fast startegic fh. We can keep them guessing. I’m so excited for both of them. We MUST invest in a consultant to school them. Could be a game changer.
@coolfusion (Comment 86) : Don’t forget about Rob Du Preez Jr. All of a sudden within a year, we seem to be very deep at 10 and the centres. Bosch, Ben10, RDP Jr., April cover 10, then Andre, Am, Ward, Louw, Deysel, Blewett, and RDP Jr. can all cover the centres. Wow, that is a lot of depth in those positions, just lacking in experience right now.
@durbsguy (Comment 85) : Tristan James Blewett is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with the Sharks in Super Rugby and the Sharks XV in the Currie Cup competition. His regular position is centre, but he can also play as a winger or fullback.
Ok I reckon in Tristan we may have the FB we need, pace, strong in the tackle and a good try scorer it seems, for the Impi’s he played 8 matches and scored 7 tries.
@sharks_lover (Comment 89) : Rhyno Smith…..Mvovo….Have you already forgotten? 😉
@Bokhoring (Comment 84) : look I wouldn’t drop Bosch, I agree regarding that Lions game, he has huge BMT and mad skills for such a young player but his defense is iffy. Now if we use Ben10 at 10 Bosch at 15 they can alternate dependent on game situation and gives us 2 first receivers who have different styles and skill sets. The Sharks based a lot of their SR2017 Campaign on solid defense and a solid defense with a weak 10 starts looking porous as the game wears on. I’d like to see the 2 of them play together out of curiosity to see how they combine.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 90) : We’re all pushing our own Fullback agenda it seems 😀
@Dancing Bear (Comment 90) : Nope but I am talking CC now,
@Hulk (Comment 91) : Agree, really like Louw and Blewitt,add in Kobus and Am and we are in great shape.Time I’m afraid to retire Odwa.He is taking up space that these great young back line players need to find themselves.
Am seriously underwhelmed by the frail Radebe and April. They have both been given ample opportunity to establish themselves, and haven’t set the place on fire.
Anyone want to see shit refereeing, watch the pumas vs stormers game, the argie was really not bad in comparison
@jdolivier (Comment 95) : Argie was good,only thing shitter than this ref is Province,and Ungerer is having a helluva game.
In Pro14 news cheetahs finally look like they have a decent match 23 to play (minus two first choose fh’s and blommetjies, who was rested more than dropped) I’m hoping they kill the italian team.
Kings may be playing at home but I dont think they can beat their opponent, because the kings are still finding their feet (the will be good eventually) and the team they are up against are use to playing at a high level, but you never know anything can happen
@The hound (Comment 96) : Agreed. Is feeling a sense of joy normal seeing province lose.
Just my 2 cents, really think the ref handed the game pretty well. Sure, there is always mistakes, but he was fair and consistant. Compare that to the pumas province game…I really enjoyed last night’s game and that was partly to having a ref that I did not want to shout at the whole game. Will take him every week!
@HeinF (Comment 99) : Van heerden and van der westuizen are special, the rest not so bad, being the one eyed supporters that we are, we will never be satisfied with a less than perfect performance (myself at least)
@The hound (Comment 94) : I’ve actually been so impressed with the Am / Ward combo I’m not sure Esterhuizen is the sharks obvious 1st choice 12. Hopefully Esterhuizen playing 10 in Japan has improved his distribution and we’ll see more creative running come SR. As for April we may find he’s a better bench option than starting player and Inny, I don’t want to write him off yet but he’s got work to do.
If (When) 😆 we make the semi-final and final and Van Heerden and / or Van der Westhuizen is the ref, does our union have the right to object to these referees, based on their performances in our matches in the past?
@Hulk (Comment 101) : If he does play a lot of 10 in Japan then we could possibly use him as a fullback too. To me Smit is the only obvious choice now. But we could have lot of depth there as well. It would be a coaches dream having so many versatile men. 3 guys on fh 3 possibilities on fullback. With most if them able to cover Centre and wing too. Time to free up some money from Odwa and Pat Lambie paychecks and get Ben 10 established with Blewitt brought up to big leagues. It must be a do or die season for April and Radebe. Tough choices must be made. And we have to also establish Schreuder and Wright this year. Also need some workers in the forward pack able to win turnovers and protect from turnovers. Make Cloete an offer and see if we can’t grow him into a Jaco Kriel?