It’s week 4, match 3 and the Sharks are still looking for win number one. They’ve underestimated the Sunwolves before and conceded some embarrassing trues to the plucky Japanese side, but surely today MUST be the day when the Durbanites get it together and deliver a solid victory for their fans?
As we saw last week, Durban at this time of year is a tricky place to play a high-paced game and the Sharks must sorely look to a rejigged pack, with powerful Akker van der Merwe and Johnny Meyer and hard-working Wian Vosloo all coming in for first starts, to bring down the hammer on the lighter Japanese eight. This game is a perfect one for a strong, tight 50 minutes, followed by half an hour of free-flowing try-scoring mayhem. Try to do it the other way around, though, and the Sharks could be in for trouble.
Vosloo will become Sharks Super Rugby play number 252 when he starts the game, following on from Louis Schreduer who snapped up number 251 last week. Also in line for their “numbers” are prop Ross Geldenhuys, who has 52 caps in Super Rugby, but none yet for the Sharks, and lock Gideon Koegelenberg, who will look to earn a maiden cap if he comes on.
Kick-off at Jonssons Kings Park is at 15h15.
Sharks: 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Sibusiso Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Tera Mtembu, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Wian Vosloo, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Ruan Botha (captain), 3 John-Hubert Meyer, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Gideon Koegelenberg, 20 Keegan Daniel, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Lwazi Mvovo.
Sunwolves: 15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Lomano Lemeki, 13 Sione Teaupa, 12 Michael Little, 11 William Tupou, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willem Britz (captain), 7 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Kazuki Himeno, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Yusuke Niwai, 1 Craig Millar.
Replacements: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Shintaro Ishihara, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Wimpie van der Walt, 20 Pieter Labuschagne, 21 Yutaka Nagare, 22 Ryoto Nakamura, 23 Robbie Robinson.
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Very hot and humid here again today, hope the handling isn’t as bad as last week.
Got my Shark on, its raining in Cape Town, hoping for it to rain tries in Durbs.
Calm down ffs
Why still so frantic?
9,10,15 playing like durps today 😐
Comedy of errors twice in a row
Good teams are going to smash us big time.
Sharks defense being tested by these guys
Good tackle by Bosch
How does the dominant scrum get penalised??????
We need the twins and Ginger back asap
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 11) : Agreed
These guys are so close to offside its not even funny anymore
Poor play from Sharks forwards. Tera breaks to the wrong side of the scrum
what the actual fuck 😯
Wow! The Sharks are kak this year. 😀
whats going on today guys….
@Darius de Lange (Comment 17) : Same as last week, 1min brilliance 15min kak
Rob Jr is really off the pace the last two games
Finally they get pinged for offside
Akker!!!!!
Sharks forwards are powder puffs today. Allow the Sunwolves to put a lot of pressure on our 9 and 10. However Akker scores a good try.
lekker akker!!!!nice try
@Bokhoring (Comment 22) : Should say apart from the Angry Warthog
Ignoring the badly offsides, some players need to be subbed already. Tera, Louis – time to gtfo the field
Andre just left a try begging
@jdolivier (Comment 26) : Yeah but Mampimpi should have called for the ball
Much better. Try Tera
@KingRiaan (Comment 27) : No argument there, but if Andre wants to be a springbok he needs to notice those things
Good support from Vosloo in the movement
@Bokhoring (Comment 28) : But why tera, now he will start again next week
@KingRiaan (Comment 27) : He should be expecting Mapimpi on his left shoulder. Never even looked left once. That’s one of things, which the NZ sides get right.
Have to say very plucky play from the Sunwolves
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 32) : Tera called, so he looked to pass to him.
Andre Esterhuizen in my view by far the best 12 in SA right now, how strong is this lad??
Sharks need to show more respect for the ball. Too many loose balls and looks like Wolves scores
That’s obstruction
And now SS drops the ball / signal
@Bokhoring (Comment 38) : It’s been awfully choppy and shyte since yesterday.
Still 24-3 and Sunwolves on attack
@Bokhoring (Comment 22) : that’s our big weakness. Our tight five is very light.
And they score in the corner. Sharks will have to score another try to regain the BP
@GreatSharksays (Comment 41) : Players just need to be more accurate
Kak defense by Bosch but, on the other hand, one could probably forgive him for not trusting Mapimpi to make the tackle.
Mapimpi is fast. Scores in the corner
Du Preez has created two tries with cutout passes but also made some poor decisions today
Our exit play is our major weakness.
Chilly on now
Yes Cam’s on
@KingRiaan (Comment 49) : And adds immediate speed on the ball. Vermeulen scores
Have to say Beast has been very busy today
36-8. 5 tries to 1
Cam is miles ahead of Louis
Sonny Bill Esterhuyzen doing some great offloads today
And Wolves score another try.
36-15
Lekker Wimpie!
@KingRiaan (Comment 57) : 😆
Funny how this ref can spot offsides when it’s a black shirt, not so much in white shirts….
@Bokhoring (Comment 51) : Motm performance by the beast
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 58) : Knew him at school, him and his brother were always huge Sharks fans
@jdolivier (Comment 60) : Akker may have a claim as well
@Bokhoring (Comment 62) : Akker was sublime, beast has been a man mountain
Brilliant kick by Cam
Nkosi scores after a good kick and chase from Bosch
Mapimpi’s defence much better today
@Bokhoring (Comment 62) : Big Andre also a rock for us
@KingRiaan (Comment 66) : And Bosch’s
How did we manage to not score there after Mapimpi’s run?
Good steal from Vosloo and the excellent kick from Cam
In all honesty, this is better than last week, this is however an “easy” team. Hope this gives confidence to perform well in tougher matches
Mapimpi is devastating with ball in hand. Just needs more work on his defense
Good scrum from the Sharks leads to a try for Cam
BP should be safe now
This is the kind of score one would expect.
Wolves backline moves very slick. Score in the corner
Beautiful try by the Wolves!
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 77) : Did he really ground it though
Some iffy defense from the Sharks
WTF. Just kick it out
@jdolivier (Comment 78) : Don’t know. Seemed legit.
Job done. BP against a very plucky never say die Wolves team.
@Bokhoring (Comment 80) : Ja what was that?
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 81) : One eyed supporters and all that