Rob Senior has selected the same starting team from last week, with the only change on the bench where Luke Stringer comes on for an injured (knee) Tera Mthembu.
Bloemfontein used to be a place Sharks teams traveled to with a bit of trepidation. However with the Cheetah first choice playing in Ireland on Saturday, this Sharks team should have too much in the tank for a second string Cheetah team.
15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Tyler Paul, 6 Wian Vosloo, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Gideon Koegelenberg, 3 John-Hubert Meyer, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (c), 1 Juan Schoeman.
16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Khutha Mchunu, 18 Andrew Evans, 19 Luke Stringer, 20 Cameron Wright, 21 Johan Deysel, 22 Aphelele Fassi
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On paper a good team again and hope things will look more fluid this week against a fairly unknown Cheetah team.
Seems likely at this moment that RDP Jnr will start every Super rugby and CC game at 10…is that healthy for a team/union, the lack of competition and/or rotation? Also anyone know when Coenie wll be back in action? And Sbu Nkosi? Also have to wonder if the Sharks are still paying Rhyno Smith?
@SheldonK (Comment 1) : So who would you pick ahead of Rob jnr
Remembering that he was the second highest points scorer in super rugby 2018.
Most decent rugby teams have a settled no10 who always plays when he is fit,,so I find your comment a little strange ,and find myself wondering exactly what the point of that comment was.
@The hound (Comment 2) : The point being that if he plays every game have they really looked at other options? We all know injury can happen at anytime so then would then have to go in with someone who hasnt played at all…and who would that be? Bosch only. I know you are a DuPreez super fan but have some perspective please, i wasnt having a go at the player just questioning for the overall good of the team.
@SheldonK (Comment 3) : If you watched last week’s game you would have seen something very interesting under the rolling subs rules.Schreuder came back on at 10 and Robert moved to 12.
Schleuder was actually quite good.I am not that huge a Rob jnr fan, but he is by far the best kicker we have had in years, and if I was the coach I would never drop an in form kicker, even if he wasn’t my son.
Just look at how Pollard is hurting the Boks.
@The hound (Comment 4) : Look dont get me wrong, nothing against RDP Jnr at all- although i do feel he would be a better 12 than 10 internationally but thats besides the point.
The rolling subs do make things quite interesting and i do like it. However, i do feel the Sharks cocked that one up and should have played Cam Wright at 10 where he has played before and let Schreuder at 9. Schreuder looked all at sea at 10 and Rob had to bail him out.
Really should be a training exercise for the Sharks. Cheetahs team is young and inexperienced with loads of rookies 👿
Kevin Stevens (Journeyman), Reinach Venter (potential), Gunther JvV (Okayish)
Louis Conradie (Rookie), Dennis Visser (Never lived up to Junior hype)
Stephan Malan (Varsity Cup), Gerhard Olivier (Experienced), Jordaan ((Experienced)
Paige (Experienced and useless), Fouche (Experienced), Lloyd Greeff (OK), Tertius Kruger (Experienced), Carel-Jan Coetzee (Rookie), Ali Mgijima (Experienced), Carelse(Experienced)
Bench: Hannes Snyman, Johan Kotze, Luigi van Jaarsveld, Abongile Nonkontwana, Dian Badenhorst, Maqina and Erwee. Only Erwee and Nonkontwana with senior experience
@KingCheetah (Comment 6) : Really not sure what to expect from that Cheetahs side and guess you dont either. Hopefully they have a full go as what is there to lose. Sharks dont play their best rugby in Bloem so you never know with the Sharks being so up and down at times. Hope they showing the PRO14 game at the stadium or it will be empty barring supersport camera crew
@SheldonK (Comment 5) : Rob actually played at 9 his whole school career
,Cam i think has a huge TJ Perenara fan crush thing going.He has the haircut, the tattoos and don’t be surprised if he doesn’t introduce the hakka to K.P .So no not until TJ swishes to 10.
@KingCheetah (Comment 6) : These guys will come out snorting and throw caution to the wind. The Sharks will have to arrive mentally and not allow the game to become an unstructured mess.
@The hound (Comment 8) : Who was the Kearsney 10 then? haha hadnt thought about that with Cam Wright….he sure has one hell of a pass on him which allows the Sharks to play wide easily.
@Bokhoring (Comment 9) : I think we would all like to see professional consistent and clinical team we’ve been waiting how many years now?
@coolfusion (Comment 11) : For that matter so has every SA union.
@Bokhoring (Comment 9) : Nah! Sharks simply have too much experience and class, for the young Cheetahs to hold a candle to them.
Things are going to get interesting if SARU follows through on cutting the number of contracted players. Rumours are each Union will only be able to contract arund 50 with the balance all going into a draft and playing where needed on a pay per play basis. So could see a few of the extras cut form the Sharks….and how a team like the Cheetahs will be able to play both PRO14 and CC im not sure…
@KingCheetah (Comment 13) : I see what you’re doing here. Talking the sharks up so much they are a shoo-in to lose 😈
@SheldonK (Comment 14) : I’ve been in heavy favour of a draft system but having young guys on a pay per play basis, I feel, will only increase the player drain north. Currently the young guys are hardly patient enough to wait for a starting berth with their professional contracts. What happens when they only get paid per game, that’s semi professional and feel these guys aren’t going to stick around for that.
@Hulk (Comment 15) : Whilst i do agree that we could see more of a player drain initally i also think that the Northern market is going to become saturated very quickly. Read an interview with Jaco Kriel and he says he made the move now as he belives from next year there are ging to be less and less spots available. I do also agree with SARU that the current economy and the Unions cannot sustain the number of contracted players they currently have.
@Hulk (Comment 15) : Dude no one needs to trick the sharks into losing against a lesser team. Where have you been? 😉
@Hulk (Comment 15) : Nah! Just can’t see this green Cheetahs team being a threat!
So akker has been released so surely he comes onto the bench?
@Byron Wright (Comment 19) : Makes more sense to give Van Vuuren some game time.
@coolfusion (Comment 17) : I had a little break up with the Sharks during SR. Our relationship just wasn’t working any more and I decided we needed a break from each other. I stayed loyal and never supported another team, just didn’t watch anything 😆 .
But CC is a different tournament and find myself coming back to my first great love.
@SheldonK (Comment 16) : I saw the interview but never read it.. I suppose that at some point they will run out of space for these imports but I’m not so sure it’s going to slow. I of course have nothing to go on here other than a gut feeling.
@Bokhoring (Comment 20) : Agree we need to see what he has. This seems like a good time also give that new wing a full game to see how he handles a full game.
@coolfusion (Comment 23) : Fassi that is..
Really sloppy from the Sharks so far
Kaksleg…
Finally a try for Mvovo.
7-0
Thankfully, Marius Louw is there.
Sharks overdoing the maul from front ball.
@Bokhoring (Comment 30) : SA teams not really famous for variation
That is why Bosch is not in the Bok squad. Also number of other players guilty of not tackling. Cheetahs score easy try via Fouche
Sharks dominated territory and possession but the score is 7 all
Second lineout balls-up, dogshit defense, indiscipline, etc
No fun watching such a low quality game. Not doing myself any favours following the Mitre 10 Cup.
Cheetahs score their second after stuffups by first Bosch and the Van Wyk
@Bokhoring (Comment 36) : And after our scrum dominates theirs and we simply stop scrumming. 🙄
Then Bosch kicks the restart dead.
Our second tier tight five is looking more like 4th tier today
Error after error
Last two scrums looked a bit better
Aaaaaand Schreuder knocks from the lineout
@Bokhoring (Comment 41) : A lot!
Pleasing to see the young Cheetahs at least making a fist of the game. Hope the Pro14 players show the same grit! Really didn’t have any hope for my team in this match.
And finally we put a decent maul together.
@Bokhoring (Comment 40) : 3 knocks already on attack meters from the line
12 all
@KingCheetah (Comment 44) : You should know by now that ANY Cheetahs team can beat ANY Sharks team on ANY given day. It’s just the way of things.
Obstruction called in our own 22. 15-12 Cheetahs lead
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 48) : It hasn’t been the case for a good while now, in all fairness!
Second maul try from the Sharks.
19-12 Sharks lead at halftime
I like how Peyper is using common sense with the grounding of the ball from the mauls.
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 53) : Agree
You know you have a kak day when Louis Fouche bamboozles you twice
Fassi and Stringer on
Bosch and Vosloo off
Another maul try
26-15 Sharks lead
Sharks 26 – 15 Cheetahs (45 mins)
Sharks need to consider kicking themselves out of the 22. Too many mistakes while trying to run it out
@Bokhoring (Comment 61) : Ja, I don’t get why we’re doing that
Cam on
@Bokhoring (Comment 63) : About time
We keep getting in each others way on attack
Stringer has been pretty underwhelming
And Fouche scores his second
So its going to be a Wee Pee V Lions finals 😐
@Bokhoring (Comment 65) : Doesn’t happen with well-coached teams
26-22
More rubbish defence.
Ag FFS Dan!
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 72) : Probably the first ball his dropped today
@Bokhoring (Comment 73) : Surprisingly
Scrum is at least looking good.
Our scrum has been very good
We making Fouche look like Barrett today
Another stupid error and we end up on our tryline
@Bokhoring (Comment 77) : 😆
We still dont know when the offload is not on
The error rate is just too high.
@Bokhoring (Comment 80) : All game but even if it was on there the pass was pathetic.
Bosch now replaces Rob Dup
Clever no look pass from Cam and Dan strolls through
33-22
What a ball from Wright!
Finally a proper exit
Good exit kick from Bosch
@Bokhoring (Comment 87) : Only took 70 mins
I want to get into the TV and give Bosch a fucking PK when he kicks away turnover ball like that.
Ngijima has marked Mvovs very well
Now the Cheetahs maul us to pieces
Province will put 50 past us absolute rubbish, it is like they thought why bother even rocking up, total rubbish.
Get a penalty try and we get a yellow. 33-29
A scrambled win that we do not deserve.
And the Sharks squeak in against basically a Shimla team. Terrible performance
We have to manage our expectations, people. We had our good game last week.
Pathetic, Sharks didn’t deserve that, load of dog’s vomit. I was advocating for Bosch before the game, but he let me down.
Fuckall improvement showing. Same old errors, same old attitude
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 97) : Nope. The Bulls were just that much worse than we were. If they could have managed to catch a few balls it would have looked differently
@dawj (Comment 68) : We may as well just scrap a lot of kak rugby and proceed straight to a final between the Lions and WP
@Bokhoring (Comment 100) : I was being facetious
Result :
Cell C Sharks U/21 99
EP U/21 7
Result
Cell C Sharks U/19 134
EP U/19 7
@sharks_lover (Comment 104) : Holy crap! 😯
Although Bosch had a shocker of a first half, when he came on at 10, I thought he looked pretty good – so I read somewhere this week that he is hoping to play his way back into the Bok team. I also think that Rob JR had played the whole SR season and now the Currie Cup to c if he can make the Bok team. I honestly wish that the guys could actually ‘play for the team’ rather than playing for a spot in the Springbok squad. For me, the guys tend to play individual rugby hoping to get noticed by Rassie, instead of just playing as part of the Sharks team.
@sharks_lover (Comment 103) : @sharks_lover (Comment 104) : Those results depress me more than impress me.
Good win for the Sharks team! Didn’t have any expectations, so reasonably impressed with the low margin of defeat. Look on the bright side. A new generation of youngsters are being groomed. How did Koeglenberg play? Who in the Cheetahs team impressed?
Dan has actually been pretty solid in the 2 Currie Cup outings so far. He has managed to protect that ball much better in contact. I recall only one dropped ball so far.
Yes we won but that was pretty rubbish from the Sharks when you consider it was basically a Super rugby side vs a Varsity Cup side. Id honestly be a lot happier if i was a Cheetahs supporter. Same handling errors and no interest on defense from the Sharks. Can they please stop trying the miracle offload and turning over the ball…if that was schoolboy rugby they would be lining up to get caned this morning. Sharks definitely know how to win ugly…cant say its much entertainment though and thats what they need to sell….
@KingCheetah (Comment 108) : Fouche was very good – can’t believe I just said that. The 12 also stood out for me. Cheetahs backs fluent on attack as expected, and defended well.
The Cheetah forwards were outclassed for most parts of the match – especially when the Sharks tight 5 realized they could not just rock up and win. But they did manage a very good maul at the end resulting in a penalty try.
@Bokhoring (Comment 109) : He Dropped two against the Cheetahs which is so disappointing because he was good last week. A player who regularly concedes turnovers like Dan does is a liability.
@Bokhoring (Comment 111) : As you said i thought Fouche was good and outplayed RDP. Cheetahs were clever in that they picked wings who defended well as Sharks tried to go wide quickly and then got smashed in the tackle…Mvovo especially. Very concerning that our pack was able to be dominant in the diving maul but got shown up in the scrums…could be technique lacking there?
@Bokhoring (Comment 111) : Tertius Kruger. He has been playing really well for Griquas, prior to being contracted by the Cheetahs. He is moving to the Kings in November though. Pity the pack didn’t perform as well as they could.
@SheldonK (Comment 113) : I remember just one bad scrum, which led to the length-of-field try after the chip over our backline and the defensive bugger-ups by Bosch and van Wyk. The rest of the time we were solid.
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 115) : Im sure i remember a few being quite messy, not saying we lost them just that it wasnt stable ball. Also didnt we give away a couple penalties scrum time?
@SheldonK (Comment 116) : Although to be fair i was probably still cursing at the tv following one of our handling errors from a stupid offload so my vision may have been blurred by the red mist.
Any team that allows *Louis @#$%^ Fouche* to score two tries against them needs to take a long, hard look at themselves in a mirror… and then maybe commit ritual hara kiri to atone for the shame
Sharks are going to be really tested by the Pumas, they focus on the set pieces and the close combat stuff that we seem to shy away from. I exect Akker to start this week…wonder when Coenie will play again? Is Jaques Vermuelen in Japan or injured? Thought Stringer looked lively when he came on. Wouldnt mind pushing Paul to lock and playing both Vosloo and Stringer.
@Culling Song (Comment 118) : Preferably with a very blunt knife
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 115) : @SheldonK (Comment 117) : I seem to remember us dominating the scrums for most of the game even on their put in. We won a few scrum penalties and we were penalised once. As the game went on and the subs were made our scrum dominance faded and the scrums evened out.
Our lineouts though were not great.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 121) : Yeh look i wasnt saying we lost all our scrums just that i remember us getting very messy ball from it. As you say barring the lineouts we scored from the rest were pretty average…think one we didnt even jump for?
Chilli has been disappointing in the CC so far. Has any one noticed that he stands in the field of play when throwing in at the line out? Is that not a penalty ?
@sudhir (Comment 123) : His heels are on the touch line, so it is legit.
@sudhir (Comment 123) : @Dancing Bear (Comment 124) : Maybe if he stood next to the lock he would be more accurate…
@SheldonK (Comment 125) : He is still more accurate than Akker
@Bokhoring (Comment 126) : Which is a concern. The Sharks tend to throw to the back a lot which is riskier. I watched last week and the Cheetahs picked that up and had not a single guy competing at the front of the lineout- we could have won the ball there effortlessly but we kept throwing to the back.
With the club rugby seson now over i wonder which Sharks contracted guys are not playing anything at the moment….can think of names like Rhyno Sith, Leolin Zas, Jean Droste, Courtney Winnaar, Alwayno Visagie, Mzamo Majola…unless any of those still u21?
Team vs Pumas announced