I hope everyone is still doing OK in these trying times. In the absence of any rugby (for that matter any sport apart from Belorussian football and Taiwanese baseball) StevieS has volunteered to create a few articles to keep the conversation going:
Hi, Sharks fans
During these days of lean rugby news, I thought it might be nice to delve into the old match programmes I have lying around to see what our teams looked like in the past and to see which clubs/teams were playing in the curtain raisers and who was playing for those teams. There are some interesting names, some which you may have forgotten. So, without further ado:
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In a sign of the importance of the local derby against the Stormers, Sean Everitt has selected exactly the same team from last week’s match. In the current Super Rugby format a team will firstly want to top the conference log.
If the ever improving Sharks pack can hold their own against a highly rated Stormers pack, the dangerous Sharks backs and loose forwards can take the chances on offer. The Stormers will be smarting after a shock loss to the Blues at home and will be very motivated for this match. South African derbies are generally hard fought battles of attrition but if the Sharks team can put together the same performance as in the first half against the Jaguares this team should have the ammunition to edge the Stormers.
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Sean Everitt is clearly not a coach who believes in starting his preferred 15 for every possible match. Lukhanyo Am is back to captain the team, but Makazole Mapimpi, Tyler Paul and James Venter have all been rested.
Dylan Richardson and Henco Venter takes over the 6 and 7 jerseys and Lwazi Mvovo takes over the 11 jersey. Louis Schreuder and Sanele Nohamba swaps places.
The Reds will be full of confidence after the 10 try 64-5 demolition of the Sunwolves last weekend. Brad Thorn has been quietly building up a strong squad and especially a decent tight five. The Sharks forwards showed much improvement last week, but still need to up their game especially in the lineouts.
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Lukhanyo Am is rested and replaced by Jeremy Ward in the starting lineup. Andre Esterhuizen will take over the captaincy.
Sanele Nohamba gets a chance to start at 9, after doing exceptionally well as an emergency fly half. Mapimpi has recovered from his head knock and will hopefully get the chance to torment the Rebels with ball in hand.
Thomas and Ox are back in the starting lineup. The Sharks have the backs and loose forwards to cause problems for any opponent, but the forwards will need to start fronting up at scrum and line out time. A repeat of last weeks performance will see the Sharks get zero log points from this game.
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Curwin Bosch had to fly home due a family bereavement and Boeta Chamberlain has been promoted to the 10 jersey. Sean Everitt went with a 6-2 split on the bench with only Sanele Nohamba and Jeremy Ward covering the back line. I would assume in case of Chamberlain needing to be replaced Mohamba could take over the place kicking from 9 and Andre can deputize at fly half.
Dylan Richardson comes in on the bench as a loose forward replacement.
This is definitely a match the Sharks can win, but the Canes will be the Sharks’ most difficult challenge thus far. The Canes will be back after a hectic travel schedule, but the Kiwi teams do seem to shake off travel fatigue when they arrive back home.
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In the only change from the curse breaking team from last week, Madosh Tambwe replaces Sbu Nkosi who has a slight niggle. Lukhanyo Am will start his 50th Super Rugby game for the Sharks and Craig Burden (surprisingly only now) should get his 50th Super Rugby cap when he replaces Kerron van Vuuren later in the game.
This will the Highlanders first game of the season having had a bye last week. The Sharks will have a very short turnaround from last week’s game, but should stand a good chance of taking a win here.
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With the dramatic Bok win against the English in the World Cup Final last year still fresh in our minds and hearts, it does feel a bit surreal that the Super Rugby season kicks off this Friday. And what a kickoff it will be for a Sharks team under new management with a couple of new faces in the team.
The Sharks have an absolutely atrocious record against the Bulls. We have not beaten them in a Super Rugby match since 15 Feb 2014. Apart from a draw in 2016 we have been beaten by our cousins from Snor Dorp in every single match since then. For crying out loud, we have a better record against the champion Crusaders.
Come on boys – time to change this sorry state of affairs!
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Sean Everitt has included all his Boks in the 28 man squad for the Super Hero Sunday game against the Stormers. This is effectively the Sharks’ last warm up game before the Bulls game on the 31st January.
A number of the Sharks’ new signings announced last year has been included in the squad as well as giant lock Le Roux Roets who has joined the Sharks from the Pumas.
Being a warmup game the focus should be more about getting the team to gel and integrating the new players into the Sharks’ structures, but expect a hard game with no quarter given by either team. SA teams do not like to loose to each other – even in warmup games.
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Kolbe takes over the 14 jersey from Nkosi who drops out of the squad. Rassie insists the plan (box kick ad nauseam, hope the opposition drops the ball, defend like demons, scrum and maul, kick the penalties) won’t change and the 6-2 bench split seems to be an indication that we can expect more of the same.
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Cheslin Kolbe is out injured and replaced by Sbu Nkosi. Still a 6-2 split on the bench, so we can expect the same tactics as against Japan.
It is an open secret that the Welsh will rain the kicks on our back three, as we have looked very flaky under the high ball. We will need a much improved performance in that department, as well as cutting down on errors when we do create opportunities.
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This is clearly a team that plans to take on the fleet-footed Japanese team using the powerful Bok pack to prevent them from getting their high speed attacking game going. Lood starts next to Etzebeth with Snyman and Mostert on the bench.
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Due to the short turnaround between matches, Rassie has given pretty much all his dirt trackers an opportunity against Canada. The loose trio of Louw, Smith and Kolisi must count towards one of the lightest ever fielded by the Boks. The backline from the Namibia match has been rejigged with Willemse at 15 shifting Gelant to 14 and Nkosi to 11 (interesting in that Rassie has to date only used Nkosi at 14).
There is a lot of firepower on the bench although one should hope in this case the bomb squad will have to deal with a false alarm.
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Rassie has kept the match-day squad from the warm up for the crunch game on Saturday. The winner of the first pool game for the Boks & All Blacks will very likely end top of the pool and have the easier game in the quarter finals.
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Curwin Bosch is back from injury, which should mean that Boeta Chamberlain will be available for the Sharks U/21 team for the final against the Bulls
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Andre Esterhuizen and Thomas du Toit have been called up to start against a desperate Bulls team who may face relegation if they loose by more than 7 points. Curwin Bosch is still unavailable so Boeta Chamberlain gets another chance after a very impressive Currie Cup debut.
New Shark Andisa Ntsila have been selected as loose forward replacement.
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