Chiefs away, or Canes at home? In an ideal world, you win both, of course, but this is far from an ideal world and you have to concede that playing two such big games, on different continents, with just an 8 day turnaround (and at least 24 hours of travel in between) is a very big ask indeed. […]
Posts tagged with: Fatigue
Time to box clever?
All we need is just a little…
Come on, Guns’n’Roses fans – complete the title for me! […]
Blues break Sharks hoodoo (and hearts)
A late penalty from Ihaia West has sealed a 23-18 win for the Blues over the Sharks at Eden Park. […]
Sharks forced to settle for Loftus draw
The Sharks ended matters even on points with the Bulls after 80 minutes at Loftus last week, neither side able to deliver the knock-out blow in a 16-all stalemate. Joe Pietersen, who had kicked superbly on the night, unfortunately squandered a straightforward penalty kick on the final whistle, but the seeds of this results (for the sharks) had been sewn long before he lined up that ill-fated shot. […]
The question of rotation
Why aren’t modern rugby coaches willing to implement rotation? Or at least, why won’t Jake White? […]
Sweating the small stuff
This past weekend’s Rugby produced some very disappointing results for South African teams, all but the Kings lost to their Australasian opponents. The fact is there are a multitude of reasons for these results ranging from travel fatigue to injuries, but to me the most frustrating reason (more like a recurrent theme) is our inability to score with the ease that our off shore opponents do. If it were a competition to see who could work the hardest for their points I’m sure the log would look much different. […]
The Sharks looking at their own game
The Sharks will play their first home game this weekend when they take on the Stormers in another very important match in this year’s Super Rugby competition. The first few games and getting off to a good start is always very important, but never more so when those games are local derbies where the conference points will be affected. Taking the log points away from your conference opposition has almost become just as important as taking the 4 points from the game. A team like the Reds scraped through to a home play-off game by winning their conference last year, while the Sharks had to fly all the way to Australia to take on a team that ended up with fewer points on the overall log than they did. John Plumtree’s men in no uncertain terms have made it clear that this is not a situation that they want to find themselves in again. […]
Lambie set for 80 minutes at last
Sharks coach John Plumtree has confirmed that while their may certainly be some fatigued Bok players coming back to him this week, Pat Lambie is definitely not one of them. With the talented 22-year-old Lambie having seen less than an hour’s total playing time since his last start, back in August, Plumtree looks set to give him the 80-minute workout he so craves this weekend. […]
Plum’s “indefinite” break is definitely temporary
Talk about injudicious word choice setting tongues a-wagging and rugby fans a-panicking! Our friends at SuperSport certainly managed to twist a fair few pairs of panties yesterday by announcing that Sharks coach john Plumtree would be taking an “indefinite” break from the sport. […]
Battered, but proud
Super Rugby has come to an end and while the Sharks, alas, failed at the final hurdle, I’m still walking tall as a proud Sharks fan. […]
Rested – or rusted?
With much of the talk in this build-up week focusing on the fatigue that many “experts” feel must surely scupper the Sharks in Saturday’s Super Rugby semi-final, I wonder whether we shouldn’t at least consider the other side of the coin. Could the fact that they are playing well – and clicking – count in the Sharks’ favour, despite the toll that those extra minutes on the field (and in the sky) must surely be taking on their bodies? […]
Principle of reserve energy
No one can deny that the Sharks is a dangerous side, the problem has always been their consistency. What will the Sharks do to ensure another lapse in concentration won’t hamper them again this week? Well, thank God John Plumtree has got a degree in psychology at the University of Harra, or that’s what he said. […]
For Club or Country?
The Sharks come off a fantastic win over the Stormers and their focus will immediately shift to their trip up country to face the Lions in Johannesburg this coming weekend. Opinion will be divided as to which tactic will be followed in terms of selecting a team to take on the struggling Lions. […]
The last man standing
After two weeks of Super Rugby, we promised to keep tabs on how the Sharks were doing in terms of player management, with the goal being to avoid the situation where key players break down due to overuse – one of the factors that derailed the side in last year’s tournament. […]
The Missing Link
And no, I’m not talking about Willem Alberts. Something is missing in the Sharks team in 2012 and I’ve decided to venture an opinion on what it might be. […]