Sharks must alter MO
2 May 2012
JON CARDINELLI says the Sharks cannot afford to make the same mistakes as the Cheetahs in a match against a limited but ruthless Highlanders outfit.
You have to wonder why everybody loves the Cheetahs. There’s a universal respect for the brand of rugby they play, but not enough is made of how that high-risk style is to blame for many a gutting loss.
They were a team that played an attractive brand of rugby last year, yet they finished the competition in 11th position. Nine matches into 2012, and they’ve scored 22 tries but have only won three games. What is really more important?
It was painful to watch them implode against the Highlanders last week. The fact that they relinquished a 21-point lead was damning enough. The manner in which they capitulated was frightening. Their tactical kicking was poor, their defence even worse. Intensity at the tackle point during the final quarter was non-existent.
While they’ve scored some spectacular tries and recorded some dramatic wins, there’s never been an air of certainty about this Cheetahs side. It’s accepted that anything can happen in a game featuring the Cheetahs, as was the case when they overturned a 32-11 deficit in Wellington to beat the Hurricanes. But that unpredictability works both ways, as seen in Bloemfontein last week. Unpredictability is not a trait of a genuine play-off contender.
Because the Sharks are perennial play-off contenders, they are not afforded the same leeway. When they fail, their inconsistencies are rightly criticised. There is no consolation for a team as big as the Sharks to be losing in an attempt to play a beautiful brand.
The Sharks’ record of four from nine is marginally better than that of the Cheetahs, and three four-try bonus points sees them sitting in seventh place on the overall log. There’s still a chance that they will qualify for the play-offs, but to do so they will need to tighten up. They will need to start playing a style of rugby that isn’t so high-risk.
To date, the Sharks have played four of the top six teams and have only won one of those matches. They were outmuscled by the Bulls, Stormers and Chiefs. The only team in the top six that they’ve beaten is Jake White’s Brumbies.
They’ve struggled when they’ve come up against a physical side with a strong defence. Their tendency to make a high number of unforced errors has also played into the opposition’s hands. Many of those aforementioned teams are more dangerous on the counter-attack than they are on attack. They are reputed for their ability to turn turnovers into points.
The Highlanders are another such team and their counter-attacking abilities were highlighted last Saturday. They scored 21 points in quick succession to level the scores. Their dangerous broken-field runners swooped on poor tactical kicks and punished some unstructured defence.
Another feature of that win was the Highlanders’ effort at the breakdown. Their counter-rucking earned many a turnover, and again the Cheetahs were punished for not maintaining their intensity for the full 80 minutes.
While the Sharks have been guilty of a high error rate in 2012, they have also tended to play in patches. What is needed against the Highlanders, and indeed in the build up to the play-offs if they intend to qualify, is a more measured and balanced approach. To go the distance, they will need to go the distance – every week.
They will need to cut down the Highlanders’ counter-attacking opportunities, and to do this they will need to protect the ball at the breakdown and avoid dropping it once it emerges from the ruck.
The Sharks defence has been suspect this season, but it should also be noted that the tactical naivety on attack as well as the slew of handling errors has contributed to a porous defensive showing. When the Sharks lose the ball in contact or at the breakdown, their defence is at that point less structured and thus more vulnerable to a counter-attack.
Ball security against a combative Highlanders pack will be crucial to the Sharks’ success. They will also need to keep the Highlanders pinned in their own territory and pressure them until they crack.
It’s a strategy that’s worked for the Bulls and Stormers, as well as several other teams in the top six. If the Sharks hope to join this elite group and challenge for the title, they would do well to change tack.
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136 Comments
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2 May 2012, 21:05 pm
@NoRugbyGuru_0_(RugbyGuru_0_)-99:
good one though if your injuries continue you will wish you could call up the 3 legged dog as capt
2 May 2012, 21:07 pm
anyways, enjoy your teams success buddy, i certainly will unless they play the sharks and then i hope they get smashed like they did in the last 20 years.
2 May 2012, 21:11 pm
” if your injuries continue you will wish you could call up the 3 legged dog as capt”
No thanks, you can keep Keegan daniel
I will enjoy our success
you too
(awkward moment)
~cough~ ~cough~
2 May 2012, 21:14 pm
@Dusky(Dusky)-67: who said the “sharks were horribly poor”? oh shampies little dusky can’t take the fact that his team from year to year doing the same thing with no visible progress.
since 09 ur team has finished 6th, 9th & 6th again, they lost games they shouldn’t have lost & excuses like “lack of consistency” are made year in year out as new players are bought with the hope that tgey will take tge guppys over the line if mediocrity.
are you now proud of LOSING games as long as it is by small margins?
if the Landers pluck yoyr lot this weekend then what, will you still be gloating that you only lost to the stormers & bulls by a whisker?
2 May 2012, 21:18 pm
What a complete shock to see Transformation gloating on a Sharks thread.
2 May 2012, 21:18 pm
Yoh lots of grootbek Stompies on this thread.
2 May 2012, 21:25 pm
@ wooden spoon,
Sharks supporter with that nick.
Oh the irony
2 May 2012, 21:32 pm
Coming from someone called “No Rugby Guru”… is the REAL irony.
Lol. People seem to have forgotten that the Sharks are sitting nicely poised in the TOP HALF of the table.
Write them off at your peril. Next thing you know you are in for a big skrik.
2 May 2012, 21:33 pm
2 May 2012, 21:46 pm
I wouldn’t call 7th nicely poised at top half but…. Ok then
Sharks defense lacks sting and attack lacks penetration. Those things don’t change overnight, go ask the blues.
Highlanders will win this weekend.
2 May 2012, 21:50 pm
Highlanders have very good forwards and some classy backs especially their fullback.
Sharks will need to play the best they’ve done all season to win.
2 May 2012, 21:54 pm
@NoRugbyGuru_0_(RugbyGuru_0_)-110: attack lacks penetration?????????????????
BWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this from a stormers fan?
*** sakes the irony is beyewdiful
2 May 2012, 21:57 pm
@ ranger,
Stormers defense is our real attacking weapon.
Sharks scored how many tries from lucky intercepts or is that plumtree’s gameplan?
2 May 2012, 21:58 pm
You see if there are 14 teams in the table elementary mathematics dictates that teams 1 to 7 make up the top half and teams 8 – 14 make up the bottom half. This is not rocket science.
The Sharks are perfectly poised to make a run up the table. They have plenty of home matches to do it.
Lol. The Highlanders are all of a sudden expected to beat the Sharks at home? They may very well, who knows, but the weight of history is against your assertion.
The Sharks are building up a bit of a “Blues” record against the Highlanders… the Sharks have beaten them the last FIVE CONSECUTIVE games since 2006. The last time the Highlanders beat the Sharks in Durban was way back in 2001.
If I was playing Superbru or betting money I know which way I’d go.
But keep dreaming bud. Wet dreams sometimes come true
2 May 2012, 22:01 pm
Lol. A Stompie saying the Sharks backs lack penetration
What a hoot.
2 May 2012, 22:02 pm
Kids say the darndest things!
2 May 2012, 22:03 pm
“You see if there are 14 teams in the table elementary mathematics dictates that teams 1 to 7 make up the top half and teams 8 – 14 make up the bottom half. This is not rocket science”
Well there are 15 teams bud
We have totally different definitions on “nicely poised” for 2nd is nicely poised with bye weekend.
2 May 2012, 22:06 pm
Even better. The Sharks have another half a team below them in the top half.
2 May 2012, 22:06 pm
FIGHT!
2 May 2012, 22:09 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-105: if you cared tovtake a cursory glance spoony g, you will see my comments are well spread on this blog today
plus since when is asking questions considered “gloating”? 
just deal with the fact that your team hardly ever takes the comp by the scruff of the neck & lead, they always have to scrape through by the skin of the cloacas.
2 May 2012, 22:11 pm
@Treehugger(Treehugger)-109: are you into namecalling now?
2 May 2012, 22:11 pm
Gloatingsmiley to you too.
#justsayin’
2 May 2012, 22:11 pm
@ ranger.. Ranger power ranger,
I’m off, good luck to you, coach dumbtree and the farks team
I do hope sharks win, good for SA rugby but my superbru says highlanders +5
2 May 2012, 22:24 pm
Eish I meant 2005. The last time the Highlanders won in Durbs was way back in 2005. Not may Keo posters were even born then.
3 May 2012, 01:07 am
@NoRugbyGuru_0_(RugbyGuru_0_)-123: You are wrong you dumbfck poodle fcking capo cnt
3 May 2012, 02:23 am
I don’t know why it hasn’t been mentioned already but Keagan Daniels’ captaincy in tight games is questionable. There’s been games lost because he hasn’t taken the points on offer (like their last encounter). His communication completely broke down and they crumbled against the Canes. He’s captained well in the easier games but a true captain is one that leads when things are tough. I think the Sharks will win easily because the Highlanders will still be celebrating their release from prison last week!
3 May 2012, 04:19 am
The Sharks wont win this because they will concede too many trunovers on attack. They have been really bad at cleaning out their own ball all season. i am not sure there is a plan in place at all to protect their own bal – especially amontgst the forwards.
Its almost like the coach has not bothered to assign which loosie or loosies should be following up when going wide, and when going short. Too often its a single sharks forward taking the ball up, and getting isolated, while the rest of the forwards are nowhere to be seen- still lying on the ground at the last ruck.
Their problems all comes from bad cleaning out technique – those forwards need a word or two from a wrestling coach or martial arts coach. I dont believe that the forwards intend to overcommit numbers to a ruck, but here how it happens:
1) the first forward tries to clean, but cannot budge their counter rucker
2) other forwards who intended to stay avaioable for teh next ruck, now have to go running in, emergency style, to prevent a turnover
3) Inevitable too many forwards go in.
4) Sometimes even all these forwards still cannot clean propelry due to bad technique.
5) At the very least, the Sharks get slow ball
6) Finally the ball comes out and goes to the last remaining forward or to the backline, who get isolated and lose the ball next ruck.
The rest they drop because tehya re getting the ball under pressure because its coming out so SLOW! McCleod is also directly to blame for this. Somebody PLEASE teach him better scrumhalf technique.
3 May 2012, 07:19 am
Picking Sharks to get over a plucky Highlanders based on historical facts, but why are the Highlanders seen as limited by JC. In what way are they limited?
3 May 2012, 07:30 am
@ HG,
Go crawl back into you rented room above the brothel, you might miss your next appointment shemale
3 May 2012, 07:43 am
@NoRugbyGuru_0_(RugbyGuru_0_)-129: cute.
did HG make you shiver?
settle down boy, he is not the bogey man ok?
3 May 2012, 07:47 am
@ ranger,
I’m returning serve
3 May 2012, 08:38 am
Some arrogant Stormers supporters and some very sensitive Sharks supporters on this thread.
3 May 2012, 09:23 am
I really love it when a Stormers fan has a go at Plumtree as a coach and offers Alistar Coetzee in his place.
Didn’t you guys learn from the PdeV experiment,the guy is only a coach for politics sake.
The acid test is that as soon as de V lost his job he can’t even get a job coaching the Pollsmoor prison 3 rd team.
Plum might not be Graham Henry but on the open market he’d be a shoe in for most coaching jobs,Alistar unfortunately will always be some one’s assistant,and in most cases, like when he was forced into Jake Whites squad,a guy like Eddie Jones had to be brought in to do his job.
3 May 2012, 21:28 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-104: You make the point purely by what you wrote you imp.
The Sharks are ‘doing the same thing with no visible progress’. So then – If you’re a Bull or a Stormer supporter and watched your teams scrape home in their own backyard against this team that is making no progress – you’d better hope like f$%k that they don’t make any progress ? Dimwit.
Aaaa…eish…djy kan hom verstaan darrie eene ?
Go have a Black Label and a swim with your Norwegian bum chums.
3 May 2012, 21:29 pm
@mad eye(mad eye)-133: For years when the Sharks were making one semi-final after the next, playing in the odd final – Sharks supporters were reminded over and over again how despite this they had achieved nothing.
So – Alistair Coetzee has achieved fokkol more than John Plumtree. In fact, he has achieved less than fokkol more because Plumtree at least has two Currie Cup titles to his name.
3 May 2012, 21:31 pm
@WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-132: Arrogant Stormers supporter = Stormers supporter. Never in this history has any team in any sport, in South Africa or abroad been supported by such a bunch of chest beating blowhards.
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