Sharks tops in Newlands streetfight
28 Jul 2012
JON CARDINELLI writes the Sharks were tactically and physically superior in their epic 26-19 semi-final win over the Stormers on Saturday.
The result means that the Sharks will battle the Chiefs for the Super Rugby title next Saturday.
The Sharks will journey to Australasia for the decider, but on the back of a spirited showing in the semi-final, you wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Keegan Daniel lifting that coveted trophy.
They’ve have shown themselves to be the side for the big occasion in 2012, winning the crunch league match against the Bulls in Durban and then smashing the Reds in Brisbane in the qualifying play-off.
They were deserved winners in Saturday’s semi-final, and again it was the way they finished that proved decisive to the outcome. They absorbed a tremendous amount of pressure, picked their moment, and then Daniel made the turnover that killed the contest.
That is not to say that there was anything wrong with the way they started. There was always a danger that the Sharks would run out of puff in the final quarter, and so they needed to put the Stormers under pressure from the outset.
There were some moments when it seemed as if the Stormers would get on top. Lock Eben Etzebeth bulldozed Bismarck du Plessis early in the piece, and for a few seconds the Springbok hooker looked a punch-drunk boxer, teetering and swaying, and many would have anticipated a plunge to the proverbial canvas.
But like his team, Du Plessis not only recovered from the early knock, but soldiered on powerfully. The backlash was quite a thing to behold.
Those who had come to Newlands expecting a clash of styles must have been bitterly disappointed. The Sharks played clinical, smart rugby.
Just as their physicality at the collisions and power at the scrums were highlights, their halfbacks used that possession expertly to force the Stormers into costly errors.
Charl McLeod was on target with his box kicks, and Freddie Michalak produced a virtuoso performance from the flyhalf position. The Stormers battled to deal with the aerial bombardment, dropping a number of high balls or in some cases completely misjudging the garrowen.
A late change to the Sharks’ line-up saw Riaan Viljoen starting at fullback, and his cannon of a boot was expertly utilised. The Sharks had troubled the Stormers for much of the first half, but it was Viljoen’s mortar bomb that allowed the visitors to strike a telling blow. Viljoen put the ball up and Louis Ludik beat Stormers fullback Joe Pietersen in the air, and evaded the cover defence to score.
Michalak kicked the conversion to stretch the Sharks’ lead to 10 points. Peter Grant managed to narrow the deficit right before half-time to leave his side trailing by seven, but the Stormers would have been bitterly disappointed with that first-half return. They had enjoyed numerous visits to the opposition’s 22, but shocking handling and decision making had let the Sharks off the hook.
Some may call it a choke, but the Stormers never got themselves into a position to win this match. They failed to take their opportunities early in the game, and then were forced to play catch-up rugby in the second half.
The Sharks changed tack in the third quarter, keeping it close and striving to build on their seven-point lead.
After sending two drop-goal attempts wide, Michalak nailed a penalty. Grant answered with one at the other end, but it was the Sharks who had the better of territory during this period and made the most of another key opportunity, with JP Pietersen scoring on the hour.
At 23-9 the game looked to be over, but as anticipated, the Sharks started to feel the negative effects of travel. The Stormers took advantage, with Gio Aplon crossing the tryline in the 67th minute.
Grant goaled a further penalty to make it a four-point ball game, but it was here that the Sharks showed their defensive mettle. For the Stormers, it was a period where they showcased their attacking impotence, and lack of composure.
The Stormers were well placed in the opposition 22 but their attack was too lateral. And the Sharks never panicked.
They maintained their discipline on defence, and again, when the big opportunity arrived, they took it.
This time it was the captain who made the big play: a breakdown steal that won the game. The Sharks counter-rucked and Daniel latched onto the ball, wrenching it away and hacking it into the crowd.
898 Comments
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29 Jul 2012, 00:27 am
@kaksioek-597: that’s a lotta dough to go chuck down a hole all for the quest of saying I told you so..
29 Jul 2012, 00:27 am
Oops..Newlands is now a famous graveyard
29 Jul 2012, 00:28 am
So, the best 2 enterprising teams… the next stage evolution in rugby… the Sharks and the Chiefs in the final…
As it should be…
And I called it.
Schweeet!
29 Jul 2012, 00:28 am
@fitz1ella-601: It’s not about bragging rights – it’s about multiplying money
29 Jul 2012, 00:30 am
Night folks – sweet dreams for some, nightmares for others
29 Jul 2012, 00:31 am
yip Sharkshits deserve to go up against the best in the business the mighty Chiefs..
Sharks got the forwards but Chiefs got the backs… so sharkshits will have to play traditional defense wins game SA kick chase rugger bugger all over again.
29 Jul 2012, 00:32 am
@fitz1ella-599: Lucky se naai… Farken hear that sound…
BOOM!
29 Jul 2012, 00:33 am
@kaksioek-604: 1 K is quite a heap of money.. you gotta be loaded to go chancing your arm on a wish and a prayer roll of the lucky packet dice… must be easier ways to multiply money.. like the horses or the roulette wheel .. or the Hang Seng stock exchange.
29 Jul 2012, 00:34 am
@kaksioek-605:
7 sleepless nights for some.
I know I’m going to sleep well.
29 Jul 2012, 00:34 am
@nama1-600: Cheers mate… The boys were awesome…
JPP is a farken Legend!
Freddy too…
Keegan and Kanko…
Plus Beast…
and Alberts…
Unsung hero Ludikris
And the Lwazi the machine…
All 22 farken beauties
29 Jul 2012, 00:35 am
@fitz1ella-606: Nothing wrong with the Sharks backs…
Just 3 syllables necessary…
JPP
Sonny farken Who?
29 Jul 2012, 00:37 am
Jeez…
How much did Deysel hurt the Farts in the Wind when he came on…
All 7 hues of pain… plus more.
A farken beyootiful sight.
29 Jul 2012, 00:39 am
@Heavens Game-607: lucky it was aided and abetted by a Kiwi ref who wanna see his Kiwi team get a home final..
Stormers chucked that game up in the air.. dropping catches all night long.. easy peasy bloody tries from nowhere .. kick chase rugby at its zenith.. up and under blowing in the wind rugby.. where all the ball in hand expertise gone.. next week you might see some of that style of rugby where its carry the ball over the advantage line rugby.. not kick the droppie on a tickie…
You lucky Lambiekins and Jordaan were injured because Ludick and Michalak and Viljoen and Pietersen at center won you that game
29 Jul 2012, 00:39 am
JPP…
Did Aplon even see him before falling down in awe while he just ran in the try…
Ghost Rider…
29 Jul 2012, 00:42 am
@fitz1ella-613: Walsh was as fair as they come… thank the lucky rugger gods that there was no SA ref… no Peter Grant gimme in the last 5mins that the Stormers being relying on the whole goddamn season…
Nope… all merit today…
Black and White majority Bok befok merit, thats what…
Looks like King Heyneke knows whos who in the playing zoo after all, eh?
29 Jul 2012, 00:43 am
@Heavens Game-610:
Yeah. JPP and the Froggie turned your season around after that lost to the Lions.
His call up to the French team against Argentina saved your season. Before the 2nd test vs the Argies, Freddie was not at his best. That game (the 2nd test) was where he turned his season around and he has been very good ever since.
29 Jul 2012, 00:43 am
Chrissakes… I’m as happy as a Gerbil escaping from Camps Bay…
POP!
29 Jul 2012, 00:45 am
“Ghost Rider” Jp Pieterson.
His uncle is Christie Noble
Naais
Legend
High 5 anyone?
29 Jul 2012, 00:45 am
@nama1-616: Freddy being a beaut… You see… come to the Sharks… they make players legends…
Freddy is Legend… He is busy eclipsing Thierry La Croix…
Farken helluvathing…
29 Jul 2012, 00:46 am
Stormers f’ng backroom boys fck’d up BIG time.. can’t believe these dumb f’ng dweebs play a 4 / 3 bench in trench warfare rugby with a No.21 who is NEVER gonna see any action unless somebody goes down crippled.. what kind of chickensh’t scaredy cat cowardice f’ng coaching are these backward thinking neanderthals still dreaming about?
Sharks had Deysel and Sykes and Botes and a prop and a hooker on bench.. and we got one 2 props a lock and a VC loosie.. WTF does the coach THINK about when he selects a bench with NO ammunition as backup…??
F’ng moron’s united… where was the steel that was needed when Sharks pull of Alberts and bring on Sykes and then they still got Deysel to come.. WHY was Roux sitting in the f’ng stands with Burton Francis picking his nose collecting splinters 6 weeks in a row?
29 Jul 2012, 00:46 am
@Fern is not a stud,he is merely no19-618: The Ghost Rider… JPP
Farken 100 high 5s cuzzie
29 Jul 2012, 00:48 am
Jeez, how nicely did JPP hurt our Bok Cappie today…
SHUNTED!
PAIN
29 Jul 2012, 00:49 am
Siya WHO?
29 Jul 2012, 00:50 am
Reynhard WHO?
29 Jul 2012, 00:50 am
Juan de WHO?
29 Jul 2012, 00:53 am
@Heavens Game-615: King Heyneke knows squat yet.. he selected Spies, Daniel, Coetsee, Potgieter and Kankowski as his loosie contingent.. still got plenty way to go to find out what winning rugby is.. just like Alsiter Coetsee .. backward thinking coaches need to get out of their fear ridden scared to lose.. scared to win frame of prayer fill rugby dreaming.
29 Jul 2012, 00:54 am
Loved the way Lwazi bent Bekker twice…
29 Jul 2012, 00:55 am
Skop, I tell you one thing. We will not win anything as long as Dewald Duvenhage is our scrum half. I know you rate him highly but really. When has he ever take a game by the scruff of the neck and give direction?
He is our Achilles heel at this stage imo.
Peter Grant, I can live with. He is solid……….but we need a scrum half if we want to win anything major.
29 Jul 2012, 00:56 am
@Heavens Game-623:
Bismarck WHO???
That was a sight to behold, wasn’t it?
29 Jul 2012, 00:58 am
@fitz1ella-626: I tell you who the loosie contingent should be… all Black and White, without a shadow of a doubt… a straight shooting mix of Alberts, Coetzee, Kanko, Daniel, Deysel…. Forget anything else, the answer is staring the whole of Bok rugby in the face… Sharks forever…
Only room in the Bok pack for a couple of locks – Etsebeth and Kruger… Bekker is a softcunt… no room for him…. The rest Sharks
29 Jul 2012, 00:59 am
@nama1-629: Bismarck got knocked down… but he got up again… to poor red faced Tiaans ultimate chagrin…
Loved the way Beast manraped Brok six love every scrum…
29 Jul 2012, 01:02 am
The Bok backline is thus
9. Pienaar
10. Lambie (if only Fred was Saffa)
11. Lwazi
12. Steyn
13. JPP
14. Aplon
15. Peterson (He will learn to be harder and have BMT in the presence of Sharks)
29 Jul 2012, 01:02 am
@Heavens Game-630: siya monstered deysel backwards, put him on his arse
29 Jul 2012, 01:03 am
@Heavens Game-631:
He got up alright but he was nowhere to be seen really. Not his usual self after that, was he?
Beast made Brock his beetch tonight, sure.
29 Jul 2012, 01:04 am
Broken Harris shathimself every scrum after the very first…. Beast giving him a loveshove… and then game over…
A Beyootiful sight
29 Jul 2012, 01:05 am
@nama1-628: Said it all season. With Duvenage there ,your bacline will not be dangerous.
29 Jul 2012, 01:06 am
@nama1-634: Not really? How about every scrum… and every lineout…
So much for the vaunted Stormers aerial superiority…. Farken pipe dream… Down to Bissy and Kanko…
Schweet!
29 Jul 2012, 01:06 am
@Transformation-633:
I was saying to my mates: Some people is saying that Siya is too small to play for the Boks. Look how he tackles this 120kg monster backwards.
29 Jul 2012, 01:09 am
@Transformation-633: You farken wa.nking…. one big fantasy…
Kolisi nowhere tonight… looks like King Heyneke was dead on right after all….
29 Jul 2012, 01:09 am
@nama1-628: Stormers looked a little better with Schreuder at 9 but the problem begins and ends with the strategy and the direction of the coaches.. they are playing one dimensional defense wins games backward JW garbage rugby from 19 voetsek archives…
If Stormers wanted to win today they had to firstly BELIEVE they could.. which the way they played showed they didn’t.. and secondly they had to build a game plan and strategy that would WIN..
which means a team effort directed at dominating the collisions and the advantage line with speed and precision…
Fourie should have never been at 8… Liebenberg should have been on bench… De Jongh should be at 12 right next to Grant to ATTACK the inside channel.. Burton Francis offers NOTHING but a hope and a prayer insurance policy IF something goes wrong at 10.. but Pietersen and Duvenhage and even Aplon could slot to 10 at a disaster unfolding better than Francis would provide.. so WHY not play a big mobile unit like Roux or Etsebeth or Armand to start at 8 and play Fourie up in the action where he is most suited..??
The game plan is flawed.. and its not Duvenhage who is at fault.. Grant is no fireworks at 10 either BUT he CAN attack the gainline IF he has the correct close knit support like de Jongh and Kolisi hitting up with him close by… Mcleod is no great shakes at Sharks .. BUT their game plan is correctly played out.. Whitehead was quiet today but so was De Jongh a non participant.. who’s fault is that..??
Its the game plan that is absolutely reliant on INDIVIDUAL game breakers and NOT a combined team cohesiveness designed to break open the defenses and offload with a support player following through..
The game plan and selection criteria that is weak.. its not any of the players at fault..
29 Jul 2012, 01:10 am
@Transformation-633: Kolisi still a one dimensional player But will be a force one day. Keegan our most complete looseforward in SA now.
29 Jul 2012, 01:12 am
@optiplay-636:
Very frustrating man. People know that I have been calling for him to be dropped since 2010 already.
I’ve also been punting for Nick Groom as SH for a while now.
Screuder kicking the ball away in the 78th minute tonight, knowing that we needed a converted try to force extra time, proved to me that he is not the right man for the job also. Have never been impressed by him. He was fortunate after that stupid kick that the Sharks conceded a penalty.
We need a scrumhalf of international quality if we want to win a major trophy.
29 Jul 2012, 01:14 am
And as for all those Sharksworldcunts with their farken little facebook petitions… all those “Dumbtree” doubters…. dont they feel like crawling up their own ar.seholes now… The farken absolute little treasonous twats…
29 Jul 2012, 01:15 am
@fitz1ella-640: Can you explain how Grant and JdJ should attack the “inside channel” I am sorry ,but it makes no sense.
29 Jul 2012, 01:15 am
@fitz1ella-640: But AC reckoned Stormers played “Finals” rugby the whole season…
Pity they couldn’t play finals rugby when it really counted…
29 Jul 2012, 01:17 am
@Heavens Game-639:go watch the game again when you’re sober, siya thumped deysel, put him on hos backside SOLID!
29 Jul 2012, 01:17 am
@nama1-642: Buy or steal Ruan Pienaar and you will see a different Stormers backline next year. You dont have to change anything else.look how good JdV and Habs did in the national team . You hsve all the talent.
29 Jul 2012, 01:19 am
@fitz1ella-640:
“Fourie should have never been at 8″
You are so right about that.
I said it two weeks ago when he was selected at 8 for the game against the Rebels: If Fourie has a good game against the Rebels, they will select him again in that position and it may just bite us in the arse.
29 Jul 2012, 01:21 am
@optiplay-647:
That’s a plan.
You don’t maybe have a direct line to AC? Give him a call.
29 Jul 2012, 01:22 am
Ready for the miracle win chaps… The impossible dream… Circumference of the world and a half… from Durban to Brisbane to Durban to Cape Town and then to Hamilton… it shouldn’t happen… Probability is small to win…
But the possibility is there… for the greatest win in Super Rugby in its whole goddamned history…
Sharks vs Chiefs… and Sharks prevail….
Fark Sparta… this is Sharks Forever!
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