Michalak’s mojo key for Sharks
31 Jul 2012
RYAN VREDE writes Frederic Michalak has emerged as a central figure in the Sharks’ drive to the Super Rugby title.
The Sharks are finally starting to see an expected return on their significant investment in the 29-year-old Frenchman, who arrived in 2008 and has had a regular association with the franchise since. Some would question the accuracy of that assertion, arguing that he was instrumental in leading them to the 2008 Currie Cup title and was key in their surge to the final last year.
However, you don’t recruit a player of his calibre and standing to win domestic prizes. It should be a pleasant by-product of having his ilk at your disposal. Fundamentally, Michalak was brought in to help the Sharks end their Super Rugby drought. And now, after a series of inspiring performances since being installed at flyhalf about halfway through their campaign, he is on the cusp of doing just that.
Michalak’s aptitude for Super Rugby was displayed in 2008 before he seriously injured his knee and missed the remainder of the tournament. Certainly he was still adjusting to some of the tournament’s unique demands, particularly against elite opposition, but he always seemed comfortable fit.
Now, after being granted an extended run (somewhat fortuitously in light of an injury to Pat Lambie) Michalak is thriving. His performance against the Stormers on Saturday was composed, intelligent and near faultless in execution. This was in keeping with the expectation of a 56-Test veteran and a player who has won a French Top 14 championship and two European Cups (with Toulouse). The Sharks must hope Michalak displays those qualities in an even higher measure come Saturday.
That said, it would be remiss to ignore the correlation between his impressive form and the upswing in the forwards’ displays. Sterile and impotent for half the tournament, the heavies were then galavanised by the return from injury of Beast Mtawarira, Willem Alberts and to a lesser extent, Ryan Kankowski. Michalak has subsequently had a platform that would be the envy of all 10s.
And he has taken full advantage, orchestrating attacks with consummate skill and sharp decision making, while also giving them an unpredictable dimension with his natural flair. It is incumbent upon his forwards to best the Chiefs’ powerful pack in general and set play in order to give him a reasonable opportunity to engineer the victory they so desperately crave.
With a taxing travel schedule that has seen them clock up nearly 35000 km in the last three weeks, there are legitimate questions about their capacity to achieve this.
Sharks coach John Plumtree has spoken of his players’ deeply rooted self-belief and their refusal to allow fatigue to be used as an excuse for failure to play at their optimum level. Plumtree’s coach-speak is admirable but rests on the hope that the Sharks’ forwards in particular will have something left after their heroic performance at Newlands.
If they do, Michalak, on current form, has the potential to be the fulcrum around which a Sharks victory is built.
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174 Comments
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31 Jul 2012, 22:08 pm
@sharks_lover-145:
A Sharkie well I never!
31 Jul 2012, 22:10 pm
@cab-146:
Cab be nice about Claire Balding, she is an excellent sports presenter!
31 Jul 2012, 22:12 pm
Well done Michael Phelps- Now the greatest Olympian ever with an astonishing 19 medals- showed great sportsmanship in taking the loss to Chad with such dignity.
31 Jul 2012, 22:13 pm
@Robzim-153:
Big ears tho!
31 Jul 2012, 22:14 pm
Yes, don’t be nasty just because she’s balding.
31 Jul 2012, 22:15 pm
@carol-151:
Yes, SA is a very diverse country as you probably know by now
People differ from area to area
For example:
Best swimmers: Durban
Best surfers: Durban
Best rugby players: Cape Town
Best girls: Cape Town
Biggest boeps: Pretoria
I can give more examples but don’t want to upset people so let’s leave it there
31 Jul 2012, 22:16 pm
@carol-152:
seems a very nice lesbian lady
31 Jul 2012, 22:18 pm
@Robzim-156:
Bwahahhhhahah………..
Very funny Rob
31 Jul 2012, 22:19 pm
read it in the sunday times, can’t say it came as a big surprise tho, really shouldnt matter, really, very nice, she knows her sport too, saw her doing the rugby league up north, that one could scrum down i reckon.
31 Jul 2012, 22:21 pm
@cab-159:
Claire Balding can present any sports programme, she can make anything interesting!
Great to have on the BBC team
31 Jul 2012, 22:22 pm
That was boys against men as Phelps becomes the greatest Olympic swimmer this world has known.
19 medals and no other Olympian has that number and it will increase. Gold medals alone number 15 now.
He is a very gracious winner and loser too as shown by his looking after(as if he was a little brother) your Le Clos who choked up during the medal ceremony. And all of that barely minutes before this 4 X 200 relay gold winning performance.
The BBC does a great job on that swimming commentary as they do with all sport.
31 Jul 2012, 22:26 pm
what u talking about? – jnr le clos beat the greatest the world has ever known. and snr confirmed it.
how can they give phelps 19 golds, sacriledgeous, gdam daylight robbery, carl lewis, michael johnson – those are olympic champions.
1 Aug 2012, 01:55 am
@AntiViral-161: Chad Le Clos – what a legend! Putting Michael Phelps the so-called Olympic King to shame. Being out touched by another swimmer undoubtly the biggest disgrace you can suffer.
And then the big baby Phelps threw his goggles out of the pool and storms past the media like a spoilt brat. Disgraceful behavior from the Olympic King!
1 Aug 2012, 05:09 am
@cab-162: Lewis was a drugs cheat, I suspect that is the case with many of the past American champions. Check this out:
‘Carl Lewis has broken his silence on allegations that he was the beneficiary of a drugs cover-up, admitting he had tested positive for banned substances but claiming he was just one of “hundreds” of American athletes who were allowed to escape bans.
“There were hundreds of people getting off,” he said. “Everyone was treated the same.”
Lewis has now acknowledged that he failed three tests during the 1988 US Olympic trials, which under international rules at the time should have prevented him from competing in the Seoul games two months later.
The admission is a further embarrassment for the United States Olympic Committee, which had initially denied claims that 114 positive tests between 1988 and 2000 were covered up. It will add weight to calls by leading anti-doping officials and top athletes for an independent inquiry into the US’s record on drug issues.’
1 Aug 2012, 05:17 am
@Big Hit-164:
Where’d you get that from?
1 Aug 2012, 05:34 am
he is french..most likely a great game..followed by a poor one!
1 Aug 2012, 07:26 am
@kwas-163:
After being initially upset (who would not have been?) Phelps regained his composure and showed great sportsmanship and dignity in defeat as pointed out on numerous occasions by the british commentators.
It is also no disgrace to be out touched to the wall by another swimmer-all that it means is that he misjudged his final stroke – in tight finishes it’s a split second decision of whether to reach for the wall or to try and get more propulsion before reaching – in Beijing he got it right and won by 0,01 second and last night he got it wrong and lost by 0.05 seconds. That is sport- mistakes happen, no disgrace whatsoever.
If Phelps who has won more medals than any other person in the history of the olympics is according to you the “so-called” king of Olympics who would you regard as the real king and why?
1 Aug 2012, 07:56 am
@fitz1ella-99:
The only choking that will be done is you on a Zimbo’s purple head.
1 Aug 2012, 10:42 am
UFO.Hi.Interesting aricle on RUGGAWORLD re mental coaching.
“Got game plan…..No brains”
Regards
1 Aug 2012, 11:12 am
@kwas-163: Dude he was obviously upset at himself for a rookie mistake. He was pretty cool after that.
After months an months of hard preparation, I’m sure you can allow him some emotion after making a mistake like that
1 Aug 2012, 17:48 pm
That’s quite a revelation to me Big Hit – suppose during the 80/’s and 90s they were mostly all on the juice.
I think he and Johnson are great commentators on the bbc.
2 Aug 2012, 12:40 pm
@Robzim-156: Actually ironic how that’s not the case. You’d think the best swimmers would be from Durban, but most of the swimming champions from the past came from inland: Bloem, Joburg and Pretoria.
2 Aug 2012, 12:52 pm
Phelps will most probably get his 20th medal. To really realize how great that is, consider that SA only had 72 medals in more than a century.
SA only had 26 medals since re-admission, with only 5 golds.
Gotta say, it is slightly suspicious, but what the heck.
2 Aug 2012, 14:46 pm
Okay! Make that 27 medals with 6 golds! Brilliant job our rowers!
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