Sharks set for slaughter
3 Aug 2012
MARK KEOHANE writes the Chiefs will win in Hamilton on Saturday and win easily.
If they don’t it will be the biggest final’s implosion in the history of the competition.
I haven’t read a South African who isn’t backing the Sharks to take the title. It is written in the stars say some. It is meant to be say others. Forget the travel, it isn’t a factor. The Sharks are operating on adrenalin, momentum and a belief they can’t be beaten.
I don’t buy the emotion of it all. I reckon the Chiefs will win by at least 15, which is what the New Zealand bookies have as a handicap on the final.
How different my thinking would be if the Sharks actually had a week to settle, prepared with more conviction than hope and did not have to negotiate the fatigue that comes with travelling overseas three times in three weeks.
The Sharks were brilliant against the Reds. I picked that win. Historically they play well in Brisbane and the Reds were poor this season. I also picked them to beat the Stormers, because I felt they had the physicality to match the Stormers and the Stormers were never going to be a try-scoring threat. But the way the Sharks hit the wall with seven minutes to play was an indicator that they won’t get through 80 minutes in Hamilton on emotion, passion and belief. They will be huffing and puffing by half time and on the hour the reality of the travel will have set in.
The Sharks are as good a side as the Chiefs, but they are not significantly better. To win this competition, playing the final in another country, requires a squad with few weaknesses and for all the heroics of the last three weeks the Sharks are not the complete package. The Chiefs aren’t either but they had the advantage of playing their semi-final last Friday, they have been at home all week and the only thing that can beat them is a spectacular implosion.
I can’t see it happening because under Dave Rennnie and Wayne Smith they play pragmatic, percentages rugby and they are a team whose focus on defence is never at the expense of attack.
Sonny Bill Williams will be influential. He always is against the Sharks and I can’t see French flyhalf Fred Michalak taking too much contact in Hamilton. Michalak has enjoyed his best month of Super Rugby but he has never been one to mix it with the Kiwis and I don’t see that changing on Saturday.
The first 30 minutes will be intense as both teams have individuals who thrive on physicality, but the Chiefs at 9, 10 and 12 will ask more questions in attack from structured play and they will target Michalak defensively.
There will be individual heroics from the Sharks and world class players like Bismarck du Plessis will front the challenge, but science says the Sharks will be running on empty on the hour.
John Plumtree and Grant Bashford are the best South African coaching combination in the tournament and they are up against the most balanced coaching duo in New Zealand. The Sharks, despite finishing out of the top four, have played the best rugby among South African teams and the Chiefs have been the stand out team in the competition.
Why could there not be a fortnight between semi-final and final? Not just for the Sharks but every year.
South African players who have made the trek to New Zealand previously for semi-finals and the odd final have admitted afterwards that they were just making up the numbers. The same applies to those Kiwi or Aussie teams going to the Republic. The exception has always been the Crusaders, but even they took a beating whenever a semi-final meant travelling to Pretoria.
The Sharks, as I keep on getting reminded, have travelled to Australia and beaten the Aussie Conference Champs. They then travelled to Cape Town and beat the South African Conference Champs. It apparently is written somewhere up above that they will travel to New Zealand and beat the New Zealand Conference Champs. Well I haven’t seen the writing and if the Sharks do succeed it will be the greatest play-offs success in the history of the competition.
Home teams win finals in Super Rugby. History shows that and as is often quoted the only thing man can learn from history is that he never learns from history.
It is fantastic how emphatic the support is for the Sharks but I’ve seen it all before. The blind loyalty in the build-up and then the absolute disbelief when they get pumped.
In 2011 when Peter de Villiers took a second team to play the All Blacks I heard similar talk of a win and when the Boks took a 40-7 hammering there was way too much surprise among the supporters.
Be loyal to your team. Be South African in your support but also know that this final is weighted heavily in favour of the hosts – as is every Super Rugby final.
592 Comments
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3 Aug 2012, 14:20 pm
Keo picking the Chiefs.
Oooooooooooooh Nooooooooooooooo.
P.S.
I got a “You are posting to quickly” on my FIRST post.
3 Aug 2012, 14:21 pm
@>^..^< katman-198: funny, if Id have said the things Ranger did, youd all be up in arms and reposting it like crazy..
but you go now, come on, hit me with something apparently “witty”
3 Aug 2012, 14:21 pm
@rangerman-189:
hehe
Yes, Sharks have done SA rugby proud just playing the way they have.
Lets eee if they can carry on.
@>^..^< katman-195:
Oh wee little katty angwy?
Well congratualtions on being so far from the truth.
Carry on trying to figure it out but looking at it so far, you have no show.
3 Aug 2012, 14:22 pm
10 New ZealandNew Zealand 3 0 2 5
11 KazakhstanKazakhstan 3 0 0 3
11 South AfricaSouth Africa 3 0 0 3
13 JapanJapan 2 6 11 19
14 NetherlandsNetherlands 2 1 3 6
15 HungaryHungary 2 1 2 5
16 UkraineUkraine 2 0 4 6
17 AustraliaAustralia 1 8 4 13
funny, it lets me post this without the you are posting to quickly comment…
3 Aug 2012, 14:23 pm
@Atreides-196:
Read again dude, i said a few of these muppets. Not all the muppets
3 Aug 2012, 14:23 pm
After 7 heats only Nam. & Bots. have qualifiers for the women’s 400m semis for southern Africa.
3 Aug 2012, 14:23 pm
@poppa69-202: So now you’re all worried about what we say about our OWN politicians?
Do we really have to be subjected to your clear lack of any sort of life on a Friday?
3 Aug 2012, 14:24 pm
@Hurricane-205: STOP CALLING ME A MUPPET!!!!!!
*sob*
3 Aug 2012, 14:25 pm
@Atreides-196: Sorry in a rush. Well that’s the only way this is going to be ‘fair’ enough for all 15 teams. If it’s impossible to do, then we have to live with what we have.
3 Aug 2012, 14:26 pm
@Atreides-208:
lol
3 Aug 2012, 14:26 pm
@poppa69-204:
An Oarsome day for NZ at the rowing Popps.
I watch the Finals with Eric Murrays Grandpop.
3 Aug 2012, 14:27 pm
@cane-201:
Instead of putting the Keo curse on the Chiefs, he should get the **** out of bed and fix his crappy site.
3 Aug 2012, 14:27 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.-209: It is what it is, I know… just worried about the final being a watered-down drubbing because of something easily avoidable
3 Aug 2012, 14:28 pm
‘Let ALPEN provide you with your “hole” solution
‘drills for professionals’
typical day at the stormers office
3 Aug 2012, 14:28 pm
@Atreides-207: what, so Ive stayed at home and cheered on my nation overtaking yours? couldnt think of a better way to spend the evening getting the japies
whose worried? just pointing out the double standards, but you continue boy, you may win one one day..
3 Aug 2012, 14:29 pm
@cane-211: they were superb mate, so pleased for them and great to see Mahe overcome the demons from Beijing..
3 Aug 2012, 14:29 pm
@Hurricane-212: @Hurricane-212: There are far more important things to do. Like snorting lines off Nikita’s rack
3 Aug 2012, 14:29 pm
@gonzo-197:
thats true
so there should be at least a weeks rest for any sa teams especially (considering the jetlag factor) and thereafter all teams play off in that one country with no traveling for any team?
3 Aug 2012, 14:30 pm
@Atreides-213: maybe if the sharks had performed throughout the season they wouldnt have had to do all this travel huh? ever thought of that?
3 Aug 2012, 14:30 pm
@Atreides-217:
hahaha
Where do i line up??
3 Aug 2012, 14:31 pm
@gonzo-197: A Stormers Bulls final in NZ. Almost all Stormers and Bulls fans watching on TV in the small hours. A small and disappointed crowd of locals. where’s your wonderful showpiece final then?
3 Aug 2012, 14:31 pm
@wait for it, wait for it…-218:
Do Kiwis get Jet lagged or are we too strong and manly?
3 Aug 2012, 14:33 pm
@stormer in a teacup-221:
lol
Why would we watch no tries and a kicking display from Morne?
BOOOOORRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG
3 Aug 2012, 14:35 pm
@wait for it, wait for it…-218: funny, where was this idea a couple of years ago when the Bulls benefitted with the Saders having to travel from SA to NZ to play then back to SA to play the bulls in a semi final?
oh thats right, it was different aye bro?
3 Aug 2012, 14:36 pm
@Atreides-213: It COULD have been easily avoided
The Sharks should have woken up a little bit earlier in the season…in fact, just a win against the Lions would have canned half the travelling.
They would have WALKED a final back in SA, such is the form they are in….but they don’t deserve a final in SA. No team that loses to the Lions does.
Very few pitied the Crusaders last year with all their additional travel, not just in the playoffs, but throughout the whole season. I heard very few calls for ‘system being at fault’ when they met up with the Reds for the final.
It just makes us Saffas look a little foolish again that everyone and his donkey is now actively campaigning for a change in finals format because it’s one of our teams living the nightmare.
3 Aug 2012, 14:36 pm
@stormer in a teacup-221: But it will be fair.
And with a crowd of 3,000 saffer expats wait-for-it will complain about crowd sizes in NZ or the refs
3 Aug 2012, 14:37 pm
@Atreides-217:
Now you are talking Atreides.
Now that would be great sport.
3 Aug 2012, 14:37 pm
@poppa69-219: *Sigh*
Go and read 196.
Ranger and I were talking about the principle of a final, as a sporting ‘spectacle’ between 2 sides, at their best. Not the sharks specifically.
3 Aug 2012, 14:38 pm
@wait for it, wait for it…-218:
Who’s Top Ten now Bakkies.
3 Aug 2012, 14:38 pm
@Atlas-214: Not a kindergarten day for you, today?
3 Aug 2012, 14:39 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.-225:
spot on.
@gonzo-226:
You can imagine.
3000 expat South Africans missing the game cos they are complaining about ticket prices or who stole the other perosn seat.
It would be like a South African moan wave
3 Aug 2012, 14:40 pm
@poppa69-194: ja, what can i say, i dont like the guy.
whats that got to do with you and kobus kitty?
3 Aug 2012, 14:40 pm
@Atreides-217:
Looks like a Gold Medal rack as well.
3 Aug 2012, 14:41 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther
Have you run away to avoid talking cricky with me?
I thanked you yesterday.
3 Aug 2012, 14:41 pm
@Hurricane-222:
ag please hurri, while i may not be the sharpest tool in the sheap shearing shed even i can easily understand how jetlag works.
i cant keep explaining this, ok?
to go in a easterly direction from the west causes more pronounced effects from/of jetlag than it does to go in a westerly direction from the east.
it has to do with the earths rotation, day/night cycles and circadian rhythms.
so to answer your question;
no, it has nothing to do with the manliness or strength of the middle earth hobbits
3 Aug 2012, 14:42 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.-225: Good lord. I’m not campaigning for wholesale changes to the format. I just don’t want to go through the longest Super rugby compo in history all for a final that fizzles after 50 minutes. I’m a stormer to but i’m also in favour of a cracking final, that’s all. I get it, you hate the sharks, but that’s not the reason I have for this opinion
This is a purely philosophical argument…oh just forget it I’m tired of typing htis
3 Aug 2012, 14:42 pm
Anyone watching the Mexican girl in the archery?
She looks damn fine….i think,she has a hat on, but the Bow is a bit off putting
3 Aug 2012, 14:43 pm
@cane-233: That it does. We should get one made and present it to her at Fireman’s sometime.
3 Aug 2012, 14:44 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.-234: @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged by Mad Eye Productions.-234: Hello EXTRABOLLOCKS. I believe this is you MikeiWalker or whatever your name is now. **wotacocktonsil**
Don’t you have a nation to save? Or a virus to fight?
3 Aug 2012, 14:45 pm
@stormer in a teacup-230:
My teacher said all the “special” kids may leave early
Why?
3 Aug 2012, 14:45 pm
@rangerman-232: you keep believing that Ranger, but I guess you also would be quite dangerous to have a beer with huh?
3 Aug 2012, 14:45 pm
@wait for it, wait for it…-235:
Every Team that travels east,
in the Pool stages,
then travels west.
And vice-versa.
A level playing field in anyone’s book.
End of.
3 Aug 2012, 14:46 pm
@Atreides-228: ag thanks for the discussion bud.
a lot of people refusing to see the obvious.
its actually the human condition that is to blame, people always are only concerned if it affects them.
luckily visionaries like us and a few others are around to lead them by the nose
3 Aug 2012, 14:46 pm
@wait for it, wait for it…-235:
Go the long way.
Head over South America, therefore you will be heading west…..**** does it have to take a Kiwi to think of it?
Oh by the way, you are correct about not being the sharpest, it is sheep, not sheap, trust me i should know.
3 Aug 2012, 14:47 pm
@poppa69-224:
no, i’m not saying that at all.
i’m just considering the benefits of creating the best possible sporting spectacle.
its not about advantaging any one country over the other.
although, that is of course what nz has had for the entirety of the competitions existence.
@cane-229:
hehehe
well done, caner
i’ll take some cream with my helping of stfu, thank you
3 Aug 2012, 14:47 pm
@Hurricane-237:
Dutchies giving us a hockey leason.
3 Aug 2012, 14:48 pm
hey ranger…
hope the sharks take it tomorrow…
have read most of the comments about the week-delay debate…
you keep stressing it’s not about the sharks and it’s all to do with principle…
question…
how come you’ve just stumbled upon these principles this week…??
just asking…
3 Aug 2012, 14:48 pm
@poppa69-241:
no.
i wont drink beer with you.
weirdo.
3 Aug 2012, 14:49 pm
@wait for it, wait for it…-245:
We won’t be top ten for long Bakkies.
But every dog has his day.
3 Aug 2012, 14:50 pm
GB in 6th position with 6 by 6 by 6 = 18 medals.
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