Lambie boots Sharks into final
20 Oct 2012
JON CARDINELLI writes that Pat Lambie’s cool game management was decisive in the Sharks’ emphatic 20-3 win over the Blue Bulls in Durban.
If Saturday’s semi-final at Kings Park was a movie, Lambie was the show-stealing leading man.
This blockbuster boasted a strong supporting cast, with Marcel Coetzee and Keegan Daniel producing influential performances at the collisions, and Jannie du Plessis perpetuating the physical dominance with a powerful scrumming display.
But above and beyond all of that was Lambie’s decision making and execution. This allowed the Sharks to take advantage and eventually finish the game as deserved victors.
The wet conditions prescribed a conservative approach, and it was the Sharks who adapted best. The hosts enjoyed a wealth of possession and territory in the first stanza, and much of these advantages were earned through a superior kicking game.
Lambie, scrumhalf Cobus Reinach and fullback Louis Ludik shared the tactical kicking duties, keeping the Bulls pinned in their own territory with a series of probes and high-hanging up-and-unders. While the Bulls employed similar tactics, it was the Sharks, and especially Lambie, who were more accurate in the implementation of this strategy.
The Bulls were often beaten in the air when the ball went high, such was the precision of the Sharks’ kick as well as the timing of the chase. When they attempted to reply in kind, they were guilty of booting the ball too deep. It was because of these errors that they were unable to put the Sharks under the necessary pressure.
Morné Steyn has struggled with his kicking all season, and had another awful outing in Saturday’s semi-final. The out-of-sorts Bok flyhalf made mistakes from the kickoff that resulted in turnovers. There were several instances where he was charged down and where he kicked the ball out on the full.
But the blame for this defeat cannot be laid solely at Steyn’s door. The forwards were outplayed physically and technically, and the patent lack of discipline and composure of the Bulls’ collective cost them at key moments.
In the first half, Lambie had done well to switch between kicking and running. As the Sharks launched an attacking move on the Bulls’ 22m line, Lambie made the decision to chip and chase. It looked to be an excellent option with nobody sweeping at the back, but as Lambie raced to collect his own kick he was felled by Bulls prop Morné Mellet. Referee Mark Lawrence didn’t hesitate in sending Mellet to the sin-bin for tripping, and the Sharks proceeded to score six more points in Mellet’s absence.
The Bulls finished the first half with zero points and virtually no territory, and found themselves chasing the game in the second period. They enjoyed a brief period on the front-foot but were repeatedly undone by their own errors and indiscipline. To be fair, the Sharks did respond to this onslaught with a determined defensive display.
The hosts’ lineout wobbled and their scrum looked less secure when Du Plessis left the field before half-time, but they will be happy with the way they performed at the collisions, and the manner in which their flyhalf dictated play in the battle for territory.
They will enjoy home ground advantage in next week’s final, but these are the attributes that will make them favourites to win the Currie Cup trophy. They played to the conditions and kept their composure in the semi-final, and they have the right balance between individual brilliance and collective clout to ensure that they will go all the way.
Follow JC on Twitter
Follow SA Rugby magazine on Twitter<
351 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8 » Show All
20 Oct 2012, 17:06 pm
Bullies bewildered and confused at the moment……not a good look.
20 Oct 2012, 17:06 pm
This is why I dislike the Bulls.
For all Bakkie’s rants about the Kiwis, the Bulls are by far the most consistently dirty Rugby team I’ve ever watched.
20 Oct 2012, 17:06 pm
Jacque Potgieter handed off like he was a plastic dummy.
20 Oct 2012, 17:06 pm
Lambie showing Morne wie’s baas….
20 Oct 2012, 17:07 pm
@Bagel-52: The Natalians under Ian Mac took the cake for their streetwise legal play.
For outright dirtiness, ABs and the Bulls (thinking of the late 1990s for the latter).
20 Oct 2012, 17:09 pm
@mikeybrass-55: I didn’t even know what Rugby was. I only properly started watching Rugby in about 2003.
20 Oct 2012, 17:10 pm
Morne’s kicks are uselessly aimless.
20 Oct 2012, 17:10 pm
@Bagel-56: That’s why I’ll always like Jake White, because despite the kak he so often spews, 2004 was the reason I started loving this game.
Magical year after 2003…
20 Oct 2012, 17:11 pm
@Bagel-56: Me since ’87.
20 Oct 2012, 17:11 pm
@Bagel-58: Take a look at the Cecil Moss-coached Boks of ’86. There was true Bok rugby.
20 Oct 2012, 17:11 pm
Sannie du plessis se kop n bietjie seer?
20 Oct 2012, 17:12 pm
lawrence so far up the sharkies noughts i can’t see him on the pitch.
20 Oct 2012, 17:15 pm
@Bagel-52:
come now, one little individual indiscretion for which he was rightly carded.
20 Oct 2012, 17:16 pm
sharks scrum just did exactly what the bulls were penalisd for yet lawrence waves it off for play on.
20 Oct 2012, 17:16 pm
That Reinich has serious speed. He’d have given his dad Jaco a run for his money.
20 Oct 2012, 17:17 pm
Sharks deservedly in the lead. Lambie outshining Morne.
20 Oct 2012, 17:17 pm
This game is boring
20 Oct 2012, 17:19 pm
@mikeybrass-60:
Cecil Moss was probably our finest Bok/Provincial coach, IMO.
20 Oct 2012, 17:19 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-62: you should see his socks at least Bakkies – is Morne playing didn’t see much of him either.
20 Oct 2012, 17:19 pm
@mikeybrass-66:
referee influenced.
20 Oct 2012, 17:20 pm
Sharks dominance much greater than the 9-0 lead would suggest.
@Dawn-67: you are boring.
20 Oct 2012, 17:20 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-64: always the ref huh?
20 Oct 2012, 17:20 pm
Lambie owning Steyn.
20 Oct 2012, 17:21 pm
Guppy supporters!
Where are they?
Disgrace for CC rugby
Otherwise nice play from Lambie!
Showing the Sloth Stain how its done
20 Oct 2012, 17:22 pm
BTW
Must feel it for Wallabies, they shouldve won it!
20 Oct 2012, 17:22 pm
@RL-69:
morne said ‘howzit’ to patrick earlier on, did you miss it?
referee definitely influencing the outcome so far, which is a pity.
guess with a kiwi coaching you it comes with the territory.
20 Oct 2012, 17:23 pm
Luiperd
Do you know how much kuk you talk
20 Oct 2012, 17:26 pm
Bulls playing the usual skop & jag & hope rugby!
Bring back Johan Heunis and Naas Botha!
LOL!
20 Oct 2012, 17:29 pm
@Liewe Luiperd-72:
can you honestly say in this instance its not?
he’s just changed the laws of the game right there for the sharks with that scrum as opposed to a 22… how is it i’m the loon?
lets not go near some of his other ‘interesting’ calls.
20 Oct 2012, 17:29 pm
@David-68: Totally.
@Mighty Horua-78: Heunis and Naas? Now there was some running Bulls rugby, seriously.
20 Oct 2012, 17:30 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-79: Bulls have only themselves to blame for playing stupid rugby.
20 Oct 2012, 17:31 pm
Dewalt Potgieter looks like a Waterkloof wife who got a beating! All puffy eyes
20 Oct 2012, 17:31 pm
Players STILL have the habit of going to ground instead of leg driving in contact and of not aiming for the shoulder of the tackler.
20 Oct 2012, 17:33 pm
bullshitt not surporting their weight off their feet and the ball WAS available
20 Oct 2012, 17:33 pm
Poor Potties couldn’t even budge Coetzee an inch off that steal. Like he was trying to lift a bridge.
20 Oct 2012, 17:33 pm
Maybe a blessing for the Boks that Jannie sits out the rest of this game and the final next week….
Hate to say it – but I’m one of those who wished that ALL the Boks (bar the fringe players) were rested for the remainder of the Currie Cup.
Losing a Currie Cup semi or final – honestly: who really cares?
Losing against Ireland, Scotland or the Poms – who really cares? Half the fuckingworld……. and ME!
20 Oct 2012, 17:35 pm
How in the hell did Potgieter become a bok?
20 Oct 2012, 17:36 pm
@mxhosa-87: He won a raffle…..
20 Oct 2012, 17:37 pm
Lawrence is fcking the Bulls up the poopshoot a bit here.
20 Oct 2012, 17:37 pm
this is a joke
20 Oct 2012, 17:37 pm
what a farkin joke
20 Oct 2012, 17:37 pm
@Mighty Horua-82:
Jeandre K is going to moer Mark Lawrence today.
20 Oct 2012, 17:38 pm
And they said Lawrence was a Bulls man….
20 Oct 2012, 17:38 pm
Reynhard kills hougaard
20 Oct 2012, 17:38 pm
@Robzim-92: Ek sien ook daai ding.
20 Oct 2012, 17:38 pm
Hougaard is making an immediate impact.
20 Oct 2012, 17:39 pm
Min 50
The fun starts now
20 Oct 2012, 17:39 pm
@katman-89:
this is larfable refereeing
and shows why he could never cut it at international level
20 Oct 2012, 17:39 pm
Bulls will be kakker with tuinboy ralepele on the field
20 Oct 2012, 17:39 pm
@Robzim-92: 1k says Hougaard moers Markey Mark first. (I don’t really feel much for the Bulls or Sharks – but Bulls getting a raw-ish type of deal here….)
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.