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.
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351 Comments
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20 Oct 2012, 18:00 pm
Ol’ Puma must be thrilled to little bits
20 Oct 2012, 18:00 pm
Chilloboy must be the kakkest bok ever
20 Oct 2012, 18:01 pm
Can’t watch the game. Watching UFC instead. Never seen some much blood coming out of a dude that is still apparently alive.
20 Oct 2012, 18:01 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-147: Meyer’s gonna be telling everyone how Morne dominated the game lol
20 Oct 2012, 18:02 pm
Ndugane’s been so kak today he’s been replaced by a fylhalf lol
20 Oct 2012, 18:02 pm
Outstanding thanks Horua
Nice to have you back
20 Oct 2012, 18:02 pm
@Predawn-153: Which UFC bud? Did you see the EFC fights last night
20 Oct 2012, 18:03 pm
Predawn are you squeamish you grootbek
20 Oct 2012, 18:04 pm
Fatty grayling folded like wet cardboard… Lol whatafuckingdooooos!
20 Oct 2012, 18:04 pm
Min 70
Another turn over by Kirchner the ‘springbok’
20 Oct 2012, 18:04 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-142:
May Andy Capos???? will be the DJ during the Lions/Wp gig
20 Oct 2012, 18:05 pm
Wonder whats more fake… Wwe, ufc or chilliboy’s hard work
20 Oct 2012, 18:05 pm
@Atreides-154: So they pull Morne off the field…….on comes Fouche, and same shy te
Honestly, Meyer is REALLY going to have a hard time pulling the Morne card….there will be blood.
20 Oct 2012, 18:05 pm
Predawn.
The only shark not watching the sharks game
The only shark scared of blood!
Skaam jou
20 Oct 2012, 18:05 pm
So it’s official then? Morne Steyn has bombed out in the twilight of his career.
maybe he has women problems…or men…who knows. Too much money in the bank..keeps him up at night wondering how to spend it?
Farking softcark laaities of today. Don’t have the mental strength to last the marathon.
20 Oct 2012, 18:05 pm
this game has been ruined
i’ve got better things to do
i feel its undeserved but well done all the same for winning the game sharks.
MOM: mark lawrence
cheers for now
20 Oct 2012, 18:06 pm
Or hougaards tatoos
20 Oct 2012, 18:06 pm
@Dawn-164:
Only blood I’m scared of is my own.
20 Oct 2012, 18:06 pm
That man Marcel,,,,
20 Oct 2012, 18:06 pm
Why and what is so difficult to have a go and run the ball?
The Bulls i mean
20 Oct 2012, 18:07 pm
Oh FFS
You can’t even look at a little blood
20 Oct 2012, 18:07 pm
Hougaard is kak pathetic! Never again should he play for the Boks, same as that Morne has been.
20 Oct 2012, 18:07 pm
Bulls rugby is fast going down the drain, living on a game plan that is way out of date. where do these coaches come from? It seems conformity (toeing the official blue bull blue print) is the only criteria they need. You see the brilliance coach out of the young players slowly but surely. OZ and NZ probably look at these spectacles and think, nothing to worry about there, they will always be their own achilles heel. Mark Lawrence must be the most irritating ref in the world a cross between Bruno and a ozzy rules ref with clenching his buttocks using them as exclamation marks. Please give Lambie a chance as bok flyhalve.
20 Oct 2012, 18:08 pm
@Mighty Horua-161: Well then house full of guests or not, I will turn the sound rightfuckingoff or switch to the Afrikaans commentary.
@suffer_guy-162: Nah, fakest of the lot:
your wife’s orgasms….I’m prepared to put money on that being the case.
20 Oct 2012, 18:08 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-166: Boohoooooo do u ever stop whining?
20 Oct 2012, 18:08 pm
@suffer_guy-152: Dean Greyling holds that title I’m afraid…
20 Oct 2012, 18:08 pm
Huis toe pappa! Bulls!!
20 Oct 2012, 18:08 pm
try, game over
20 Oct 2012, 18:08 pm
@suffer_guy-162:
UFC fake?? You get in the octagon with Brock Lessner and talk to me afterwards…a few months afterwards when you’ve recoverd in ICU.
20 Oct 2012, 18:09 pm
hougaard back to his 2009 kak self getting his boxkicks charged down elke tyd…
20 Oct 2012, 18:09 pm
Morne Steyn played himself out of the EOTY…
20 Oct 2012, 18:09 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-174: She doesn’t fake with me
20 Oct 2012, 18:09 pm
Morne Steyn played himself out of the EOYT…
20 Oct 2012, 18:09 pm
Well deserved home final for the Sharkies. It must be said.
Where to now for the Bulls Bakkies?
20 Oct 2012, 18:10 pm
There are more ppl at jurie els’s concert than at the shark tank
20 Oct 2012, 18:10 pm
@Predawn-179: Which UFC you watching?
20 Oct 2012, 18:10 pm
@Dawn-171:
Sorry to have irritated you. I’ll try to bleed quietly.
20 Oct 2012, 18:10 pm
Sharkies Black and White Dynamite!!
20 Oct 2012, 18:10 pm
@Atreides-182:
@mxhosa-183: Don’t be too sure……..one can hope though.
20 Oct 2012, 18:11 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-166: hard luck Bakkies – bullies were never going to win in that public pool the guppies swim in.
Guppies my boys will see you in the final.
20 Oct 2012, 18:11 pm
@Hondo-160: Min 74 hougaard charged down….Mvovo scores a try
you must be squirming
20 Oct 2012, 18:11 pm
@Transformation-180: needed the centipede
20 Oct 2012, 18:11 pm
Lambie can kick, I tell ya,,
The Kings Park Swirl, the rain, the underfoot
Not affected a bit!
20 Oct 2012, 18:12 pm
Predawn everyone thought that of wwf wwe aswel, then tey changed the name and the rules… Bring him… I dare you
20 Oct 2012, 18:12 pm
And HM wanted all the unions and franchises to play his style of rugby. Well, we see where that’s got the Bulls and Boks.
20 Oct 2012, 18:13 pm
@suffer_guy-152: no that title goes to that uitenhage stuntman Jaque Potgieter
20 Oct 2012, 18:13 pm
@Big Hit-192: I saw the Wallabies pull a centipede move against the AB’s this morning
20 Oct 2012, 18:13 pm
Die Blou Bul eet van die haai se hol uit….
20 Oct 2012, 18:13 pm
is it just me… but Arno Botha has been very impressive. Your thoughts?
20 Oct 2012, 18:14 pm
@suffer_guy-194:
It’s MMA you dumb drol.
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