Super Sharks will win Currie Cup
22 Oct 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in Business Day newspaper, applauds the talents of Eben Etzebeth and Pat Lambie and writes the Sharks are the best domestic team in South Africa.
Eben Etzebeth made his Western Province Currie Cup debut a fortnight ago and is eligible to play in Saturday’s U21 final. He’s still a pup in terms of provincial experience and age but he’s definitely no pup in terms of performance.
He was colossal against the Lions in Western Province’s dramatic last minute Currie Cup semi-final victory. He commands presence, which explains the remarkable elevation from Varsity Cup player in 2011 to an eight-Test Springbok in 2012. A unique breed of player simply has it. Etzebeth is the newest international member of this club, and if he stays injury free he could become the most dominant of second rowers in the next decade.
He thrives on responsibility, especially when the crunch moments demand the tough to take the lead. We saw it in Super Rugby, most notably in the final 20 minutes when the Stormers repelled a Lions fightback in Johannesburg to win. Etzebeth towered above the rest that night and at the same venue, against the provincial Lions he effected a result of similar significance for Western Province players, who earlier in the year had played in the guise of the Stormers.
Etzebeth is among the 10 nominations for South Africa’s Player of the Year and while my preference is the revitalised and rejuvenated Western Province, Stormers and Springbok wing Bryan Habana, a more appropriate reward for Etzebeth would be the Rookie of the Year.
He plays with the authority of an old head, but the emotional maturity should not disguise his youthfulness. He is also an enforcer who lacks the crassness of a thug. He can impose his physicality without resorting to cheap shots, which is refreshing. There is more Brad Thorn to his persona than Bakkies Botha because he has the calmness a young Botha’s personality did not accommodate. Botha had mongrel but Etzebeth’s aggression is measured. The old dog can certainly teach Etzebeth a trick or two, which is why I’d select both for the end-of- year tour, but the emotional maturity and seemingly contentment of Etzebeth is unique among young international second rowers.
Etzebeth’s influence was massive in the lineout take and subsequent 20m maul that crushed the Lions in the last play of the game. Lions’ supporters would rightly have cursed his presence on Saturday night, but as South Africans they will have many a Saturday in which they’ll celebrate the fact he’s a South African who plays for the Springboks.
Another youngster who plays with the maturity of a veteran is Pat Lambie. National coach Heyneke Meyer has been reluctant on Lambie. Why? Who knows?
Lambie has shown his class as a person through a winter of frustration at national level. Picked as a bench warmer and only viewed as a fullback option he never spoke out against the coach and never threatened of a move to French or English club rugby. He spoke only when given a chance to start at flyhalf for the Sharks and his speaking came by way of performance. He was more commander than cavalier against the Bulls in the Sharks 20-3 semi-final victory.
He looked more Dan Carter than Quade Cooper in controlling the semi-final, which is a compliment of his class.
Lambie, two seasons ago, was brilliant in the Sharks’ Currie Cup final win against Western Province, but his versatility has been to his detriment. He can play 10, 12, 13 and 15 and he wouldn’t be out of place on the wing, but because of this quality he has become a jack of all trades when he has the potential to become the master of one.
Lambie really has been impressive at flyhalf in the most understated, yet effective manner. The hope is Meyer can review his earlier opinion that Lambie is a 15 and not a 10, and not fear misguided accusations that a change of opinion is because of a state of confusion.
Lambie, on the pending Bok tour, must get some game time at 10. Expect a big game from him in Durban on Saturday against Western Province. He’ll deliver because whenever he has been given an opportunity (not a 10-minute cameo role) the return has been a quality performance.
The Sharks were imposing and brutal against the Bulls and coach John Plumtree’s match 22 selection showed an understanding that play-off matches are determined more by the quality of the seven substitutes than the perceived pedigree of the starting XV.
The Sharks have been South Africa’s most consistent performer in Super Rugby and Currie Cup, with or without their current Springboks. They play the best rugby and they are South Africa’s best team. They will win the title on Saturday.
458 Comments
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22 Oct 2012, 14:02 pm
Taute has twice now made huge mistake by bad kicking.
My team for end year tour SA players only
15 ludick
14 Jp
13 JdJ
12 Frans
11 Habana
10 Lambie
9 Hougie
8 Arno
7 Alberts
6 Keegan
4 Eben
5 Bresler – He plays more like a 4
3 Jannie
2 Straus Cpt
1 Beast
22 Oct 2012, 14:02 pm
@Rhys7-149: 5 Wp backs?
22 Oct 2012, 14:04 pm
15. Gio Aplon
14. JPP
13. Frans Steyn
12. JDV
11. Habana
10. Lambie
9 Hougaard
8 Vermeulen
7. Alberts
6. Flo
5 Bekker
4 eben
3 Jannie
2 Strauss
1. Beast
22 Oct 2012, 14:04 pm
@David-136:
Stop trying to make apologetic, sideshow excuses with your inanities. You can deflect as much as you like about “eras” while I reflect on mentality and ideas and here the difference is a mere degree or so.
Consider the larger picture of existing, on-going BACKWARDNESS(Norwich included – just for you) in the national game and the question of those who still in 2012 own and control it.
I am not here for the debate, no matter how stupid the level you choose to make it.
The Armstrong news is IMPORTANT and even and especially for drug-influenced S.A. rugby in ‘hollows’ like the OFS and other such areas of on-going backwardness where it is just all about making much money as easily as possible.
22 Oct 2012, 14:05 pm
I wonder why there is no comment from KEO today regarding the EP Kings hammering at the hands of a depleted Cheetahs side?
22 Oct 2012, 14:08 pm
@ikotikhulu-155: Nothing… Zip.. nadda!!
22 Oct 2012, 14:10 pm
@ET.-154:
Apologetic? Where on earth did you unearth that little fantasy of an interpretation from?
22 Oct 2012, 14:15 pm
@ET.-154: I hate this whole thing about Armstrong… why did they not test him positvie during his stint as a seven time champ? Or is it drugs that only now became banned? what is the story here.. as far as I am concerned if he was tested negative.. just give it up already!!
22 Oct 2012, 14:19 pm
@Provvas-153: Please no Hougaard. He must first get a coach to show him how to box kick. And dont come with the “Meyer should let him play his natural game”. Every single international scrumhalf in the world knows how to box kick.
22 Oct 2012, 14:19 pm
@Heavens Game-147:
Hey ‘makker’, I am surprised you do not give these ‘yobos’, lying louts more rotten egg in the face. They are without any self-respect at all and obviously worthless(I will be in their area again by Nov. 16 to ‘klap’ them silly for 6 weeks)
See how your ‘brokeback friends’ are trying to steal the high road away from you? How more scum-like can they really be with their hypocritical mentality?
Sorry i cannot join in the fun as I am too busy, but maybe my clan members can help you in launching the shame that they are about to face this week and about to climax(unlike the fakes of pedigreed dog-s hit) on Saturday with an expected super show performance by General Patrick Lambie, that Scottish military man..
22 Oct 2012, 14:20 pm
@Horings-159: Especially if we play Scotland in rainy conditions. Who played at 9 last time we were at Murrayfield?
22 Oct 2012, 14:26 pm
@David-157:
Deflection on an on-going, unhealthy ‘verkrampte’ mentality in S.A. is definitely apologetic. Their is a “Grand Canyon” in the way I see S.A. politics and the way you view it(all self-explanatory considering your background) but you are not my enemy you are merely my nuisance some time).
Worry rather about your falling, failing Norwich and I will do the same about my climbing Leeds despite that lout ‘klapping’ Kirkland. Did you see the game?
I am out guys, please.
22 Oct 2012, 14:31 pm
Oh hell, they gonna give their marriage a 2nd chance for the sake of their little boy. How beautiful.
How long will it last this time, I wonder?
22 Oct 2012, 14:31 pm
@Provvas-158:
It’s always and mostly because of money(and here the unique messiness of a relatively Cinderalla sport) and just to an aptly named Dr. Ferrari(1 of untold numbers), the Lance camp forked out more than a million$
22 Oct 2012, 14:38 pm
@ET.-160: Hehehe…
22 Oct 2012, 14:39 pm
@Rhys7-149: Have to disagree on ,
Taute, Vermeulen after 5 tests has done nothing, JC destroyed WP scrum Saturday , they just did not get penalties, Kitshoff not ready yet
22 Oct 2012, 14:39 pm
Cup to spend Christmas in Durban
——————————————————————————–
by Gavin Rich 22/10/2012, 10:49
My newspaper preview on the morning of the 2010 Currie Cup final ended with a prediction that the trophy would spend Christmas in Durban. This year, it isn’t necessary to leave such predictions until match day. Like me, the Currie Cup is set to spend December gathering rust in the KZN humidity.
Maybe there is just the slightest hesitation now that Western Province, and not the Lions, are playing in the decider. The Lions, as they showed last year, can win a home final, but I wasn’t sure they would be competitive against the Sharks in Durban. To be honest, I am not sure WP will be competitive either, but I just think they may have more chance to be, given the experience they have in their team.
And then there is the strong drive that WP must have to break their trophy drought. The Currie Cup isn’t what it used to be, and it is farcical to end with a full-strength play-off round when 90 percent of the league phase was played under-strength, but it is important to a Cape rugby fan-base that has started to develop an inferiority complex (they try to keep it hidden by bravado, but don’t be fooled!).
Last year the reaction to WP’s defeat in the semifinal was disproportionate to the event. It was a World Cup year, after all, and WP provided more World Cup players than most. But the outcry reflected the desperation of WP fans, and that desperation is going to be there until such time they can at last boast a meaningful trophy locked away in the Newlands cabinet.
So there will be a lot of drive from WP’s side, and if anyone is going to beat the Sharks on their home ground in a final, it is them. But it’s highly unlikely to happen, and to be truthful, I don’t want it to happen either. I have two reasons for that – one of them being the converse of what made me want the Stormers to win the Super Rugby semifinal between the same teams.
Firstly, the Sharks hadn’t even finished in the top four of Super Rugby, while the Stormers had topped the log. Having the top team knocked out by a middle-of-the-table finisher made a mockery of the 16-match league season. But now the roles are reversed, and it is the Sharks who are not only the form team of the Currie Cup, they are also the best team. They showed that by convincingly topping the final log, while WP could only finish third. Province also lost as many games as they won during the league phase of competition, which to me is not the making of a champion team.
The second reason why I would like to see the Sharks cap off their season with a deserved trophy comes down to coaching and player management. John Plumtree has clearly learned from mistakes in past years and the way he has phased his Springboks back in has been spot on.
WP coach Allister Coetzee last week spoke about how much he rated Marcel Brache and Scarra Ntubeni and trusted them to do the business for him in a semifinal. But they were only playing because of injuries, and he did not display the same confidence when he rushed Jean de Villiers into playing ahead of Brache even when it was clear that the national captain was struggling with a hamstring injury.
There have been whispers that Coetzee might be hoping that De Villiers has made a miraculous overnight recovery that will enable him to line up on Saturday, but hopefully those are just baseless rumours. It would make no sense, given the risk it would entail and the WP line, repeated often until suddenly it was forgotten a few weeks ago, that the Currie Cup is about building for Super Rugby.
WP can gain more from having Brache get the experience of playing in a final than they would from having De Villiers – who has played in umpteen tests and big games – in the team.
And that’s where Plumtree has got it completely right. When he said he was backing the youngsters he had brought through in the Currie Cup, there was nothing hollow or contortionist about what he was saying. He has selected almost every one of his newcomers into the starting team for the semifinal win over the Bulls, and if you consider the money the Sharks risked losing if they didn’t host this final, that’s quite a lot of faith.
That didn’t mean the Sharks’ Boks were ignored completely. Those, like Patrick Lambie, who did not play that much in the Rugby Championship, went straight back into the starting line-up. But Jean Deysel’s strong contribution for the Sharks in the Currie Cup was rewarded by him wearing the No 7 ahead of Willem Alberts, and ditto Dale Chadwick ahead of Beast.
Instead of just talking about Currie Cup being a stepping stone for Super Rugby, Plumtree has backed up his words with his selections, and on that basis he deserves to end this domestic season with his third Currie Cup title.
22 Oct 2012, 14:40 pm
@Provvas-153: Bekker still injured or on his way to next injury
22 Oct 2012, 14:44 pm
@ET.-160:
ET
22 Oct 2012, 14:57 pm
@ET.-160:
Oh dear.
Somebody should get Virgin Active to put out a nationwide alert.
22 Oct 2012, 15:11 pm
@ET.-160: HG is the only white you like. He must give good head, because I doubt it’s his struggle credentials that float your boat
22 Oct 2012, 15:11 pm
@WP-Forever-170: brown Sharks attack imminent
22 Oct 2012, 15:16 pm
it doesn’t matter if you are black or white, as long as you are dynamite….
22 Oct 2012, 15:17 pm
@sharks_lover-167:
OK, we’ll send the WP team with the Cup, for a holiday down to Durbs over Christmas.
Laat jou siel net kan rus.
22 Oct 2012, 15:20 pm
How the Bulls have fallen!
50% odds not bad though.
22 Oct 2012, 15:20 pm
@nama1-174: Hahaha Nama, the closest you guys have come to seeing the cup is on the front pages of your local newspapers….
22 Oct 2012, 15:21 pm
I cant wait for Ashwin analysis: Very time you hear Shaaks you must take a penelty drink.
Go Province!
Nag ou Groote
WP 15 Shaaks 12
22 Oct 2012, 15:21 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-171:
They had a bad break up a couple of years ago. They obviously are trying again for the sake of their little one, Lambie.
Don’t be too harsh on them.
22 Oct 2012, 15:22 pm
@Zandberg Jansen-177:
I really like you. So knowledgeable.
22 Oct 2012, 15:24 pm
@KingTJ-176:
Yeah, that’s true.
But…in 5 days time that will be a thing of the past.
22 Oct 2012, 15:27 pm
@Zandberg Jansen-177:
There we go.
Don’t give the Saarks so much credit. We’ll beat them by more than 3 points.
22 Oct 2012, 15:28 pm
@Zandberg Jansen-177: Saaaarks
22 Oct 2012, 15:29 pm
Extratesticular!
22 Oct 2012, 15:32 pm
@nama1-180: Ha-Ha!! Did you get yourself some tickets for the game at the tank? I’ll ask one of my mates if you can have your photo taken with it, then you don’t have to go home empty handed.
22 Oct 2012, 15:35 pm
@nama1-181:
I hope so. We better have 100% kick rate on the day.
@Transformation-182:
22 Oct 2012, 15:36 pm
@nama1-178: I thought Puma and Sharks_Lover spawned the Lambie? I can’t cope (and I certainly can’t keep up)with all these underlying battles, relationships and sharkshag molest fests.
@Transformation-182: Ashwin won’t be on SS for a while after the Goldfields revelations. Doubt he will ever return.
22 Oct 2012, 15:37 pm
@KingTJ-176:
22 Oct 2012, 15:40 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-186:
Yup, he doesn’t need the money.
22 Oct 2012, 15:40 pm
off topic, but aint it funny that AB’s are complaining about stealing players, when they have been pillaging the south sea islands for years.
22 Oct 2012, 15:42 pm
NO! NO! KEO why did you have to do this?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Wish I had never come on!
22 Oct 2012, 15:43 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-186: eish, i don’t even want to get involved in the “spawning” theories as i seem to induce meltdowns…
22 Oct 2012, 15:43 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-186: Will you be coming to the Tank on Saturday?
22 Oct 2012, 15:43 pm
The ode to an internet tosser, by some American biker from a forum there.
I guess in our case, there are a few candidates deserving of these words…..more than a few……
Hey you with the alligator mouth and canary ******* Yes you
with an ego the size of the Louisiana Purchase and a Planck length *****, you’ve
posted a bunch of stoopid ****.
You’ve more dicks in your mouth than the urinals at the Greyhound
bus terminal you old marmot felching, fellator of diseased yaks.
We haven’t had anyone this appallingly misanthropic, and just plain
spiteful, since ……..(fill in name) We do appreciate
your attempting to crawl out of the primordial slime, and better
yourself, by posting in here. Unfortunately, you were blown out in the
entrance exam, by a frozen turnip, a broken toaster, and a stretched
Panhead primary chain. Your habit of picking scabs, is, well, stupid.
You are weary, stale, flat and unprofitable. You are grimy, squalid,
nasty and profane. You’re a fool, an ignoramus. ******* look down on
you, and laugh. You are a waste of flesh. You have no rhythm. You are
ridiculous and obnoxious. You are a living emptiness, a meaningless
void. You are sour and senile. You are a disease, you puerile
one-handed, slack-jawed, drooling meat slapper.
Everything you have ever posted, or said, has been done before. And it
was better, the last time. You are a half-witted peter puffer, and you
clearly show yourself to be the most socially-inept, boorish,
flame-inviting idiot that ever has ever posted on Keo.
You repeatedly initiate incoherent, flaky, boring, and mindless threads,
and you egregiously assume moral, intellectual, and physical
superiority. It must suck to be you, but then, you already know this.
You have greatly misunderstood the purpose of Keo.co.za.
You have greatly misunderstood the purpose of the internet. You are
a loser. You must have spent your entire life in a skinner box to be this ******* clueless.
You clearly show yourself to be the most neanderthal, snotty,
first-against-the-wall-when-the-revolution-comes, raving, hemorrhoidal
misogynistic, slope-browed, eye-rollingly-sub-human, crappy,
threat-to-the-gene-pool, backwards, in-bred, sack-of-pus,
walking-advertisement-for-a-state-sponsored-sterility-program,
boot-licking, unfit-for-human-consumption, irritating, disgusting,
onerous, worse-speller-than-I, glassy-eyed, flame-inviting, creepy,
spiritually-devoid, whiny, needing-of-professional-supervision,
humorless, vile, sexually-undesirable, hell’s-pawn,(not Heavens game)
lacking-in-any-sort-of-grace-or-erudition, “Me-Too”-posting, addled,
un-repentantly-and-wickedly-perverse, trash-talking, toejam-sniffing,
****-for-a-mouth, toad-like, trying-on-one’s-patience, filthy,
sheet-and-pointy-hat-wearing, evil, reprehensible, mucus-dripping,
just-turn-them-insideout-for-a-few-more-days-smelly-underthings-wearing,
no-neuron, sunken-chested, piss-poor, foul-mouthed, scum-sucking,
rent-boy, sickeningly-ugly, clue-repulsing, “Make-Money-Fast”-spamming,
bringing-a-pen-knife-of-an-intellect-to-a-nukefest-of-a-battle-of-wits,
incapable-of-coming-to-terms-with-your-own-wretched-existence,
white-trash, boorish, rat-like, living-proof-of-why-cousins-shouldn’t-marry, can’t-be-allowed-sharp-objects, socially-inept, classless, inexcusable, plaid-pants-wearing, flatulence-enhanced, offensive, hate-filled, god-damnedest, insulting, unredeemable, make-me-wish-I-had-a-big-hammer-to-beat-some-sense-into-you, fearlessly-posting-disgusting-insults-with-a-stupid-handle, idiot that ever has ever obtained internet access.
And we wish you would go away. Realistically, I don’t think you have the intellectual wherewithal to make such a decision, i.e., a correct one. So you will stay here, spooging your petty hatreds and minor thoughts, into the ether, annoying any and all, until someday, someone, is gonna grab ya by the ears, and pull ya on like a sock.
22 Oct 2012, 15:45 pm
@Sharksgirl-190: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
22 Oct 2012, 15:46 pm
@Sharksgirl-192: Very good chance. I can get tickets from the WPRFU. But knowing you lot, we’ve been given seats at a nearby school with a flatscreen tv…..
22 Oct 2012, 15:47 pm
@KingTJ-184: stood in a very long que this morning to purchase tickets! I got at the tank at 8:30 and only managed to leave at 11:00 and there was pretty little left other than those ****** seats with the swallows
I fortunately managed to get last 4 behind posts and not too high sjoe. Now if those bleep bleep season ticket holders decide to turn up Kings park should be packed, for a change 
22 Oct 2012, 15:47 pm
@Transformation-191: Begone satan.
22 Oct 2012, 15:49 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-195:
quite possible 
or maybe you will become aquainted with our bird life 
Mine are pretty high up too, but if those pesky season ticket holders do not turn up I plan to move down 
22 Oct 2012, 15:50 pm
@David-188: I must be honest, I am disappointed in Ashwin. Huge sums of money to many undeserving people, while the most deserving have to ‘wait’. Made me feel sick actually.
22 Oct 2012, 15:50 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-193:
That is what fuckadilly wants to be when he grows up.
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