Sharks in better shape

Sharks in better shape

24 Jan 2013

Sharks coach John Plumtree is satisfied with the depth in his squad this season.

The Durban-based franchise began last year’s tournament without injured players like Beast Mtawarira, Jean Deysel, Willem Alberts and Ryan Kankowski, and lost their opening two matches, against the Bulls and Stormers.

Plumtree, though, is confident they will avoid a repeat in 2013. This time round, only two players are injured, Bismarck du Plessis (who is expected to be back in April) and prop Dale Chadwick, who is out for four to six weeks with a stress fracture in his foot.

‘If you look at our squad, there is good depth in the backs, good depth in the locks now, and good depth among the loose forwards,’ Plumtree told the Sharks website. ‘There is really good competition for places and with the two trial games coming up [against the Leopards in Pietermaritzburg on 8 February and the Pumas in Nelspruit a week later] we’ll get the opportunity to see how everyone performs.’

While the Sharks no longer have the services of Steven Sykes (Kings), Ross Skeate (Agen) and Frederic Michalak (Toulon), they have made two good acquisitions in former Lions duo Butch James and Franco van der Merwe (the latter on loan), which will add depth in key positions.

‘Butch and Franco have done well,’ said Plumtree. ‘Franco is really enjoying it here. Although it is different to what he is used to, he looks to have settled in nicely. Butch knows our system, knows how we operate here and it’s really just coming back to family for him. He’s been great.’


206 Comments

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  • 51.Predawn: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 14:43 pm

    @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-48:

    Our 8th man was carried by the Argentinian maul…read that sentence again and tell us what you suddenly realised.

    The other thing…is the collective not also supposed to take ownership?

  • 52.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 14:46 pm

    @Predawn-51: “no aplon” for you guppys but you have jordaan @ 1.80m playing 13…midget by any standards

  • 53.The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 14:49 pm

    @Predawn-51: He took a piggy back ride – without paying……

    Your size argument comes to nought.

  • 54.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 14:50 pm

    @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-48: LOL piggyback anyone? :D

  • 55.The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 14:52 pm

    @Predawn-51: What I realised, is that the other forwards backed off to watch Keegan ride the wave?

    Duane was never scooped up like that…….

    Attacking Aplon, while ignoring the midget in your own midst….is stoooopid, see?

  • 56.The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 14:54 pm

    @Transformation-54: :) He rode them something special….

  • 57.Mr Black: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 15:36 pm

    @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-55:

    Duanne is never in the thick of it to be picked up by anyone :lol:

  • 58.Rockn Rolla: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 15:58 pm

    @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-55:

    The things is that Argie maul could prob move faster the Duane can run……Duane is the most over hyped cape commodity to wear the blue hoops

    The Shark “midget” number 8 has more skillset and speed then that bumbling overhyped donkey!!

    Ive read Kiwi Bloggers here say if Daniel were playing in NZ he would be contender for an AB starting sport, Duane would most likely be kick-starting tractors if he lived there.

  • 59.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:05 pm

    @Rockn Rolla-58: ja Keegan Cullen is the real deal :-)

  • 60.mikeybrass: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:06 pm

    @Transformation-59: The Cullen of Loosies was handed the Real Deal on his arse :-)

    Duane rocks man :-)

  • 61.Angostura: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:08 pm

    @Rockn Rolla-58: Touché

    (& don’t forget the other EC lad, Kankowski; did anybody enquire about game-breakers?)

  • 62.Rockn Rolla: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:16 pm

    @Angostura-61: Na he cant be a game breaker he is too skinny and he is not a stormer remeber …….Duane Rocks hey (wink) !!!

  • 63.Rockn Rolla: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:17 pm

    (remember)

  • 64.mikeybrass: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:18 pm

    Kankowski was finally beginning to live up to his Sharkie-hype before buggering off overseas. His loss, Duane’s gain :-)

  • 65.charo: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:20 pm

    @Transformation-59:

    isn’t it time you started backing the kings players rather than dissing the sharks team?

  • 66.TooMuchRugby: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:21 pm

    @Rockn Rolla-58:

    Omnes homines sunt asini vel homines et asini sunt asini

  • 67.John Galt: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:25 pm

    @charo-65:
    He’s just getting his chirps in early.

    He knows there is a shitstorm of comments coming his way when the kings finally take the field.

  • 68.charo: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:31 pm

    @John Galt-67:

    maybe he doesn’t know the names of the kings players yet?

    :lol:

  • 69.Rockn Rolla: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:31 pm

    @TooMuchRugby-66:

    Some men are donkeys (Duane) and some are just K dogs (Keegan)

  • 70.Rockn Rolla: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:33 pm

    @mikeybrass-64:
    I just hope the *** game has not made him too soft,

  • 71.John Galt: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:33 pm

    @charo-68:
    Probably.

    None of them are black or from the EC apparently. Just saying.

  • 72.Rockn Rolla: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:34 pm

    how thefuck does the word J A P get edited

  • 73.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:56 pm

    @charo-65: i back my team fully but not about blow smoke uo their arses – that’s a guppy trait. 8)

  • 74.Angostura: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:59 pm

    @TooMuchRugby-66:

    “‘n Kwinkslag wat ek gehoor het aan hom (CJ Langenhoven, oba Sagmoedige Neelsie) toegedig is, is dat hy in die
    Kaapse Provinsiale Raad – of dalk Volksraad of Senaat waarop hy ook
    gedien het – op ‘n keer deur die Speaker aangesê is om sy opmerking
    dat ‘die helfte van die lede van die vergadering donkies is’ terug
    te trek. Hy doen dit toe met die woorde ‘die helfte van die lede van
    die raad is nie donkies nie.’ – By implikasie is die ander helfte dan
    uiteraard nog steeds donkies.”

    http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BUITENPOSTEN/2009-08/1250097166

  • 75.Heavens Game: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 16:59 pm

    @Rockn Rolla-58: “Duane would most likely be kick-starting tractors if he lived there”

    BWAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

    Beyoooootiful

  • 76.Rockn Rolla: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 17:19 pm

    @Heavens Game-75:

    Ya granted he is tough, but he is like Willem Alberts but minus the skillset and plus the heavy ankle weights

    i mean you may as well just get a tall prop put an 8 on his back then lable him the “biggest bad a$$” since Joe Hallenbeck in the last boy scout.

  • 77.victoriabok: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 17:22 pm

    @Rockn Rolla-76:

    > plus the heavy ankle weights

    Duane’s greatest ambition is to have ankles as thick as Lambies :-P

  • 78.victoriabok: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 17:23 pm

    @Rockn Rolla-72:

    Since Grant-san is playing there

  • 79.victoriabok: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 17:24 pm

    @charo-68:

    TBA?

    Comrade Cheeky is still looking for foreign players

  • 80.mikeybrass: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 17:43 pm

    It’s lovely to have a true 8 in the Bok pack after years of Spies :-)

    Daniels, pffffttt. Alberts more skilled than Duane? Only in wet dreams. Kankowski is the only real challenger to Kind Duane.

  • 81.victoriabok: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 17:47 pm

    @mikeybrass-80:

    Kanko is good from the bench, and I suspect Britney would be too as the hard work has been done by a real loosie already

    Alberts and Vermeulen should both play

  • 82.victoriabok: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:01 pm

    @Predawn-51:

    > Our 8th man was carried by the Argentinian maul

    Yes, but Lobbe is an yster

    I would give ET’s third nut to have Lobbe play no 8 for the Boks

  • 83.Rockn Rolla: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:02 pm

    Lets just say Vermeulen had to move to Durban (not that Plum is a fan of ultra slow moving 8s anyway) but lets just say…….I wonder if you lot will still be leaving crease marks from the wet spots on his SA Rugby mag poster !!!!

  • 84.Rockn Rolla: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:09 pm

    But anyway the super rugby road in long, here are my predicted doctors notes

    - Vermuelen
    - Bekker
    - Goosen
    - Conrad Hoffman
    - Burger
    - Smith
    - Brussow
    - Zane Kirchner (fuckthatwas just a dream)

  • 85.Helderberg: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:15 pm

    @pokkel-12: Yes Lambie overrated, Frans Steyn needs to lose 15 kg – Jordaan – must admit maybe

  • 86.Helderberg: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:17 pm

    @mikeybrass-80: maybe kakowski hehe

  • 87.The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:17 pm

    @Rockn Rolla-58: But Duane doesn’t live in NZ, neither does the K-Dog. So that fantasy is out of the equation. Duane is in. K-Dog ain’t. The end.

    (Even guppies couuld see Duane’s worth on the EOYT….. in certain conditions he rocks it ike few others. K-Dog is a super rugby ceiling fella, like Meisie. Nothing wrong with that….

    And another correction ;) Duane is the main oke on the Sports Illustrated’s cover as well. The centre of all focus and attention.

    Anyways, neither here nor there….Arno Botha will take control soon.

  • 88.mikeybrass: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:33 pm

    @victoriabok-81: Agreed with Kanko, though please if there is a god any god or gods don’t let Spies near a Bok jrsey again.

  • 89.victoriabok: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:37 pm

    @Rockn Rolla-84:

    No it should be this sequence

    - Bekker
    - Smit
    - Goosen (It seems we have found the new Andre Pretorius)
    - Brussouw
    - Burger
    - Potgieter(Dewald unfortunately not Malkop “pleister?”)

  • 90.victoriabok: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:40 pm

    @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-87:

    Yes, I’ve always liked Duane, he plays hard, does the grunt work and do the hard yards

    Arno is the future, I wish the Bulls could sell Ken-the Gym edition, to the Kings

    We need to get Arno gametime and Britney is preventing it

  • 91.The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:51 pm

    @victoriabok-90: Oh boy you are spot on here. I so hoped Britney would take an overseas offer…. (not because I wish him harm….but because he has honestly kept more talented and more deserving players out of the Bok jersey for fartoofuckinglong already.)

    CJ Stander was a victim of the Britney obsession up north.

    I praytoeveryrugbygodpreparedtolisten that Arno Botha is not the next victim. But when the Bulls made thesugarplumtwinkerbell captain again…and signed her for another 3 years – eish man :( Where does that leave Arno? The kid is an 8, and that is where he needs to play – klaar.

    (Spies has a helluva lot of convincing to do before anyone will buy into his hype again – ever)

  • 92.The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 18:52 pm

    @mikeybrass-88: Then this might make you feel a little sick….

    http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Springboks/Spies-I-want-my-Bok-jersey-20130124

  • 93.mikeybrass: Reply to this comment
    24 Jan 2013, 19:06 pm

    @The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-92: Oh dear god. It balances out the good from not having the deadly duo as blog writers anymore, that’s how bad it is!

    And to top it off, the Bulls will do skop ‘n jag again.

    Think I need a stiff drink, and not the type Grantie has!

  • 94.Predawn: Reply to this comment
    25 Jan 2013, 08:54 am

    Vermeulen played brilliantly for the Boks…all bias aside.

  • 95.Heavens Game: Reply to this comment
    25 Jan 2013, 10:12 am

    “two good acquisitions in former Lions duo Butch James and Franco van der Merwe”…

    Indeed 2 excellent additions to the Dynamite…

    Butch is back home where he should be… An S15 title in his final year will go nicely with his CC and WC winning medals….

    If Franco plays as well this year as he has against his new team last year then he is set as a Kings Park favourite…

    Playing well for the Sharks could spur him on, right into a starting spot in Green and Gold…

    But first… The Super Rugby Trophy 2013.

    It is rightfully ours…

    BOOM!

  • 96.Sasuke: Reply to this comment
    25 Jan 2013, 10:25 am

    Yes the Sharks have such impressive depth that Marcell Coetzee and Tim Whitehead will be sitting bench.

  • 97.Sasuke: Reply to this comment
    25 Jan 2013, 10:32 am

    @Heavens Game-95: Self-entitlement is a dangerous disease. Be careful.

  • 98.Heavens Game: Reply to this comment
    25 Jan 2013, 10:44 am

    @Sasuke-96: Wrecking Ball Coetzee won’t be sitting bench…

    If anyone will be benching out of the Sharks peerless depth in classy loosies, it could be Alberts…

    Keegan Daniel, Coetzee and Kanko are an excellent combo…

    Alberts will probably come on for Coetzee in the 2nd half for many games.

    Sharks loosies will also interchange positions depending on game situation…

  • 99.Heavens Game: Reply to this comment
    25 Jan 2013, 10:48 am

    @Sasuke-97: You mean sense of entitlement?

    Not a disease sonny…

    Rather its healthy confidence…

    Confidence that the SA Team that plays far and away the best rugby – Total Rugby – The Sharks will get what they deserve if they play to potential…

    The Super Rugby Championship Trophy 2013… Nothing Less.

    Best Pack
    Best Backs
    Best Coach
    Best Jersey…

  • 100.Sasuke: Reply to this comment
    25 Jan 2013, 10:53 am

    @Heavens Game-98: Yes that could also work. I would rather have Alberts start with Coetzee coming on second half.

    @Heavens Game-99: lol Yes play to potential but no team deserves anything, you play for what you deserve and the Stormers deserve respect for dominating the Log the past two seasons.

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