Sharks to see off Stormers
28 Feb 2013
MARK KEOHANE writes Stormers fans must prepare for more Super Rugby misery in Durban.
The Sharks will beat the Stormers in Durban. It won’t be an easy victory but when these two teams play one point is emphatic enough in the chase to being the best South African team in the competition.
The Sharks were magnificent in beating the Stormers in Cape Town in the 2012 semi-final season and in turn the Stormers, in the guise of Western Province in the Currie Cup final, were as magnificent in winning the title in Durban.
The Sharks were surprisingly edgy and tentative in the final quarter in Bloemfontein to hang on against the Cheetahs, but then the Cheetahs did beat the Stormers in Bloemfontein in a pre-season match.
I know Elton Jantjies will be better but the Stormers are missing the colossal presence of lock Eben Etzebeth more even than the Sharks are missing the influence of Bok hooker Bismark du Plessis.
The Sharks pack is good enough to get an edge, especially in the collisions, but it’s the Sharks back division that will trouble the Stormers more than the Bulls did.
Pat Lambie asks more attacking questions at flyhalf and Frans Steyn has a physicality at No 12 that wasn’t there in the Bulls line-up.
The back three of the Sharks, as a unit, also shades the visitors.
It is going to be difficult for the Stormers and while away defeats aren’t a train smash in the tournament, it does add to the pressure of a ‘must win’ situation when playing at home.
The Bulls will win easily against the Force and get the bonus point and the Cheetahs will be competitive against the Chiefs and may just get a bonus point for tries scored if the game opens up as expected. The Chiefs will win and get five league points.
The Kings will enjoy their second great weekend in the competition because of the bye. Thereafter it will become decidedly tougher and demanding for a squad blessed with passion and desire but very limited on pedigree at this level.
For those who like to forget when I do get it right, 3/3 last week in relation to the SA teams. That’s right I couldn’t find too many on Twitter and the inbox was predictably empty with the clever guys who offered such articulate abuse at me picking the Bulls and Kings to win.
I expect another slow post match response when the Sharks do the business in Durban.
731 Comments
Pages: « 1 … 4 5 6 7 8 [9] 10 11 12 13 14 … 15 » Show All
28 Feb 2013, 15:52 pm
@Dawn-400: Did you..?. Because fark me I can smell something fishy going on here, Prawny… Cant you?
28 Feb 2013, 15:53 pm
@kaksioek-398: Eish!
28 Feb 2013, 15:53 pm
@Dawn-400: Oh yes I forgot, this one is about the Stormers. It’s so hard to tell these days though, isn’t it?
28 Feb 2013, 15:56 pm
@kaksioek-403:
Just take the “i” out of your nic and make it kaksoek
It’s what you do
28 Feb 2013, 15:57 pm
@Sasuke-388:
Very impressive he played very well in an AKL team that got taken to the cleaners last season, the Ab’s missed Kaino’s grunt big time last year and yes he’s like a SAFFA loosie big and powerful so I’m hoping he kicks on and wears black this year. We don’t have long to wait to see just how good the Cantabs are this year, I’m picking they fade early this year as they just don’t have the stars like previous years especially with McCaw starring on the Letterman show these days.
28 Feb 2013, 15:59 pm
@NZINCHINA-405:
Are you serious? Was McCaw on the Letterman show?
28 Feb 2013, 16:00 pm
@Dawn-404: Jammer Dawn. I forgot the rules:
Stormers good, Sharks bad
Kings good, Sharks bad
Watsons good, Sharks bad
Black good, Sharks bad
Keohanes good, Sharks bad
Got it.
I’ll keep reading the Stormfront posts until it becomes second nature.
28 Feb 2013, 16:01 pm
@kaksioek-407:
You’re a good student!
28 Feb 2013, 16:02 pm
@kaksioek-393:
Yer I get it mate but was he ever good enough to actually make a Bokke squad on merit?
28 Feb 2013, 16:03 pm
@Stawm-406:
He was snapped yesterday sitting in the back row watching, he wasn’t a guest not famous enough for the yanks
28 Feb 2013, 16:04 pm
Farken funny watching Kaksioek giving Dawny a right royal blogruck from Kingdom Come…
Little Miss Muffet really eating her Tuffet now…
28 Feb 2013, 16:04 pm
@kaksioek-407:
You can shorten that
Sharks – vokken onbeskof
28 Feb 2013, 16:05 pm
@Heavens Game-411:
Really
28 Feb 2013, 16:07 pm
You know when your traveling around Europe and you bump into a group of Americans and tell them where you are from, half ask is NZ in Europe the other half have never heard of the place, we like it that way.
28 Feb 2013, 16:08 pm
i see former Lions wing Ashwin Willemse backs the Kings hhmm,
suspect.
28 Feb 2013, 16:08 pm
@NZINCHINA-409: Yes, he was at one point – particularly when Schalk was injured. But he was overlooked in favour of someone with (allegedly) even better struggle credentials – Solly Tybilika.
28 Feb 2013, 16:11 pm
@Heavens Game-411: Yup , see typ[ical they walk in here and make comments and cry foul when it bites them on their hairy @sses.
They want to be treated like ladies but never act as such, so farkum, NO wonder the Cape men rather turn to being MOffies. I might not agree with being a moffie, but in the Cape ? i can fully understand the men there.
28 Feb 2013, 16:12 pm
@kaksioek-416:
Luke will get a standing ovation at Loftus when the Kings play there then.
28 Feb 2013, 16:13 pm
@NZINCHINA-418:
i think not
28 Feb 2013, 16:13 pm
@NZINCHINA-414:
Yup I was asked if we have tar roads and jeans and hamburgers in South Africa when I was in the states.
I even told many people I had driven there in a new under water tunnel, like the Chunnel.
From Cape Town enter the tunnel, dont take first left – thats to Rio, take second left and you end up in Miami. i was believed most of the time!
28 Feb 2013, 16:15 pm
@Stawm-420:
did they not ask you like i was if the lions still roam our streets, fark some even looked surprised when i said we have internet 
28 Feb 2013, 16:16 pm
@NZINCHINA-418: Only if he leaves the field on a strecher I’m afraid. Not very popular boytjie in Pta
28 Feb 2013, 16:16 pm
Stormers overwhelming favorites to win this weekend!
28 Feb 2013, 16:17 pm
@Sharks_are_gonna_get_you-417: that was a quick swim…
you agree with being a fark.ing Mormon though…
hiyas bro ^5
28 Feb 2013, 16:17 pm
@NZINCHINA-418: If Alan Solomons has any balls then Luke will be on the bench, because Jacques Engelbrecht – who replaced Oh Captain My Captain when he cried off against the Force – showed how it should be done.
28 Feb 2013, 16:17 pm
@Stawm-420:
Did you see the new Trevor Noah DVD?
He also talks about a similar situation in California.
28 Feb 2013, 16:19 pm
@Stawm-420:
Ha doesn’t surprise me the Yanks are great to wind up on tour, I’ll never forget going to Dachau outside of Munich though, the young Americans on the bus were carrying on as if we were heading to Disneyland.
28 Feb 2013, 16:19 pm
@stormersboy-423: yup! Sharks are favourite to win the ENTIRE comp, bump the keewees this year, Dynamite time.
28 Feb 2013, 16:20 pm
Tiresome.Let it be a great game
28 Feb 2013, 16:21 pm
@Transformation-428: The Sharks: Because waiting 101 years for your first trophy is worth it!
28 Feb 2013, 16:21 pm
Whoopsie leg humper’s back.
You talk to your wife like this?
“@Heavens Game-411: Yup , see typ[ical they walk in here and make comments and cry foul when it bites them on their hairy @sses.
They want to be treated like ladies but never act as such, so farkum, NO wonder the Cape men rather turn to being MOffies. I might not agree with being a moffie, but in the Cape ? i can fully understand the men there.”
28 Feb 2013, 16:22 pm
@KWAGGA ROBERTSE-422:
Will make great viewing on the day though.
@kaksioek-425:
I only saw the highlights but I read he went well, Kiwi coaches don’t have a problem dropping big names
28 Feb 2013, 16:22 pm
@Sharks_are_gonna_get_you-417:
Who’s crying foul?
You are a stinking specimen of a man, fullstop!
I call it like it is.
28 Feb 2013, 16:22 pm
(Sharks Lover)
28 Feb 2013, 16:23 pm
@Dawn-431: Typical woman again proves my point,
28 Feb 2013, 16:23 pm
@NZINCHINA-432: Don’t hold your breath – daddy won’t let that happen.
28 Feb 2013, 16:24 pm
@John1976-135:
Kaplan no longer in a hurry to penalise the Beast and Chiliboi at the scrum, he fell foul with SARU few years back when he penalised both twich or theree times in a row at the same set piece over a span of one week, I doubt he will do it again!
@Heavens Game-141:
“Backline led by none other than the Bok Captain filled to the brim with Boks – true Boks”
Are you kidding me?
Don’t say it even as a joke, othere than an outrageous forward passes to Habana , Aplon and JdJ, that ‘Captain’ does basically nothing productive for his team
The Stormers forwards are good as a unit, bigSharks’ mistake to pick only four forwards on the bench
28 Feb 2013, 16:24 pm
@ryecatcher-429:
Hi Rye
Think the Blues v Crusaders and Chiefs v Cheetahs will be good games.
Sharks v Stormers will have all the drama, be exciting for us die hard supporters, but not too sure it will be classified as good
28 Feb 2013, 16:25 pm
@stormersboy-430: DYNAMITE!!!!
the jeffersons..
28 Feb 2013, 16:26 pm
@kaksioek-436:
You’re probably right, if Luke went into a pub in a place like Pretoria or J’burg would he need to be concerned for his safety or is it not that bad?
28 Feb 2013, 16:27 pm
@Transformation-439: Movin’ on up?? (To the beast side….)
28 Feb 2013, 16:27 pm
@Dawn-433: And ur stinking street scum, without teeth, I too am saying it as it is. I mean you even your drool on here when seeing pics of men 1/3 your age, and thats decent?? sies man
28 Feb 2013, 16:29 pm
@Sharks_are_gonna_get_you-421:
Funny enough, I was asked similar enough questions, like what wild animals roam the streets.
Some people were genuinely amazed that I could talk english seen as I had only been in the USA for a few months, and was fluent in it as well. Not only that, but I could crack a few jokes in my newly learnt language.
28 Feb 2013, 16:31 pm
@Stawm-443:
Yeah the Yanks are strange people, they are only concerned about what happens in their own country, their knowledge of the world overall is very poor.
28 Feb 2013, 16:32 pm
@NZINCHINA-440:
Don’t misjudge the guy.
He is not like Deysel who falls on his @rse after a tap to the chin
He is tougher than many would like to think.
Remember the Bulls v Stormers at Loftus after THOSE comments.
They tried so hard to get him and almost lost sight of the game, in the end they squeezed a win, but they couldn’t take him out.
28 Feb 2013, 16:34 pm
@Sharks_are_gonna_get_you-442:
“442.Sharks_are_gonna_get_you said:
28 Feb 2013, 16:27 pm
@Dawn-433: And ur stinking street scum, without teeth”
Classic Tyrone
28 Feb 2013, 16:35 pm
@nortierd-445:
I remember that game. He stood his ground well.
28 Feb 2013, 16:35 pm
@NZINCHINA-440: Let’s put it this way: I don’t think he will make a habit of it.
28 Feb 2013, 16:36 pm
@Heavens Game-375:
Sound a wistful thinking to me, are you gonna put your own money there?
My few pennies for what it worth
Front row: Stormers
Loose forwards: Sharks
Locks: Stormers
Hooker: Stormers
Scrum halves: Sharks
Flyhalf: Sharks
Centres: Sharkes
FB: Sharks
Wings: a multiple tragedy
Referee: Neutral, non bias
2nd half the Stormers will bring on Grant, Armand and V.d Heever and then what?
28 Feb 2013, 16:36 pm
Pages: « 1 … 4 5 6 7 8 [9] 10 11 12 13 14 … 15 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.