The Sharks played their best match by far this season to destroy the high flying Stormers. The Stormers now have a must win situation against the log topping Bulls, with much for Schalk Burger’s men to ponder about.
In all honesty the scoreboard does not tell the true story of this game.
With Compliments from Rugby365
What an enthralling match! What a victory for sheer will and determination! It was a victory for strength of will, mind, heart and sinew. It was the Sharks’ best performance of the year as they beat the high-flying Stormers 20-14 at the Absa Stadium in Durban on a warm Saturday.
The result has a lot to boost Sharks’ pride and plenty to destroy Stormers’ complacency, for they are no longer assured of a home semifinal or even of a semifinal just at a time when a well-oiled gate of gold was opening for them.
The Sharks thoroughly deserved their win, even if one of their tries was as bizarre as any you will ever see.
The Sharks did all their basics with strong efficiency and then they tore into tackles and whatever came after the tackles.
From the first whistle they had the Stormers rattled, and it was their sheer determination that kept the Stormers out when a score seemed inevitable.
There was a tide flowing with the Sharks that simply would not be denied and the Stormers spent much of the match fighting to stay off the rocks.
There was also the matter of Big Match Temperament. Maybe because it did not matter all that much if they lost, the Sharks were the ones playing with confidence, with BMT, even young Patrick Lambie. Whereas the senior Stormers did not make an impression, every single Shark, however ordinary, made a full contribution. The Stormers were the ones that were jittery. It showed from the start.
Dewaldt Duvenage kicked his very first kick out on the full from outside of his 22. And he did it again soon afterwards. Peter Grant, the most reliable of goal-kickers, missed a penalty from in front of the posts with the score 17-7 and a penalty would earn a bonus point. Skilful men like Gio Aplon and Duane Vermeulen had handling lapses, but nothing compared with Sireli Naqelevuki’s hand in the Sharks’ second try.
Ruan Pienaar kicked a ball from close quarters into the Stormers’ in-goal. It looked like a really bad kick. It turned out to be the best bad kick of the season. Naqelevuki ambled back to the ball. He had 10 metres’ start on Pienaar and seemed to think he had all day. As he, standing up, went to ground the ball it did a little leg-break. He still had time to ground the ball but not the energy. He put a hand to the ball but failed to ground it and Pienaar arrived to dive on it for a try which gave the Sharks a 14-0 lead at half-time which happened just a minute later. During the match the Stormers made substitutions and replacements but Naqelevuki was not one of them/.
The other Shark’s try was an excellent one and it was started by a young man with genuine BMT. Rory Kockott started it with a strong, fast break on the left side of the field. The Sharks went right and Patrick Lambie gave to Jean Deysel who gave to Ryan Kankowski as the Stormers tight forwards scurried in defence. Odwa Ndungane was unmarked on the outside and Kankowski gave him the ball for an easy run-in for the try. Pienaar converted from far out.
The Sharks were putting immense pressure on the Stormers who seemed to lack the wit or muscle to shake it off. The Sharks kept it up. A kickable penalty became a line-out. An even more kickable penalty became a scrum as John Smit kept the screws tightly turned.
The nervous Stormers nearly got away when Francois Louw broke strongly and gave to Jaque Fourie who raced down the field, but Ndungane stopped him and Andries Strauss won a turnover. Juan de Jongh broke and then grubbered ahead, as he had done against the Crusaders for a try. This time Ndungane was there and counterattacked.
Kockott had another break, from a scrum this time, and Pienaar kicked a high diagonal for Lwazi Mvovo. The speedy wing won the air contest against Aplon but knocked on in in-goal. They were close again when they went through phases and Ndungane knocked on when a try seemed certain.
The Stormers started the second half with great promise. Jaque Fourie intercepted and raced downfield towards the Sharks’ line but Pienaar got him from behind. Fourie got the ball to Schalk Burger who was some five metres from the line when teenaged Lambie cut him down from the side and the Sharks won a turnover.
The Stormers mauled an attacking line-out and then freed up the ball going right. Tim Whitehead came off his wing as a decoy and Grant stepped inside Kankowski and Ndungane to score near the posts. 14-7 after 45 minutes. But it did not herald a Stormer revival as the resolute Sharks kept running into them.
In this half the Sharks kicked for goal. They decided that they were going to win. When Naqelevuki lost the ball forward before he was tackled and then held onto the ball, Pienaar kicked at goal but missed. But when Tiaan Liebenberg was offside, Pienaar goaled to take the score out of bonus-point range for the Stormers at 17-7 with 14 minutes to play.
Kockott then had a long break downfield and only a back tackle by Joe Pietersen prevented the try but Andries Bekker was penalised at the tackle and Pienaar made it 20-7 with 5 minutes to play.
Three penalties had the Sharks defending with might and main and then the try, when it came, was so simple. The Sharks were penalised five metres from their line and near their posts. Ricky Januarie tapped and gave to Francois Louw who charged straight ahead with Anton van Zyl riding behind him and, despite Deysel and Mtawarira, managed to ground the ball over the line. Grant converted and the Stormers had a point, just enough to keep them in second place, not enough to challenge the Bulls for first place.
Man of the match: There were lots of Sharks, including Jean Deysel Stefan Terblanche and Patrick Lambie. There was the next tier of Ruan Pienaar and the 15 points he scored and thy way he set his men running; and there was Rory Kockott with those telling breaks and his harassing of Duvenage. But our Man of the Match is John Smit – for the strength with which he played and for his calm, focused leadership. It is no surprise that he is the leading national captain in the history of the game.
Scorers:
For Sharks:
Tries: Ndungane, Pienaar
Cons: Pienaar 2
Pens: Pienaar 2
For Stormers:
Tries: Grant, François Louw
Cons: Grant 2
Teams:
The Sharks: 15 Patrick Lambie, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Stefan Terblanche, 12 Riaan Swanepoel, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Jean Deysel, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Patric Cilliers, 18 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Jacques Botes, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Andries Strauss.
Stormers: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Sireli Naqelevuki, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Tim Whitehead , 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 François Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (captain), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 JD Moller.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Eusebio Guiñazu, 18 Anton van Zyl, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Willem de Waal, 22 Joe Pietersen.
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Assistant referees: Pro Legoete (South Africa), Andrew Lees (Australia)
TMO: Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)
I’m adding a Video Highlites clip here. If you have a slow Internet connection I suggest you let the clip buffer right through… then watch the video again, for the 2nd time, uninterrupted.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMr1ZLC-zBo[/youtube]
Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Oldbie1#p/a/u/0/oDOnePwfhck
Reading some of the posts in Keo this morning i thought this was quite priceless 😆
788. rangerman(rangerman) :
May 9th, 2010 at 1:00 am
sharks lover
mate, we monstered them in every facet of the game. EVERY facet.
grant10
my boi, i am coming for you huckleberry. tighten your seatbelt son, you are about to feel my wrath.
i am off to bed, to those of you who enjoy the ranger/grant10, skopshite show, tune in this week as the fireworks will rival new years.
to those of you who dont..tough luck.
tjorts.
789. carol(carol) :
May 9th, 2010 at 1:21 am
@rangerman(rangerman)-788: Oh “Fark” !!
790. Johan Fourie(CANADIAN BOK) :
May 9th, 2010 at 1:26 am
@rangerman(rangerman)-788: Good luck! Skoppie will use his full arsenal!
Well done again Sharkies! Where were you all season?
791. Johan Fourie(CANADIAN BOK) :
May 9th, 2010 at 1:29 am
Meneer John Smit. Well done Captain!
792. carol(carol) :
May 9th, 2010 at 1:29 am
@Johan Fourie(CANADIAN BOK)-790: I think the ‘F*ukadilly Doos’ quota is exhausted!!
We may need a new Skopism for the new onslaught!!
793. mshiniwami(mshiniwami) :
May 9th, 2010 at 1:30 am
rangerman
I’ll b waiting in anticipation..Lol
Get em boy…grant10 needs special attention…Beast/Smit/Jannie…turbo reverse today huh?!(I know that coined term is used mostly when Smit at 3 but the way grant10 has been denigrating Smit at ANY POSITION has bn disgraceful)
Brokeback Harris today and his mates upfront were dominated from start to finish.
Leave the rest to u Ranger
now there’s a man on a mission 😆
My favourite moment of the match was Smit destroying Tiaan in that one tackle.. Was amazing.
even though i was in 2 minds about this matchup last night as its good for SA rugby to have 2 teams in the finals, the arrogance of some supporters in voldy made for a very sweet taste last night
like rudi says , die lewe is n lied goooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii mieliessssssssssssssssssssssss
😆
lol gm winnie so true
also stefans tackle on fourie was brilliant
eish ashley is gonna hide from here for the next week 😆
Yeah,and its not like Fourie is small so that hit was pretty amazing. But the Stormers will be back.
My first feeling after we won last night was. What ifs??? Yes what if those bad ref calls went our way in 4 games we lost at the start against the Chiefs, Cheetahs, Tahs and Brumbies? We could now be sitting on 41 points. (We lost to Saders fair and square and Bulls) Those other games we had really terrible bad calls from the refs.
On last nights game. Smit was my mom. What a game he had. Superb. Then Deysel, then Kockott, then Ruan.
Our Forwards and backs outplayed them. Stormers were just outplayed by a better team last night.
Burger who I have huge respect for as a player, disappointed me last night when interviewed. Saying “Stormers were just flat” Not giving the Sharks some credit for the win. Not true Burger, your team were outplayed. Even Kobus Wiese said afterwards what Burger said was not true, Sharks just were far too good and outplayed Stormers.
We should have had another few tries too. We had some handling errors and of course Stefan NOT passing again. Then not taking our penalties. Those were sitters, that for sure would have been another 9 points and the definite try that would have come from Mvovo had Stefan passed.
Anyhow just really good to see our team play like we know they can. Great performance from our loose trio. Deysel was brilliant so too Kanko and Alberts before he had to come off. Our scrum was brilliant. Even our backs were superb last night. Just a small change by playing Ruan and FH with Kockott at SH and Mvovo on the wing made a huge difference to our backs. But John was BRILLIANT at hooker.
Still want to see a all SA final. Stormers win next week it is still on. They lose they out of it. I think Stormers will be up for it. Maybe Bulls might rest some players but really would like to see a Full Strength Bull side play. The stadium is fully booked for months now. So show up Bulls with your best and play for the supporters. Should be a cracker of a game.
Good luck Bulls and Stormers for next weeks game and if Stormers make it. Good luck to both saffa teams for the semi.
7 – Sharky, Lambies tackle on Burger was awesome. Such a small oke compared to Burger to bring him down. Our Loose Trio really climbed in too. Bodies on both sides will be really sore today.
SA Derby games are the best in the world to watch. Awesome. Hurry up CC. Though most of the Boks will be out for this CC.
Ciao to all my shark mates
Congrats to the great ocean predators. Your win was well deserved and uncontestable, built on immense pride and intense passion. As a saffa one can be proud of the enormous commitment and unfailing passion saffa teams show when playing one another. There is never the slightest hint of a suggestion of giving the opposition a pass for the benefit advancing in the competition. In fact Saffa teams are each others strongest opposition in the competition.
That said, in the cold light of the day after, a couple of observations:
The sharks only won by 6 points. KAKelevuki gifted 7 points. Sharks could so easily have lost. NOw don’t get me wrong! I am not saying they deserved to lose, I am in fact saying the opposite. They deserved to win by a LOT more and yet they did not. And this has been the story of the sharks for too long. They are unable to bury the opposition. They just scrape through wins. Why? It would have been a travesty if the stormers had won, yet it could so easily have happened. Again Why? So before we say “maak die sharks almal bokke”, let’s reflect on that….
In fact, my first impression after the game was that BOK rugby was in rude health, but now after reflection i am not so sanguine. It’s not possible to play every game at that intensity and pace and passion that the sharks produced yesterday. If they cannot murder the opposition after that, what’s going to happen when they play at a normal level?
15 – Turk, We let at least 3 tries go begging, not passing or knocking on. Sharks have to work on that. If we had taken all our penalties (I always say take the 3 points) those were sitters, we would have had a definite 29 points. Another definite was if Stefan passed to Mvovo that was a absolute sitter for a try.
You right we should have put the Stormers away by plenty more. Had we taken those kicks at posts Stormers would not have gotten the bonus point. Then feel no semi for Stormers. Now with that bonus point Stormers have a huge chance still to get a home semi. So as a saffa I am pleased they got that point.
Good luck to your team next week. If they win they are in a semi. Good luck for that too if they make it. Really want to see two saffa sides in the final. Would be awesome.
Ciao puma. You’re right about all the chances the sharks missed, but those were just theoretical possibilities, not realities. The mistake by kakelevuki was a simple error that 99 times out of a 100 should not have happened. Also the stormers missed chances and grant for example missed a sitter in front of the posts. My point was that why after that magnificent performance, did the sharks just scrape through? I think it is indicative of the sharks history in the super14. They have been the most constant saffa team with the best overall performance in the comp. They have never embarassed SA like the lions, cheatahs and even the bulls in the early years. The stormers on the other hand blow hot and cold going from sublime to mediocre whereas the sharks operate in a narrower band of performance – just scraping through victories or just losing.
I find it very interesting and also very frustrating to observe. Believe me, i am not that provincial. I would like the stormers to win but my first priority is to the Boks and i want any saffa team to win against foreign teams and to win the competition. In the past I vociferously supported the sharks and the bulls when they were in contention against the stormers and will do so in the future. That’s how i roll – that’s how i see things. I will be proud if the bulls make it back to back championships and become the 2nd best team in the history of the competition after the saders and on the other hand very happy if the stormers can be the 2nd saffa team to lift the trophy!
There was a year (I cannot remember exactly which) when the Bulls ended second last and the Sharks last. That is the consistency of the Sharks.
GREETINS WORLD :nrgreen:
Was at the game,was fantastic, would have thought it was the final the vibe was so fab.
Hubby recieved phone call at about 12pm yesterday and casually says “well you better get ready we getting picked up at 3.30pm” so looked at him and say im not going anywhere, you know its my rugby day , he says just got tickets to the game thats what the phone call was.
So we were there by 5pm the skottle was out and quick boerie roll braai and a couple of drinks with a few people we know and a lot that we didnt, was fab, oh and more than a few Drinks (hunters for the women).
Then the most amazeing game of rugby from kick off till the end, voices were lost and throats were hurting.
Then a another braai but this time with lots of goodies and inebreated (sp) people everywhere that were very happy.
Lucky for us the guy we came down withs wife couldnt drink she had jundice or something like that so a safe late late arrival home.
This morning was very delicate,tired and sore throat but VERY HAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYY.
STORMERS WE OWNED YOU SO BADLY IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.
Bullies we have tenderised them, now you just have to rip them apart. 😆 :coo: 😈
Well personally i think the Sharks had their ussual below standard game last night. We should have scored 3 more tries (21 points) and 3 more penalty goals (9 points). This should have given us about 50 points.
The last try the Stormers got looked more than a consolation than any thing else. That probably cancelled out the Fijian brainfart. Now it might seem that i am being harsh on my beloved Sharks, but i’m not. I am realistic about the way we played.
Our forwards totaly dominated the Stormers, and because of that we should have closed them out by halftime allready. This Stormers team was shown up last night by a below par Sharks team, and if i was a Stormer supporter i would be very worried.
Kockett for scrummie not Pienaar next season, all he has to do watch his temper and JOHN SMIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! was outstanding, well they all were, oupa put in a lot of tackles for those that thought he was crap.
We need decent backs badly, and we will be back at the top again where we belong.
Hi Snoekieeeeeeeee, you would have loved being there, we won and looked good so that is is that matters for now.
TH – Glad you had a good time, always nice at the Tank.
Even our backline looked quite good for a change, dont know why but they did.
TH – Puma called it in the beginning of the year.
LAMBIE
MVOVU
They should have played from the start of this competion.
Oh, 7/7 on Superbru for me this weekend, and i think i’m leading the cricket as well. 😆 Its a good weekend.
Used to go often, even to the Toyota club rugby, was last there bout 3 or 4 years ago.
Victoria was celebrated so wildy because it was the Stormers that were beaten, the tank looked nearly full, so you can imagine the vibe.
“Competition”
Spelling is terrible.
Jeepers 7/7 is excellent think i got 5/7 but am sitting at 38 on bru the lowest i have been yet. Havent been able to go against the Sharks, would feel like a traitor and that i have no faith in them even though i knew from the begnning of the season we were not going to do well.
TH, enjoy the weekend, i’m out.
Cheers
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