I am thrilled with the win against tough opponents in such testing conditions Sharks coach John Plumtree admitted after his team’s 29-22 victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein. “We just had to get the win, even if it was ugly he said.
He was quoted as saying “we were very nervous about this match as we did not get everything out of our pre-season games, the players are just very happy to start with the win which will without doubt give them confidence going forward.”
“I was concerned about our ability to attack and defend for long periods. We were pretty knackered in the second half and I hope we will be better off when we play the Stormers in round two. There is lots of work to do.”
One could see both teams were rusty and so it is understandable that it was not the perfect game by any means and as the game ebbed and flowed. It showed that both teams had a lot to work on before their next encounters. ”The Sharks will face the Stormers in their next match so hard work awaits us he said.”
“We were pretty inaccurate and sloppy at the breakdown in the first half and we didn’t keep them under pressure which was pretty frustrating because it is such an important area. We also coughed up possession when we should have been getting points and that was the message at half-time – to keep the ball and we would be all right.”
Coach Plumtree had lots of praise for Vodacom Man of the Match, Pat Lambie, who delivered a faultless display of kicking, converting all seven attempts at goal and marshalling general play with a mix of tactical kicking and a good running and passing game.
“I thought he was outstanding, in his kicking at posts and in his long kicking game,” said The Sharks coach. “He did everything right in this game and he is benefiting from having experienced guys alongside him, JP on his inside and Frans outside him. He is definitely on track and he’s going to get better and better.”
He also had words of praise for the players who came off the bench and contributed at a time when The Sharks were under a lot of pressure. “The fresh legs at the end made a huge impact. Meyer Bosman made one try-saving tackle, Jean Deysel did some really big things as did Pieter-Steph du Toit. The bench was important and I thought our scrum was outstanding.”
“The lineout was also pretty good. The two hookers have worked hard with Franco van der Merwe.”
The good news on the injury front was that there were no concerns to come out of the game. “There were a couple of hard knocks and bruises and Lwazi Mvovo had to come off but everyone should be ready next weekend.”
He also praised the Cheetahs for their fighting spirit and coming close to winning the game after being down 21-5. ”I was getting ready to prepare for a losing speech”, he said. “There is no doubt the Cheetahs will be winning many games this season.”
@ Bullscot:
Is there still snow on the mountains over there?
90 @ fayaaz:
Okay then he will listen even more so………….
@ grootblousmile:
And like the Boools revere Morne? Come now GBS, we all know it’s true ha ha. You can slate Goosen all you like, and say that he shouldn’t be rusty after being out for 4 months, but you know you are being a tad irrational. Heck Steyn was rusted (not rusty) after a year of playing full time. So exhaustion is excusable, but being rusty isn’t?
Smacks of typical Bools double standards to me.
I will just sit back and wait, Goosen will soon be back to the form that saw him topping the scoring sheets. I will remind of this day then, as well as the Lambie fan club, that have been beating their chests. Even though he couldn’t get a star laden backline with Steyn, Jordaan, and JPP moving at all. Golden boy was playing the skop and jaag Bools tactics. Yes he converted all his kicks, but none were particularly tough.
It’s still early days, so have your moments of glory
88 @ Stormersboy:
Thanks M,
Though I think we done well for our first game of the season. I never expected fireworks to tell you the truth, always was expecting us to be a bit rusty which we were. We will get better as the season goes as long as we don’t pick up injuries. We will also get back the injured and that will be a bonus to our team too. As they are BIG players for the Sharks. So far all good.
Sorry your team lost but that how it goes. We lost our first game last year too, only we picked up a losing bonus point which proved crucial at the end.
Good luck to both our teams this week. Hope it is my Sharks that come out with a win though, you know what I mean…
@ Puma:
Sure, all is not lost and both teams will get better, particularly as injured players come through.
Looking forward to the game, more to lose from your side as it’s a home game, but we will not want to go 0-2 down so early.
I must say, Mvovo is a great opportunist, he picks up quite a few tries during the season just by being quick to react. Good reading of the situation by him.
93 @ Cheetah4eva:
Yip Pat was playing to our game plan on Saturday, nothing wrong with that, as it worked for us. His kicking game has come on very, very well and he played it superbly. He won’t always play the kicking game, the thing is now he can play both styles very well and NEVER gets flustered at at all. Has a really calm head on him, most don’t have that. That can’t be taught and it is a huge strength. Either you have it or you don’t. The best fhs were always the ones with the least nerves.
89 @ Puma:
Quite right Puma it is lovely, and all jokes aside we all have our favourites but as long as the player who is best for the team is selected in the end then thats what matters. Did you see I put up youtube for you of Glasgow’s game in post 87, hopefully its not too big a file size, but as I said there around 1 hour 31 minute is a place to go and see the build up and the try I was talking about.
95 @ Stormersboy:
Yes Mvovo does do that. Also it was a loss to us losing him when we did as Odwa let a try go through.
Early season bud. Remember we were there last year and we made the final. Though we did pick up bonus points in almost every game we lost except to Lions and Canes where we never picked up a losing bonus point. They do count in the end.
Agree the pressure will be on us to win as it is a home game.
Where Stormers will catch up if they lose to us this week and Chiefs the next is on their away tour. Your team have a very easy tour this year as the teams they play they should beat. Sharks have a very tough tour so do Bulls. We play Chiefs straight up there and Landers next then Reds. Only easy game looks like the Force for Sharks. We could only come home with one win where as Stormers could come back with 4 wins. Season is so long, cant even start yet to think who will be where just yet. Injuries will come too, top class players to come back too and so on.
91 @ Puma:
Yes Puma there is and in fact think it was even snowing in Edinburgh itself yesterday morning before the game.
97 @ Bullscot:
Thanks buddy, will go and look at that clip a bit later. Just blogging between working right now. Will have more time later to look.
99 @ Bullscot:
Always enjoy it when you can see the tips of the mountains in snow, especially if it is a clear day. Awesome!
87 @ Bullscot:
Jeepers he was so excited almost ran over the dead ball line before dotting it down…….hahahahahaha. Superb try that and it was a pity the conversion was missed.
102 @ Puma:
Yeah thats right Puma didn’t realize watching it in real time how close he was to overrunning the line there but on the first replay saw how close it was, it was quite nerve wracking watching the game when it got to 15-14, and yip that was a terrible kicking display by Horne, even I could have kicked that one over, he missed all 5 kicks he took at goal I think. I had said last week that Scotland should probably let Duncan Weir back to Glasgow for this big game as Scotland also had Tom Heathcote in the squad, Weir is such a good kicker, luckily though it worked out ok in the end for them. To be fair though Horne’s all round play wasn’t too bad and he did get the backline going just his kicking that was so poor. Right must dash out into the sunshine with the dog. Pity we don’t see the snow capped mountains from here though. Don’t work too hard.
Team of the week. Here is Rugby365’s team of the week, seeing we don’t have our own I have copied theirs.
JUST TAKE NOTE EVERYONE WHO IS FLYHALF OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK……………….. We Sharkies told you all…hehehe. Lambie takes it ahead of the rest… 😛
Team of the Week – All Sharks and Kings
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Team of the Week – Round Two:
15 – Jesse Mogg (Brumbies):
He is making string claims to be the Wallaby fullback against the Lions. Safe under the high ball, good positional play, a booming boot and not to bad on the counter either.
Bubbling under: Gareth Anscombe (Chiefs)
14 – Sergeal Petersen (Southern Kings):
Dream debut! Three months ago he was writing his final school exams, now he is fulfilling his promise as a rugby player.
Bubbling under: Frank Halai (Blues)
13 – Tim Nanai-Williams (Chiefs):
And they said the Chiefs would miss Sonny Bill Williams. How wrong they were.
Bubbling under: Conrad Smith (Hurricanes)
12 – Francis Saili (Blues):
One of several exciting young talents at the Blues, Saili is a genuine threat to opposition defences.
Bubbling under: Ben Tapuai (Reds)
11 – Hosea Gear (Highlanders):
Played well in a losing cause and showed his class again.
Bubbling under: Bryan Habana (Stormers)
10 – Patrick Lambie (Sharks):
Outplayed Bok rival Johan Goosen on the day, even though Goosen had a good second half.
Bubbling under: Morné Steyn (Bulls)
9 – Piri Weepu (Blues):
The trimmed down version of the All Black showed how important he is going to be to the Blues’ cause this year.
Bubbling under: Francois Hougaard (Bulls)
8 – Pierre Spies (Bulls):
Another player who put a disappointing 2012 behind him and is looking in good nick.
Bubbling under: Peter Saili (Blues)
7 – Marcell Coetzee (Sharks):
Carrying from where he left off last year. Another big season awaits for the Bok.
Bubbling under: Sam Cane (Chiefs)
6 – Eddie Quirk (Reds):
Just in case people thought Scott Higginbotham’s departure would be a loss, Quirk showed us why not!
Bubbling under: Liam Messam (Chiefs)
5 – Steven Sykes (Kings):
He may have pushed the envelope at times, but Sykes was pure class and vital to the Kings’ cause.
Bubbling under: Franco van der Merwe (Sharks)
4 – Craig Clarke (Chiefs):
He made as big a statement as the rest of his teammates, but he brings added value as a captain.
Bubbling under: Jeremy Thrush (Hurricanes)
3 – Jannie du Plessis (Sharks):
The Bok veteran is the anchor in a solid Sharks scrum.
Bubbling under: Ben Afeaki (Chiefs)
2 – Bandise Maku (Kings):
Another player who was lambasted for moving to Port Elizabeth, only to prove his detractors wrong.
Bubbling under: Stephen Moore (Brumbies)
1 – Tendai Mtawarira (Sharks):
The Beast is alive and well!
Bubbling under: Morné Mellet (Bulls)
104 @ Puma:
Cheers for that list Puma, that’s some job for them to watch all the games and be able to come up with the team of the week and who is Bubbling under, I wonder how often some subjectivity and preconceived ideas play a part in picking some of the players that appear in these lists. Still interesting to note that between all the South African, Kiwi and Aus flyhalves on display the top two flyhalves they rate tops are from SA, didn’t see any games but that is a good thing considering that there must have at least been some good Kiwi flyhalves playing.
Sergeal Peterson is a young player that GBS highlighted when he, very begrudgingly, did the preview on The Kings prior to the start of Super 15, so its impressive to see he has made his mark so quickly.
Also good to see Pierre Spies mentioned as best number 8, must have been some stiff competition from some very good number 8’s for that, so hopefully this is an indication that he is back to his best form again this year.
After all the praise the Chiefs got from their performance am surprised to see so few of their players nominated.
Fox Sports top 5 tries, do you agree
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97-0A2VBIek
first 3 OK, dont know if the last 2 is Top tries of the week then it must have been a very poor week
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