It is Round 16 of Super Rugby 2014 this weekend, the last Round before the June Test Break! We have 7 games in Round 16, with 2 game on Friday and 5 games on Saturday.
The Toyota Cheetahs have a BYE weekend.
In June / July 2014 the Antipodian teams will catch up in played games with the South African counterparts, when the South African sides sit out for 1 Round.
The Combined Log will therefore be skewed for the majority of the competition and one has to question why individual countries are allowed to start such a long competition ahead of it’s rivals. In 2013 the Australian sides started a week early, but at least they had the excuse that they needed an extra week in the middle of the year to prepare for the British & Irish Lions series, which they lost.
Super Rugby – Round 16
All Times are in SA Time (GMT + 2)
Crusaders |
Western Force |
| 30 May at 09:35 | |
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Reds |
Highlanders |
| 30 May at 11:40 | |
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Chiefs |
Waratahs |
| 31 May at 06:35 | |
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Blues |
Hurricanes |
| 31 May at 09:35 | |
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Brumbies |
Melbourne Rebels |
| 31 May at 11:40 | |
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Lions |
Vodacom Bulls |
| 31 May at 17:05 | |
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Cell C Sharks |
DHL Stormers |
| 31 May at 19:10 | |
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@ MacroBull:
😯 I will be shocked when Oompie Pooms makes no typos 😆 😆
@ Puma:
😆
Good morning brudda
Sharks_forever wrote:
He can’t, even if he wants to, but during the Bok camp it was acknowledged that Steyn has an injury and might not be fit for the tests.
Maybe it wasn’t as serious as first thought, as he is fit to play, which is good news for the Boks at this stage.
We are thin on fly halves and centers, so he is valuable for these tests
Puma you said this after the brumbies game:
Puma on 10 May 2014 at 13:37 SAST
Just back from next door. We Shark supporters there are lost for words really. That was shocking by my team. At least we never got smashed this time by Brumbies like we done last year.
Actually felt for Steyn he has kept us in many games this year. If he had his kicking boots on we just may have won this game. Then Brumbies missed a few as well. Just shows how much Sharks are missing Lambie.
Our forwards just not playing well as we done under Plum for that matter our backline since we played Bulls at the start has been no where. In that game at least our backs won it for us. Now our forwards and backs are both shocking.
Fear for my team in the next two weeks. We play like this we gonna be thrashed totally.
One positive thing we come away with a bonus point….. 😎 Still after losing this game we top the log. How I have no idea really but we do. After next week we will not be top that is for sure.
I said when we got rid of Plum it was a mistake. Should have kept him as feel we played better rugby under Plum. Well definitely our forwards did and still remember those last 5 games we played in 2012 before the final we were brilliant. How I wish we could still be playing real Sharks rugby. We not this kick and chase team. I do understand we have injuries but even with the players we have we should be playing better. Sure the weather was not great today but we should be able to handle it with these players.
A game to forget for sure.
Come on Sharks we are better than this surely????
Now all of a sudden Jake is the greatest thing since sliced bread?
12 @ nortierd:
Rubbish boet and you know it. Stormers are playing brilliant rugby right now. They just started a few months to late doing do but the looking right now a hell of a team. So of course we have to field our best. If your team was in our position I brt you anything Gert Small would field his best because right now it is Gert pulling the strings at Stormers and they playing a great brand of rugby. Shark have to win this one tokeep the kiwi and Aussie chasing pack awy from us. This will be a very,very hard game to beat your boys and you know it.
34 @ Puma:
The Stormers would probably field their “best” and oerplayed team, the Stormers’ poor management of players is not a state secret, is it?
@ nortierd:
Simply Nortie my old COPPER friend, take a look at how many times you have a go at the Sharks or JW.
And yes you have also STRANGELY given the Sharks a lot of credit of late, this is true, do I need to come have another cop test you for alcohol?
😆 😆 😆
33 @ MacroBull:
YesI did say that and still say we should have kept Plumas our forward coach. I still don’t like the kick and chase game but I also said in a post after that one if you go back and see it was right under that post if we execute this kick and chase game plan 100% we would be very hard to beat.
@ nortierd:
Nortie boet, this is why I don’t worry to much about this, we are sitting on the outside speculating, we do not really know the details.
This is why I said, If HM selects Steyn so be it, if he does not? so be it. Or which ever player.
@Puma 34
You are in no danger of losing this weekend at home against a side 15th or wherever down there on the log.
Hell, you guys beat the Crusaders and Blues away in NZ with 13 and 14 men, surely you don’t think a side like the current Stormers have any threat?
My issue is not that Jake picks his best team, obviously he will, but my issue is when a player is right to play for his franchise, he should be right to play for the Boks.
It’s simple really, if Steyn is injury free and fit to play this weekend for the Sharks, but all of a sudden isn’t available for the tests, then I question his loyalty towards the National side.
Let’s see if he is fit for the tests.
And there is no such thing as nothing tests, they all count
@36
Lol
I will give your guys credit for what they have achieved, especially in NZ.
Still doesn’t make me a fan though
37 @ Puma:
So you support the sharks, yet you don’t like them? 😀
38 @ Sharks_forever:
In the long run though this is counter productive, if the National coach makes a request that is ignored, it sets an extremely bad precedent.
36 @ Sharks_forever:
anytime Sharks are mentioned even if they not logged on the all of a sudden on here like a shot on here drooling over our Sharks…hehe they are for sure Sharkie Groupies both have Sharks on their minds day and night… 
Bro don’t worry about old Nortie or Macrobull the actually Sharkie
Groupies..
@ nortierd:
Read this article Nortier, it will show you a little of JW’s thinking.
Jake is ‘managing’ Frans’ knee injury
by Gavin Rich 29 May 2014, 07:52
He gave the impression that he may still have to speak to and assess some of the players who were part of the national training camp, but Cell C Sharks coach Jake White is that he will be in a position to choose close to his best team for Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby derby against the DHL Stormers.
White said he had yet to speak to Frans Steyn, who is the centre of attention in what is becoming fuel for the ongoing province versus country debate, but indicated that Steyn will be taking the field against the Stormers at Growthpoint Kings Park. Steyn has what the Springbok medical staff described as a chronic knee injury and national coach Heyneke Meyer appears to be weighing up whether or not to risk further aggravation to the injury by playing him in the June tests.
However, White has no such qualms, and said that Steyn is being managed in such a way that he can get out on the field and play for the team.
“He is happy to play for as many games as he is required. He will do what the team requires. He has slotted in from 12 to 10, played week in week out, 80 minutes each time,” White said.
“He does not want to come off in games. His state of mind is that he wants to win this competition.”
White said that the difference in his approach to Steyn in comparison to what might be the case with Meyer is that the Boks have less time together than Super Rugby teams and thus couldn’t afford to have a player not participating in training in the early part of the week. By contrast, the Sharks are able to keep Steyn off his feet early in the week as they’ve been working together since early January.
“The situation with Frans is that he needs to be managed on a Monday and Tuesday so that he can play for the Sharks at the weekend,” White said.
“I haven’t spoken to Frans yet so I am not sure what has been said, but this might not be acceptable at Springbok level and they might not pick him if he can’t train on Mondays and Tuesdays. There is greater depth available to the Boks and a lot of talented players to choose from, so it would be understandable if Heyneke thought it would be unfair to include a player who is not participating fully.
“I am just glad he rested at the camp. He has played almost every minute of every game.”
White said he had not received any feedback on further injuries to his players at the Bok camp.
“We have had no feedback that anybody has niggles and we will pick our strongest team this weekend. The Bok management did not run our injured guys which was good. Guys like S’bura Sithole and Willem Alberts had grade one hamstring problems and they should be fine, and the Bok camp showed Marcell Coetzee is ready to go.”
The return of the last mentioned player once the team is confirmed later on Thursday will be a significant boost to the Sharks as his ability to turn over opposition ball is invaluable to the Sharks when he is present and the Durban side are a better attacking unit when he is there. He also adds physicality to the pack, something that is much needed during the time that Jean Deysel is out serving his three match suspension.
@ Puma:
We will talk again when the Sharks players drop like flies pre play offs 🙂
@ MacroBull:
Which request was made? come now MB your clutching at straws.
@ Puma:
😆
Not worried bro, old Nortier is a friend so I know he loves stirring its in his nature
MB is there as backup for Nortier
😆 😆 😆 😆
@38
Currently, the most question marks are about Frans.
Without him, your campaign might have faltered earlier, he has stepped up and done the job.
I have remarked earlier on here that Steyn’s loyalty towards Jake supersedes anything, we saw it in his reaction after the loss to the Bulls.
My worry is, will he give HM the same loyalty?
We saw with Divvie that it wasn’t the case. Of course, he is welcome to pick who he wants to play for, but he must just be upfront about it.
We have about a year to go before the WC, so HM doesn’t have that many tests to experiment and get his best side playing together, so it would be unfair if a player messes him around.
It’s not a dig at Steyn, it could have been any other player, but this scenario currently revolves around him
41 @ MacroBull:
Don’t twist thing boet. I am a Shark supporter forever win or lose. Of corse I can get upset with hoe they get it wrong sometimes and say do. We all do with all our teams. Just look how you and Nortie had a go at your teams eary on but not now. We are all passionate supporters of our teams and yes some weeks we get annoyed at some of the play but really we all support our teams through thick and thin.
Course 😳
@ Sharks_forever:
How am i clutching at straws, surely HM is implying that he feels Fransie should get a break, speaking of straws, maybe this weekend is where the camels back gets broken.
46 @ Sharks_forever:
I know those two are like the terrible twins…
@puma 42
Actually, this issue isn’t about the Sharks, but about the Boks
@ nortierd:
Maybe HM is the one that should earn that respect??? and here I am not having a dig at HM as again we do not know the inside facts?
But JW has as we see earned FS’s respect and vice versa, just as is the case with HM and Fourie Dup, Bakkies, Matfield etc?
48 @ Puma:
I think both Nortie and I have respected the Sharks to be the best local team by far, this just feels like a repitition of history of the stormers 2012 campaign, its even the same gameplan, except the sharks have proper counter attacking players to back their defense up. It will be a miracle if fransie, bissie, alberts, beast, jannie finish this season.
😆 @ Puma: Nortiertjie is just bored at work, you know how lazy the police okes are 😛 😆 😆
@ MacroBull:
MB boet, no worries, maybe we should all be getting together for a few cold beers 😉
@S_F
I have no qualms with Fransie’s loyalty towards Jake.
Jake gave him his break and won him a WC medal, they go back a long way. It stands to reason he will repay the faith, but no player is bigger than the game, and honestly, I don’t like the undertone of what is going on.
Maybe he is ready for National duty and all of this was a wasted exercise, who knows?
We will only know once the first Bok team is announced, perhaps we are jumping the gun
@ Sharks_forever:
If a coach has to lick a players arse to receive their respect, then he should rather just leave it.
Did HM give Steyn a national contract?
@Puma
You can rest easy now Boet, this side ain’t no dragon slayers
😀
Stormers: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damien de Allende, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen (c), 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Michael Rhodes, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Alistair Vermaak
Replacements: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 Manuel Carizza, 21 Dylon Frylinck, 22 Demetri Catrakilis, 23 Peter Grant
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