Well done Sharks!
It was a game that could never continue at the pace it started. The Sharks began like they had a plane to catch en-route to a semi final. Odwa Ndungane was everywhere with two great pieces of finishing. His workrate matches his brother and between them they are two of the hardest working wings in the country. Ndungane finished and Brent Russell created. Russell was magic tonight and his supporters will be once again claiming Springbok honours for this performance.
Jacques Botes scored a fantastic try from a set move working off the lineout. The Sharks did it twice - passing to a loosie from the top of the lineout who then broke through the lineout. It was clearly practiced and it worked.
The Sharks have made mauling their strength and their efforts contributed to their early dominance. They'll have to watch for truck-and-trailer though - their binding at the back is rather loose.
Scot Mathie played a fantastic game as scrumhalf tonight and looks a real prospect. His service was sharp and he has one of the best box kicks I've ever seen.
But things started to go against the Sharks when AJ Venter and Johan Ackerman went off. It was immediately evident how much the Sharks have benefitted from their form this season and suddenly the Sharks first phase possession began to dry up.
To add to this, a strange experiment by Dick Muir in moving John Smit to loosehead never looked like working and the Sharks took a pummelling in the scrums.
By the second half, it seemed to be a different game and the Sharks had to work very hard for their fourth try. Britz was rewarded for his hard work on the night with the score.
From then on, the Sharks looked anything but like semi-finalists. The Force came back strongly and the Sharks were made to defend for long periods. The home side were lucky not to get carded for continuous infringing in their defensive efforts, although the repeat offences gave the opportunity for one of the moments of the night when Paul Honiss asked John Smit to talk to his players - and added with a wink, "I'll let you know when I'm restarting play."
The Sharks early pace clearly tired them and perhaps this was partly responsible for their second half performance tonight. But what they can be assured of, is if they play like that in the semi-final, they will be home immediately afterwards.
Monty kicked fantastically, but needs to up his workrate on attack and defence. I'm not talking about his token efforts at ruck time - he has to improve defence of the channel around the loose and tight. He also has to look to join the line on attack and beat the opposing defence. He did make a fantastic pass to contribute to one of Ndungane's tries.
Butch looked rusty and unfit tonight and had one of his traditional poor efforts tonight on Digby Ioane after he scored.
One final point is that after all the talk about skills, I was appalled to see Andries Strauss having to reverse his hands to make a pass to his right. That's really piss-poor skills and passing both ways is something that should be honed at schoolboys level.
But on the whole, well done Sharks for a fantastic first half effort and making the semis. We'll all be holding thumbs that AJ and Johan Ackerman are fit for next week.
Lastly, the standard of callers into Engage on DSTV improved tonight with a call from Smuts Ngonyama, head of the presidency! And he made some very good points on the Sharks winning requirements for next week against the Crusaders.
Jacques Botes scored a fantastic try from a set move working off the lineout. The Sharks did it twice - passing to a loosie from the top of the lineout who then broke through the lineout. It was clearly practiced and it worked.
The Sharks have made mauling their strength and their efforts contributed to their early dominance. They'll have to watch for truck-and-trailer though - their binding at the back is rather loose.
Scot Mathie played a fantastic game as scrumhalf tonight and looks a real prospect. His service was sharp and he has one of the best box kicks I've ever seen.
But things started to go against the Sharks when AJ Venter and Johan Ackerman went off. It was immediately evident how much the Sharks have benefitted from their form this season and suddenly the Sharks first phase possession began to dry up.
To add to this, a strange experiment by Dick Muir in moving John Smit to loosehead never looked like working and the Sharks took a pummelling in the scrums.
By the second half, it seemed to be a different game and the Sharks had to work very hard for their fourth try. Britz was rewarded for his hard work on the night with the score.
From then on, the Sharks looked anything but like semi-finalists. The Force came back strongly and the Sharks were made to defend for long periods. The home side were lucky not to get carded for continuous infringing in their defensive efforts, although the repeat offences gave the opportunity for one of the moments of the night when Paul Honiss asked John Smit to talk to his players - and added with a wink, "I'll let you know when I'm restarting play."
The Sharks early pace clearly tired them and perhaps this was partly responsible for their second half performance tonight. But what they can be assured of, is if they play like that in the semi-final, they will be home immediately afterwards.
Monty kicked fantastically, but needs to up his workrate on attack and defence. I'm not talking about his token efforts at ruck time - he has to improve defence of the channel around the loose and tight. He also has to look to join the line on attack and beat the opposing defence. He did make a fantastic pass to contribute to one of Ndungane's tries.
Butch looked rusty and unfit tonight and had one of his traditional poor efforts tonight on Digby Ioane after he scored.
One final point is that after all the talk about skills, I was appalled to see Andries Strauss having to reverse his hands to make a pass to his right. That's really piss-poor skills and passing both ways is something that should be honed at schoolboys level.
But on the whole, well done Sharks for a fantastic first half effort and making the semis. We'll all be holding thumbs that AJ and Johan Ackerman are fit for next week.
Lastly, the standard of callers into Engage on DSTV improved tonight with a call from Smuts Ngonyama, head of the presidency! And he made some very good points on the Sharks winning requirements for next week against the Crusaders.
posted at 9:25 PM
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