The Sharks weren’t too severely battered and bruised following their outing against the Leopards last Friday and with a slew of Springboks available for Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup clash against the Lions, John Plumtree has his work cut out for him in naming his team.
Centre Andries Strauss took a knock to his hip, while hooker Craig Burden is still out with a shoulder injury, confirmed The Sharks coach. “Juan Hernandez’s back is playing up a bit, he went for a scan on Monday but it’s an old injury, while Jean Deysel has a tear on his quad so he’s doubtful for the weekend. Swannie [Riaan Swanepoel] is still a bit sore but we’re hoping he’ll be available.”
He did confirm that all the Boks were available, although Johann Muller was to be assessed after training to see how his arm held out, how it reacted to a bit of contact.
With regards the captaincy issue, Plumtree suggested in humour that he was going to leave it to Stefan Terblanche, Johann Muller and John Smit to fight it out ‘Ching-Chong-Cha’ style.
“No, there is a fair chance that Stefan will continue as captain, they all have so much respect for each other and at the end of the day, Johann’s had an unfortunate campaign having broken his arm and struggled to come back, and John is the captain of the Boks, so he’s been in charge of one set of players and Stefan the other, so between the two of them, I’m pretty confident they’ll do a good job of leading the team.”
Having scored 13 tries against Boland last weekend, The Lions – Saturday’s opposition – certainly got their attack right although it does call into question Boland’s defence. “Any side that can concede 88 points has some defensive problems,” added Plumtree, “but we know a lot about the Lions, they’re big and heavy upfront and they’ve got some talent behind. We know they are playing for their lives this weekend so it’s going to be a big game.
“Looking back at the Leopards match, we could have scored three more tries in the second half that we didn’t, but mentally we slipped off a little bit once we had scored four tries.”
With two rounds of the pool stages left, for The Sharks, each week is treated as a final as they look to maintain a hold on their log position ahead of the knock-out round and then the climax of the tournament. “We’ve reviewed that, and it’s a case of we haven’t got anywhere yet, the Blue Bulls can technically get a home semifinal if we don’t win one of the next two games. So at the moment we haven’t got any prize yet.
“The ultimate prize is the Currie Cup and winning that final, but we want to take it step by step and this week is about securing a home semi. The following week is obviously about a home final position if we’re good enough to win our semifinal.
“Because of the points’ difference, Western Province can still get a home final, so we have to make sure we win, and win well.”
In preparing for Saturday’s game, Plumtree explained that it’s all about playing to win, and if they play well enough, then a five pointer is possible. “It is a big game for us this weekend, we have to make sure we win, but at the end of the day we want to play some rugby that hopefully gets us the five points. We’re certainly testing defences which is great.”
With all the Boks back, there is a subtle shift in the way The Sharks will play this weekend, Plumtree admitted. “We obviously have more power up front, we’re pretty much the same in terms of the back five, and I am really happy with the way Ruan and Juan worked together, they test the defences and we saw that a couple of times on the weekend, we have players good enough to play what’s in front of them and that’s important.
A concern for us is that we want to start scrummaging better, we’re reasonably happy with the other areas.”
With the injury to Jean Deysel, Michael Rhodes (pictured) was picked in his place last weekend and Plumtree expressed himself pleased with that exercise.
Courtesy from www.sharksrugby.co.za
‘Ching-Chong-Cha’ 😀
Die leeus gaan taai wees. Die Sharks sal op die bol moet wees vir 80 :clock:
here is the possibe sharks team as i see it
15 Stefan Capt
14 Odwa
13 Murray/adi
12 Swannepoel/Adi
11 Jpp/mvovo
10 Hernandez
09 Ruan
08 Kanko
07 Rhodes
06 Botes
05 Muller
04 Sykes
03 Smitty
02 Bismark
01 Beast
16 Carstens
17 Jannie
18 Albert
19 Daniel
20 Cockott/Mccleod
21 Strauss/murray
22 Mvovo/JPP
Lots depends on the injury outcomes…..
I also think smitty might be used as backup hooker to bissy thus leaving space for 2 bok props on the bench
That is a strooooong team Shark_forever…
Twenty armed robbers struck at a shopping complex in Brakpan on Tuesday night, robbing five stores, injuring a customer and later shooting dead a passing motorist, police said.
onstable Tsietsi Lamola said the armed gang arrived at the VC Spar complex in two sedans and a minibus around 19:00, split themselves into five groups and stormed into five shops simultaneously.
“Each had a firearm and they robbed two supermarkets, a video shop, a pizza parlour and a liquor store. An undisclosed amount of money was taken from each shop.”
The gang also took liquor from the bottle store, and cellphones and jewellery from patrons and customers. A female customer was injured when a robber struck her over the head with his firearm.
Is julle ok GBS? 😯 😯 😯
Rassie is at it again….
Cape Town – Former All Blacks centre Pita Alatini says he has been approached by Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus to play for Western Province and the Stormers next season.
“I am interested in playing competitive rugby in the Currie Cup and the Super 14 especially in Cape Town,” Alatini said in an email from Japan.
@Tripples – @Tripples – gm tripps holy crap its just getting worse and worse
isnt it? really makes one uneasy :reallypissed:
yeah it does
and trust me we dont hear the half of it
@Tripples –
Faaaark, ou GBS sit sonder drank hierdie nawek lyk my 🙁
Hy sal moet begin skiet onder daai wetters, dit kan nie so aangaan nie, ernstig!
Wonder wat gaan vlg jaar met die wereldbeker gebeur, help nie eens om die weermag in te roep nie van hulle is net so kuk soos die polisie deesdae….
@Pietman – dink die weermag is nog kukker as die SAP……hulle het dan gestrike
😯
Helloooooooooo
Jinne, sien hier bo VC Spar en omliggende winkels is gisteraand gerob in Brakkenjanpan… flok !
Gelukkig het ons ander Dop-shoppe hier in die “Panne” ook…. hehehe
Hope we dont miss Deysel to much and we really need to win well so we get a home semi and unfortunaltly the Lions are not Pancy’s
and we might be in for swome more rain on the weekend. :rain:
Hope we dont miss Deysel to much and we really need to win well so we get a home semi and unfortunaltly the Lions are not Pancy’s
and we might be in for some more rain on the weekend. :rain:
W H O O P S !!
@Treehugger – 😀 :laugh: :laugh: 😀
@Tripples – Hi tripples,was out for a while. see you also enjoy the smileys and i see its not just a girl thangggg !!
@sharky_forever – 3
That would be a very good team. This is a must win for us and if we get the bonus point then we could be well set for a home semi.
@Treehugger – 14
Yip, Think Deysel is a huge loss.
Morning Carol, See you up there. Jeez you doing well on SuperBru in the cricket :-))
@Puma – Hi Puma, I was chatting to you on another thread! Doing ok on the cricket well behind our Tripples though!! Have to make the Aus v England decision later!
Will discuss with WRS!!
Users Online
Total 62 users including 0 member, 62 guests, 0 bot online
Most users ever online were 3735, on 31 August 2022 @ 6:23 pm
No Counter as from 31 October 2009: 39,496,189 Page Impressions
_