Sharks Supporters Thread

Why is it that the entire world knows the Sharks midfield weaknesses except the Sharks coaching team? I hazard a guess that in every game we have lost this year it's been because of poor midfield defending, yet Reece-Edwards and that Kiwi bloke continue to put dodgy players in those positions.

Reece-Edwards should not be a part of the coaching set-up. He already proved how useless he is as a coach before Strauli took over years ago. And what is Strauli still doing there anyway? The man should be fixing cocktails and milkshakes for tourists at a nudist resort far, far away from SA rugby.
 
There were some crappy calls made by the referee in the game, but in my opinion there were worse calls made by the Sharks players. I don't think they went into that game with much of a plan to win it at all.

McCloud is a rubbish scrummie. We really needed to hold onto Kockett, but it looks like the "brains trust" screwed up on that one. "Maaitjie syndrome" again.
 
Pixual said:
There were some crappy calls made by the referee in the game, but in my opinion there were worse calls made by the Sharks players. I don't think they went into that game with much of a plan to win it at all.

McCloud is a rubbish scrummie. We really needed to hold onto Kockett, but it looks like the "brains trust" screwed up on that one. "Maaitjie syndrome" again.
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Yep - far too many unforced handling errors and missed first-time tackles.
 
I expected more from the Sharks in the game. apart from the some poor reffing decisions, the sharks were not hungry enough to win it i'm afraid. i was surprised how the bok front row were poor against the crusaders. lambie is not test level, inexperieced and bead tactical kicking.
 
One of life's ironies that New Zealand produces most of the best players but the worst refs
 
Eish some of those calls where diabolical. Sharks were always going to be up against it away from home but how Lawrence gets rated as the best referee in Super 15 is beyond me. Starting to dislike McCloud, was good in the Currie cup last year and shows a few good touches but not nearly consistent enough. I think also the one difference from the Bulls games last week is that the Crusaders didn't kick away possession every 5 minutes like Steyn did.

Wish list for CC and next year - centres, for the love of god, decent centres!
 
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The referee was poor, but we didn't have too much sympathy from the Sharks' side when Kaplan took the same stance of penalising the Bulls indiscriminitely a week prior. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. Sometimes they go for you and sometimes they go against you.
 
zeb said:
The referee was poor, but we didn't have too much sympathy from the Sharks' side when Kaplan took the same stance of penalising the Bulls ndiscriminitely a week prior. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. Sometimes they go for you and sometimes they go against you.
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That isn't really an issue here... there will always be 50/50 calls, and sometimes they'll go your way.. sometimes not..
What is an issue here is Bryce's absolutely incorrect and horribly diabolically wrong calls, where even the NZ commentators were going :wtf: aloud during the game.
 
The fact that every single 50/50 call went the way of The Crusaders shows a blatant bias. Whether it's patriotic or not is the question. I personally believe that it's a combination of patriotic bias and complete ineptitude...
 
B.O.F.H. said:
That isn't really an issue here... there will always be 50/50 calls, and sometimes they'll go your way.. sometimes not..
What is an issue here is Bryce's absolutely incorrect and horribly diabolically wrong calls, where even the NZ commentators were going :wtf: aloud during the game.
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Sorry mate (not making excuses here, the bulls would have lost no matter what), but when the bulls played the sharks at loftus, even the commentators questioned the way kaplan would hammer in on Bakkies. It got so bad that Ludeke had to remove Bakkies just so that the game could continue. And your front row is a joke, seriously nothing personal but the Sharks front row has been missing something this year.

But you got further than my bulls this year so kudos to you, its this supporting the stormers as the final SA team that makes me feel all dirty
 
But were Kaplans calls so blatantly wrong as to by absolutely mystical as to what he saw and what rules were contravened?

Yes, maybe Kaplan did hammer on Bakkies a bit to much but he wasn't making up **** and giving EVERY 50/50 call to the Sharks.
 
I think the Sharks played poorly, none of the fighting spirit that was seen against the Bulls.
Yes the ref had a couple of shockers but a score of 36-8 can not be blamed solely on old Bryce.

But well done for reaching the play offs. Hope next year you can go even further.
 
Well done to the team for getting this far in the competition. I'm sure we are all proud of how far they got, as I honestly gave up hope for a play-off spot when we returned from overseas. I am extremely happy to say the Sharks proved me wrong and glad to see they picked their game up in the latter weeks.

The game this weekend wasn't the greatest performance from us and we made sloppy errors which the 'Saders fed off. The ball was kept amongst the forwards too much so when the backs got the ball they had no support or no where to run but into a Crusader. The final score wasn't a true reflection of the game (some of you may disagree - I don't care) and if we got the basics right it may have been a slightly different result. Our defence held up well for the most part (line defence was fantastic as always) and Sonny Bill wasn't able to run riot as he has done so many times this season. Our counter-rucking (holy s**t) was incredible! Never before have I seen a NZ team, let alone the Crusaders, being rucked like they're a high school team. Pity we weren't able to take advantage. Bringing Smit on was the nail in the coffin I'm afraid. As much as he needs game time, I felt that there was no positive for the decision as he is not an impact player. The 'Saders just knew what to do when they had the ball and its clear that they've been in many finals.

I'm not going to say much about the ref as just comments have been made and I'd just be repeating what has been said. DJ's post took the words out of my mouth. What I will say is this: How long are the refs going to get away with unacceptable performances? Its sad to read many reports on the game with a paragraph or 2 about the ref, but nothing more. When is a franchise or union going to go to SANZAR/IRB and demand that refs must be held responsible for poor games? Yes there are times where calls go wrong, we are human after all, but when a ref has a game with such blatant bias and unequal decisions constantly being made, action needs to be taken. When an official of such incompetence has a say in the game, it is no longer a fair game and is no longer enjoyable. Officials in rugby are put on a pedestal and they get away with murder. There needs to be an independent board of regulators that check and re-check the officials performances after games, scrutinise their decisions and sideline them for poor performances. If there is, they are not doing their job. Its for the good of the game and I hope Lawrence's shocking display of refing(?) brings light to the fact that officials involved in world-class games need to be world-class themselves.


Oh well. Currie Cup in a few weeks, looking forward to it!
 
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One thing I can say about the Super 15 is that there is not much super about it.

I think this format totally blows chunks and I know I'm not the only one. I was offered tickets to go and see several of the games this year and I passed on most of them. Just a waste of time, really.

What they need to do is play this thing like they play the English Premier League. Each team in the competition plays each other twice, one home game, one away game. The team that has the most points once all the games are played is the champion and that's that. Forget these play-offs, semis and finals, They are just a lottery and while we have all these dodgy refs around the outcome of those games actually means very little.

Of course this will never happen, but only because SANZAR are a bunch of money hungry bastårds who are not actually interested in the sport beyond how much they can profit from it.
 
Pixual said:
One thing I can say about the Super 15 is that there is not much super about it.

I think this format totally blows chunks and I know I'm not the only one. I was offered tickets to go and see several of the games this year and I passed on most of them. Just a waste of time, really.

What they need to do is play this thing like they play the English Premier League. Each team in the competition plays each other twice, one home game, one away game. The team that has the most points once all the games are played is the champion and that's that. Forget these play-offs, semis and finals, They are just a lottery and while we have all these dodgy refs around the outcome of those games actually means very little.

Of course this will never happen, but only because SANZAR are a bunch of money hungry bastårds who are not actually interested in the sport beyond how much they can profit from it.
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Mmmm correct me if im wrong but if 15 teams play each other twice (once home, once away) it will take 28 weeks? Well if only on game per team is played per week (no Byes), as rugby i think takes a bit more out of you physically and I can not see that "wednesday night" games will draw great crowds....

It would be a better reflection of who was the better team in the whole season but I doubt if it is a reachable goal barring if the different teams start having a pool of 60 players they could draw from.

Just my 2c.
 
Yes, they should have bigger pools of players. It would do wonders for the depth and experience of our players.

Another option is to rotate the competition between the three countries every year and play it over three months in the same country. That'll fill up stadiums for sure, especially if you know you're only going to be able to get to those games once every three years.
 
Pixual said:
Yes, they should have bigger pools of players. It would do wonders for the depth and experience of our players.

Another option is to rotate the competition between the three countries every year and play it over three months in the same country. That'll fill up stadiums for sure, especially if you know you're only going to be able to get to those games once every three years.
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Yeah that would be grand but the problem is how will the Lions / cheetahs get 50 players? No offence but as is the Lions are struggeling to field a good enough 22 for the S15 and the cheetahs are plundered by the bigger unions every year....

But I seriously do like the idea :D
 
Well if they play it in one country over a 2 or 3 month window then they won't need to play each opponent twice as everyone will be in the same country. I think it would be ace. Make a festival out of it.

AND...

we've got extra stadia here anyway! :D
 
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