Well done Chiefs they deserved it, they been great to watch all season. Im really disappointed at lambie. Is he really the best fullback in SA at the moment? I definitely dont wanna see him at 15 for the springboks. Joe Pietersen doesn't impress me at 15 either.
Lucid the chiefs have had a good season but the final was a farce and is best forgotten as a non event.
Lambie has not had a good season at fullback. I think he is a better flyhalf.
We could play Frans at 15 or Taute. Joe is a no no. Aplon to me is also a no no. Imagine him trying to contain the Chiefs today. Daniller is underrated and if he comes back to form with the Cheetas could be considered. We cant afford to have these micolights trying to contain bigger backs who are just as fast as they are.
Good luck to your Lions retaining their Super 15 status. At the very least there has to be a promotion relegation match
to come back from injury straight into a S15 Grand Final may have been abit too much to ask of Lambie! Joe Petersen definitely no 15 for the Boks!
Right Beeno, Taute could be a good choice at fullback, but meyer would most likely select Kirchener or Lambie at 15 based on experience not based on current form or skill level. What do you think about Pienaar at 15? I think he has played there a few times. I mainly focus and analyze on the backline, because it seems like they just can't choose the right backline and the centre combinations are wrong. I have no problem with the forwards. We have great forwards coming through like Daniel, Kolisi, Etzebeth ect...
You are probably right regarding lambie and kirchener being meyers picks. Lambie to me though is not cutting it. Maybe its just an off form spell.
I dont have any hope for daniels as a bok loosie and not a great deal for Kolisi. already as we saw in the semi kolisi did very little and never remotely imposed himself on the game. Where was that speed which is a major asset of his etc.Has faded noticeably over the season. Is a bit of a lightweight by todays standards. Deon Fourie even is a much better player
I think though that Meyer can pick a powerful squad.
I agree with Hakwa. Lambie was rusty, he handled the RwC I have no doubt he can handle the Bargies. Kirchner is a joke.
Well done Chiefs...you deserved the trophy without any shadow of doubt...and you did it right from the start...that's the key to true champions...you cannot take long shots in a competition of this nature.
Having said that and sincerely not taking anything away from you, the Sharks set themselves an impossible task...there are are always limits to what human beings can take...even the very best cannot do the impossible...you have only yourselves to blame if you do not reach a poll position...sadly the Stormers did and could not finish...the Sharks tried to come through the back-door...an impossible task...sooner or later the effects or 3 intense clashes plus travel fatigue is going to set in...I only hope that you guys learn a tough lesson from this next year and keep in a poll position...anyway I still salute your efforts against the Bulls, the Cheetahs and especially the Reds and Stormers. You young lads showed incredible skills and guts to get to this final.
I am not buying anything about the issue of the amount of travellling th Sharks had to do in the three weeks before they played the final. Even though I would admit that it may have had some impact on the scoreline - I always said the Chiefs would win.
However, the Sharks put up a disgraceful performance and that is the real issue here. There was no game plan and no support for players. The one time the Sharks looked dangerous - when Jordaan broke through the Chiefs defences - nobody followed up to support him - end of story.
The other reason is the mania of Plumtree to pick players out of position. He was perhaps forced into it this time around - but his selections were seriously defective. For instance take the case of Pietersen - he is no 13 and will always be a star at wing and a under-perfrming player at 13. He was largely invisible yesterday.
Although the forwards were a big problem - the half back play was atrocious. I said previously that McCleod is the weak link in the Sharks team and yeterday he definitely was. Michalak yesterday had the ball handling skills of a second team of a local rugby club. That was enough to ensure continuous loss of territory and hand-over of balls to the Chiefs.
We have a case here of bad play all round. The key players of the Sharks up front was Kankowski in line out play and Alberts. Yet Kankowski is not in the Springbok squad - because Meyer likes Spies at 8.
I can accept losses - but definitely not disgraces and the Sharks were disgraceful yesterday.
Mike get real no team on earth could perfrom under those conditions. The crusaders came unstuck after two trips. The sharks had to do three!! They were running on empty.
Man I know some are desparate to prove they are cowboys and of course cowboys dont cry but throwing reason out the window is not on.
The final was a farce. That wasnt the fault of the sharks or the chiefs its the way the competition is run.
I dont give a hoot who thinks its an excuse or being a cry babty or being unsporting etc etc - the knockers of the sharks can bleat all they will. The sharks are a good side and performed way under their ability - FACT.The system ruined the final - FACT
Accepting that the system is fine is rank stupidity.
Fully agree Beeno...I for one was guilty of total unrealistic expections of the Sharks initially but pure logic and reason has prevailed...certainly not an excuse for the Sharks...as I said "they have only themselves to blame". If you believe that human-beings can achieve infallibility and supreme-being stage then you are either very lacking in understanding your fellow-man or living in cloud-cuckoo-land.
After-all the Sharks are very human and so are the Chiefs...something we will NEVER know or prove...but I wonder what would have happened if the shoe was on the other foot...the score-line tells us really nothing.
SBW could also beat Mike Tyson if one of his hands was bound in a boxing match...lol.
The Chiefs were the best side in the competition because they played their games within the effective context of the competition and deserve the prize...are they 31 points better than the Sharks...absolutely not...they won the game in Durban only marginally and certainly not convincingly...may I add too against a Sharks side that was at 6's and 7's and that same side was beaten by the lowly Lions...what the Shark's became later was a totally different side...once they got the formula and momentum right...you could hardly recognise that were the same team...something that the coach must be seen at fault.
Anyway there is next year...and hopefully there are harsh lessons to be learnt here.
Sharks were looking good for the first ten minutes and for the rest of the game they could not look after the ball and were quite poor on defense, missing the first-up tackles. This I put down to the impossible travel schedule which caused the fatigue and lopsided what should have been a fiercely contested final.
Perhaps SANZAR should look at having a week off between the semis and the finals...just to make it a little bit more of a fair contest.
Positives to be taken out of the Sharks performance in the last month, is that the all out attack gameplan is the one that works in the modern era and the kick and strangle crap needs to be put in the compost heap of Rugby.
Adding another week for rest is just not going to happen...This comp is designed to reward consistency and what the Sharks achieved was not supposed to happen. Again they proved that they played amazingly well...but not well enough in the end.
I certainly didnt want the Sharks to have travel as an excuse for the loss as that would have been so easy for them to just not turn up and switch off because off this factor.
Nonetheless, it appeared that they were simply outplayed for 65 minutes of an 80 minute game. Whether or not we apply fatigue our proud, professisonal Sharks shouldn't have become fodder after such a short time into a final??????
Nonetheless, this takes nothing away from our boys just stating the facts..........
The only way that we will get the comp back to some fairness is to go back to Super 12 format or cut back the qualifying final stages to 4 teams rather than 6 so eliminating the quaterfinals and a week of travelling if this is the contention that 5th and 6th will have to contrend with each year....this will also stop crybabies like beeno from throwing his toys out thecot all the time...lol
