Highlanders - Shark game - lesson to be learned from that game

Don't go into the game with the idea of taking out key opposition players from the game by illegal action.   In the one case Sopoaga  was successful in shoulder charging a player without the ball.   He made sure Reinach was out of the game and was lucky to get away with only a penalty being given and not at least a yellow card.
The Le Roux case was so serious the guy got a deserved red card.  That is not what I call rugby and that is what ultimately lost the game for the Highlanders.    

 Sopoaga showed them how sorry he was by missing most of his penalty goals 

The Sharks nearly lost to a team that was minus one player for almost the entire match! Hardly a great performance by them! 

 Mike I haven't noticed the kbbs rushing to apologies for these disgraceful incidents!I can only wonder what sort of a spin JW and the other kbbs ill put on this!!

 I do hope that the Sop ou gets a nice suspension. The oak felling Willie needs a long ban as well.
Clean up your game kbbs!

 However he will know there is still plenty to work on, and maybe he should also consider it a top priority to have an earnest word with his captain Tendai Mtawarira about how he talks to the referee. At one stage he was using wording that was tantamount to calling O’Keefe a cheat and accused him of trying to even up the numbers when he binned the two Sharks players
Well done Beast you tell it like it is! 

Beeno, it's best if one sees the game before rushing to judgement on the vicious attack on Sopoaga's shoulder.
The contact with Willie could have resulted in a very serious injury. Glad he's ok. Didn't look intentional but he was hit in the air so red card.
Ps,  congrats to the sharks.

JW I saw the game. That hit on Wille was disgraceful. The Reinach incident was so so. For the record, the touch judge missed yet another quick throw in by the Highlanders near their own line while the Landers player's foot was over the white line. He was standing two meters from the incident with a clear and unobstructed view of the thrower. He has one job in that situation. And somehow he manages to conveniently totally "not see" the infringement. It's this kind of stuff that fuels Beeno and starts bringing out my cynical side. Have a look. It was the one where JP was running at the corner after a dominant Sharks scrum.

...and Ben Smith, because he is such a classy guy, tries to argue with the ref for the sending off. Would have loved to hear him if that had happened to him. The kiwis would have been flying in with fist. Tye Sharks took it on the chin and waited for the ref's decision. Of course the commentators layer into Beast for defending JP...but we're dead quite about a Smith.

 Plum, I just watched the clip on the Willie hit & updated my post above. Glad Willie wasn't seriously injured.

JW...I call BS. He knew exactly what he was doing. Saw he was never gonna get the ball but made ZERO attempt to change direction. Of course all kiwis will say it's just an accident. Your players never ever ever ever ever ever play dirty. Fk that guy. I hope he gets banned. Yes, Beast is the captain. Regardless, Ben Smith shouldn't be defending dangerous foul play. He saw it on the big screen a good few times. Speaks to his character really.

 the only lessons to be learned from that game are:

- as always saffa fans taking it completely out of proportion,...... it was a red card and Emery will be banned,..... I don't think it was intentional but it doesn't matter, it was very dangerous and deserved the red,........ the rest is pure BS,...... to say that the landers "go into the game with the idea of taking out key opposition players from the game by illegal action",..... sentencing without having watch the match (very typical from fans like Mr. Been),........ taking a less than minor incident like the quick lineout (that besides and to cap it all, lead to the sharks' winning penalty) as the reason to be upset with the refs performances in general,....... saying that B. Smith was "defending dangerous foul play" when he was just doing his job as captain,...... etc, etc, etc.

- the coaching level in SA is pathetic,..... when one of the main SA teams is coached to defend against 14,....... when they are completely unable to get a try against 14,...... when they have got 13 tries in 8 matches and 6 of them against the Kings which means that in the other 7 matches they got 7 tries,....... it's something to get worried

Yeah Basque...not too long ago the same failure on the linesman's part lead to a break away try by the Highlanders. Just saying mate...if you're not watching the throwers position at a quick lineout, what are you watching? And sure, he never meant to knock Willie put of the air. He had no idea Willie would jump, no idea he wasn't gonna get there in time and no chance at all of changing his path. He had enough time to drop his shoulder though. Funny that huh. Interestng. I had no idea at all that it was the captains job to defend foul play. Maybe I should read the captain's journal more often. Nobody ever said the Sharks were even close to SA's best atm. In fact, every last one of us on here have been bemoaning Gold's game plan. Thanks for stating the obvious though. Trying to deflect maybe? Good job. No wait. Poor effort.

 Jeez Plum you got a hard on for Ben Smith or what ?Congrats to the Sharks btw.

 that's exactly what I meant when I talk ed about taking it completely out of proportion,....

"not too long ago the same failure on the linesman's part lead to a break away try by the Highlanders"

yeah, sure,.... there's a linesmen plot worldwide to allow tries to the Highlanders,.... no doubt,......

and seems that you know perfectly well what was Emery's intention, what was he thinking,...... man, you are wasting your abilities in something like rugby,...... you could go a long way with them,...... achieve great aims,.....

"I had no idea at all that it was the captains job to defend foul play"

nobody said anything even similar,..... but following your argumentation if everytime a captain discuss a yellow or a red for foul play with the ref (which is his job, to try to get the best for his team) he's defending the foul play, then every single captain in the history of rugby is culprit

"Nobody ever said the Sharks were even close to SA's best atm"

???????????????????????????????????
all I said was "one of the main SA teams",........ aren't the sharks one of the main SA teams?

 ABF 
The great fisherman caught one fish again - 
Nobody really believes that the two cases referred to was really intentional.   They were really no good and the first one could also have resulted in a yellow card for Sopoaga. 
I just want to remind you of the Crusaders a few years ago when the Sharks played the Crusaders with at times 13 players on the field of play and managed to win the game in Christchurch.   Was there anything wrong with the coaching of the Crusaders in that case?   

 Ou maaaikie lets not indulge the kbbs with fanciful notions that only serve to confirm them in the errors of the dark ways.
One hopes the citiung process goes smoothly with the appropriate long bans ! HahahaahhahahahaPity one cant cite p osters like ou JW - now there is a villain for sure! 

The real disgrace was the TMO who was clearly arguing for a lesser penalty...what planet was he from. That was the most dangerous thing I have seen on a rugby field....I was concerned Willie might be paralyzed. And how much pure guts did he show afterwards and during the fall when he held onto the ball.
Rugby has become a bit like riding a motor cycle. It's the madness of the other guy that puts you at risk.

Moz, didn't you know. TMOs all over the world have it in for Saffes. Just like the linesman Basque referred to. To that TMO the offense was no more dangerous than a half-hearted closed fist jab to the chops. Hence he suggested the same punishment as the puncher would have got. Quote hilarious when you consider the possible medical outcomes of of each event in isolation. One is a bruise and the other a life time needing constant medical care. This is after he has had the benefit numerous replays. A totally unbiased recommendation...Obviously. Because there is no bias whatsoever present at any time. So I have two questions. A) What lengths will people go to when there is an incentive involved? My answer - Great lengths B) How difficult is it to dangerously knock a player out of the air whilst appearing to do it "unintentionally"? My answer - Too bloody easy. Ja Mike, if you call that fishing I dunno. Remember the outcry in the stadium when Bizzie's legally put the golden boy on his ar5e. Wonder what they'd have done had today's happenings involved him. Probably still be rioting.

- congrats to the sharks, resilient defence from the sharks and great decision making when choosing which defensive breakdown to engage.
every time the highlanders tried to attack, there was a good line of white jerseys ready to engage the ball carrier.

- its hilarious listening to know it all telepaths talk about peoples intentions, u get a well deserved shake my head facepalm hybrid courtesy the uzumaki clan.

- red card on emery was deserved and i hope he dosent play anymore for the rest of the season, cos i hate dumb players.
imo it wasnt intentional, just reckless to the extreme. my take is emery jumped too early in hail mary attempt cos he wasnt going to make it to the ball before willie, once his feet left the ground he was fudged as he could no longer change his path.

- sopoaga should have been yellow carded for his shoulder charge, officials made a bubu with that.
sopoagas problem was he was committed to the tackle, but tried to pull out midway. this is easily resolved though, by just going through with the tackle and not pulling out. if it should happen to go the TMO, IMO u will find  most those tackles (the possible late tackles) when played at normal speed legit.
the other plus with following through with a tackle and not trying to pull out is the worst that can happen is u get penalised with a late tackle, which is better than a shoulder charge which has a high card penalty rate.

- highlanders have now lost to the blues, the reds and the sharks. highlanders have much harder teams on their 2016 fixture and these losses could prove disastrous with their finals campaign.

- sopoagas problem has always been form. 2015 looked like he had finally developed the mental tools to help with that, but 2016 has proven the consistency demons are still alive.
if sopoaga dosent know why hes the thrid pick flyhalf, he should just watch the hurricanes vs chiefs game today.

@plum,

"Interestng. I had no idea at all that it was the captains job to defend foul play. Maybe I should read the captain's journal more often"
i thought the same thing when pigmarck du plessis kicked micheal leitch last year in the face.
but lady karam dealt justice out, when NZ born micheal leitch captained rugby minnows Japan to a humiliating victory over the Springboks.
i wonder how pigmarck liked those apples???

"Remember the outcry in the stadium when Bizzie's legally put the golden boy on his ar5e. Wonder what they'd have done had today's happenings involved him. Probably still be rioting"
the concept of fans must be new to u, so allow me to break it down for u. when home fans see something they dont like happen to their team, they boo and when they see something they do like, they cheer, eg pigmarck hits and injures carter, All Black fans boo, All Blacks go on to beat the Springboks (again) and All black fans cheer.

no need to thank me, educating my saffa brus is a hobby of mine,

I just watched the game and it was pretty poor. It is was a tight affair and good defence- but not much else. The charge on Leroux was reckless, but not much more. A red card was warranted because he landed badly. Otherwise it was a yellow

 There was no intent, but the consequences could have been dire. It had to be a red. Sopoaga's shoulder seemed like a little gotcha to me....a fairly compelling yellow.
There was a lot of jocular commentator talk about Deysel. Turned out he was big for the Sharks, so much more physical than Rottweiler look-alike du Preez.

 At it again - Mozart.  You were told that unjustified comments on players - and especially names you dedicated to them stemmed from personal dislike of players with no reference to their performance.    

 Sasue
I do not know what happened in the case of Sopoaga - but you are probably correct in your assessment.  
The first time I really saw Sopoaga in action was I believe in 2013 when he played for the Highlanders in a game against the Cheetahs.  He was downright poor in that game and I thought he was not up to standard in that game.
He gradually got better and better and at one stage over the last two years I thought that he may be the answer when Carter was to be replaced.
However, this year I was very disappointed in his performances.  He seemed to be slower than he used to be and although his kicking game improved insofar as accuracy is concerned - he was not the general one wants in the backline at all.  Could be both psychological as well as physical - but he moved out of line for the Carter succession race.           

 What Willie needs to do to protect himself a bit better when he goes aerial is stick his foot out like Bruce Lee...that might discourage anyone from  taking out his legs

I don't dislike the du Preez twins, but they were massively hyped. They look like Rottweilers and play like poodles. But in a couple of years they may be more effective.

For a while the refs were so strict on players challenging a player in the air on kicks you couldn't go near the catcher without being penalized. We have to figure out how to have a fair contest & yet protect the player. 
On Willie, it's sickening to see the video. He is very lucky not to be very seriously injured.

Mentioned this before but a while back I read a book written by an economist who had looked at various odd outcomes in sports, business, families and others. he then studied the data and came to some completely crazy and unintuitive yet factual conclusions. And every single time it came down to incentives. They even proved match fixing/throwing in Sumo wrestling. Some of you may have read it. Now, before this, anyone would have told you that Sumo wrestling is a sport based on respect, honor and the true warrior spirit. It's athletes veritable demi-gods. Any notion of match fixing would be called crazy conspiracy, tin foil hat bollocks blah blah blah. Then suddenly, an economist looks at win loss ratios while into account rankings, rules etc and over night it is revealed that match fixing is so rife in the sport that almost every athlete has taken part in it. Why? INCENTIVE. Plain and simple. So, I understand that you Kiwis as personally insulted the notion that your players are humans too, and susceptible to the same temptations as all of us mortals. What I am saying is that it would not be difficult to pretend to take someone out unintentionally and there would be incentive to do so. Watching the video it's plainly obvious that he knew he wouldn't get there. He made no effort to change direction or evade Wille. His eyes only briefly went to the ball...and then he dropped his shoulder. Yep, everybody cheats and everybody plays dirty, more than we all know. It's just funny to me how you guys will go as far as wreckless but never consider the idea that it might get be more than that. It's almost like your parents finding out you've been a bad boy. You'll only ever admit what they already know. And yeah, Smith did have the benefit of multiple replays. His only answer to ref should have been. "Ok." The only time a SA skipper wpuld argue something like that would be if a similar hit had occurred to one of his players earlier in the game.

The Sharks are a classic case of a side being undermined by a poor coach......they play a very predictable game, with the ball just being passed from one end of the field to the other.....no creativity or imagination involved.....the little that is provided comes from Willie at 15.
They desperately need Lambie back at 10.....Joe is a makeshift 10, who cant ignite his backs....April looked out of his depth yesterday.
Gold is a complete flop......we cant say the same about Ackerman/de Bruin, Fleck and Marais......its been a pleasure watching the Bulls, Stormers and in particular the Lions
If only Ackerman and Swys de Bruin had been given the Bok job