Mike you are speaking your usual kak here, what you see when it comes to rugby is laughable - evidenced by you informing Moz that de Jongh had missed Jordaan.......when its clear de Jongh was not the culprit.
Frans made the SA S15 side of the week after his first match and the made the S15 side of the week after his second game - that does not happen to a player who performance is not remotely on par with the other 12's as you say.
Mike you are just speaking complete kak, you cannot say what Frans weighed when. We do know he weighed 118kg two months ago, we do not know what he weighed 4 months ago though - stop making things up.
Bosman is useless and the Sharks backs did NOT improve when he came on - nothing changed, they were still crap and Bosman was poor. His player rating against the Brumbies:
'21. Meyer Bosman. Did some decent things on defence, but failed to spark much of anything with ball in hand. 3/10'
To prove my take on Frans, here are his player ratings for the first two games.....read and weep
The Sharks recorded an opening round victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, leading by 21 points at one stage and then letting it slip and allowing the Cheetahs back in game. Let’s have a look at the individual performances.
1.Tendai Mtawarira – Was good in the scrums, giving whoever was in front of him a lesson. Completely annihilated Coenie Oosthuizen in the second half – 8/10
2.Craig Burden – Formed part of a dominating tight five, but was not as evident in the loose as we have come to expect from him. His line-outs were good, but should improve as the season continues – 7/10
3.Jannie du Plessis – The anchor in this Sharks front row, looked in good shape and one of the better matches from one of the leaders in this Sharks side – 7/10
4.Anton Bresler – A good start for Anton, sporting another classy mullet. The lineouts worked well, but will have to make sure of every call against the Stormers – 7/10
5.Franco van der Merwe – On debut, Franco made his presence felt. Strong in the loose and again, the lineouts were a much improved effort from what we saw last year – 7/10
6.Jacques Botes – I bet he was not expecting to start many games this season, but he took his chance and had a busy game. His work at the breakdown is exceptional – 7/10
7.Marcell Coetzee – Had a good hit out and popped up in the backline for his normal barnstorming runs. Defensively, as good as always, and scored a good team try to boot – 7/10
8.Ryan Kankowski – Was good to see the Hoff back in black and white, but had a quiet game by his standards. He will get used to the pace of the game outside Japan – 7/10
9.Cobus Reinach – Classy little scrumhalf this, his clearance is speedy and he quick to the breakdown. The only thing I would say he has to work on is his kicking from the base – 7/10
10.Pat Lambie – Gave a kicking masterclass, scoring 19 points and winning the man of the match award. Took a massive step towards owning the Springbok 10 jersey – 9/10
11.Lwazi Mvovo – Scored an opportunist try, but man does he have some speed. He seems to have shrugged the ‘lazy’ tag, getting involved and looking for work – 7/10
12.Frans Steyn – Newly appointed captain had little to do with ball in hand, it seemed that he never received a pass. Defensively though, he is a machine. One has to give him credit for pulling his team together and getting the win – 8/10
13.Paul Jordaan – Another speed merchant! This kid sure has the nose for a gap. In an open game, he will be very usefull. Surprised me with his defence, it seems the Sharks have made huge strides towards defending well – 7/10
14.JP Pietersen – A rather quiet evening for JP, not really getting opportunity to run with the ball, and was not called upon a lot to take crash ball either – 6/10
15.Louis Ludik – Good game for Ludik, again, a bit quiet in terms of his usual game, but was there when Goosen or Daniller kicked long – 7/10
Sharks v Stormers
Once again, the Sharks divided opinion in dishing up a performance against the Stormers that fell somewhat short of expectations, yet nonetheless delivered the most important result: four ore log points. While they will concede that they failed to fire on attack against perhaps the best defensive outfit in the competition, there were still areas of the Sharks’ game that stood out as positives. Let’s rate the individuals concerned.
My rating for the team over all this week is something around 6/10, so use that number as the benchmark against which you measure the individuals.
1) Beast Mtawarira. Gave away a few early scrum penalties, but otherwise turned in a virtually flawless display; had both Frans Malherbe and then later Pat Cilliers under huge pressure at scrum time and also made all his tackles count this week. 7/10
2) Craig Burden. Some careless handling, which saw him turn the ball over on no fewer than five occasions, detracted from a fine set-piece display. Burden threw the ball in with precision at line-out time and appears a different player this year when it comes to this particular set piece, which was the Sharks’ downfall in the latter stages of the Currie Cup last year. 5/10
3) Jannie du Plessis. A fine scrumming performance, but perhaps not quite as much of a contribution in open play as we saw from him the week before. 6/10
4) Anton Bresler. Strong on defence as always and sure of his line-out ball, but needs to show a little more in general play than we saw this week. 6/10
5) Franco van der Merwe. Showed up reasonably well in the middle of the line-out against the huge Andries Bekker, but otherwise had a quiet game. 5/10
6) Marcell Coetzee. Another whose hands let him down badly on the night. A fine defensive performance, as always, but much attacking momentum was lost as Marcell committed far too many individual errors. 5/10
7) Jean Deysel. A very good showing from a man who is clearly desperate for regular rugby. Deysel looked like the player of old and used his formidable strength to good advantage. Also a few trademark steals, one of which probably saved a certain try. 8/10
8) Ryan Kankowski. Another good, physical display from Kanko. We’re still waiting to see him get into his running game, but this was not the match for that to happen 6/10
9) Cobus Reinach. A bit of an uncertain display from the scrumhalf, who seemed to struggle a little both in terms of decision-making and execution. He’ll improve with more experience, I’m sure, but my feeling is that Cobus transferred too much pressure onto the rest of the backline by not being clinical enough in what he did. 5/10
10) Pat Lambie. Superb goal-kicking, as always, which spared the Sharks the blushes that many felt were their due. wasn’t quite on song in terms of options, though, with far too much ball being aimlessly kicked away, rather than entrusted to the safe hands outside him. 6/10
11) Lwazi Mvovo. A great game. Concerns over work rate are a thing of the past and Lwazi finally seems comfortable wearing the mantle of one of the country’s finest wingers. 7/10
12) Frans Steyn. A very solid performance, marked by a few brief glimpses of magic. Didn’t have enough ball to be really dangerous, but was a rock on defence and did what he could on attack. Leadership was a step up from last week as well. 7/10
13) Paul Jordaan. Impressed with his defence and showed one or two brief glimpses of what he can do on attack. Needs to improve his options with ball in hand, though, because he doesn’t ever seem able to link up with others once he’s made a break. 6/10
14) JP Pietersen. Little to do on attack, but was composed and assured on defence. Also showed the improvements in his kicking game, which was nice to see. 6/10
15) Louis Ludik. The best “buy” the Sharks have made in recent years, bar none. Ludik remains unflappable and steady on defence and plucked the ball out of the air with consummate ease. Probably the player who came closest to scoring for the Sharks on the day as well. 7/10
