Two very fortuitous tries were the difference as the better side lost. They showed nothing amongst the backs, were shown up at the breakdown and particularly the counter-ruck. JP's poor defence at 13 was exposed again. On the plus side for them Michalak showed much cunning at 10 and all the other things that Lambie doesn't do. Hope that injury to Tooma isn't too serious.
I think you are abit harsh there Aristokrat - they are touring away from the Republic, they are playing 2hard games in a row, Brumbies have the Home town advantage but yet they won - well done Sharks! I am also spitefully happy the Brumbies lost.
I thought the Shark's deserved the win last week; they played very well despite conceding some soft tries. This week? They were very outclassed. It was supposed to be the Sharks dominating the tackle point and breakdown, but it never happened. Bismarck was supposed to show us why Moz rates him as our best pilfer, it didn't happen, as it rarely does. The Brumbie's made all the play, and even after shifting around after Tooma's injury they still kept coming. Punching massive holes into the Shark's should leave Plum a tad concerned. A key moment in that game was when the Brumbies had a 3v1 overlap that was called back for a forward pass; neither of the two passes even close to being forward. That was where the Brumbies lost it. An earlier lost ball over the line was another let-off. I never saw who did it but a Shark managed to dislodge the ball, some great thinking there. A lot of defenders try to get a hand on the ball carrier by the tryline, but the smarter players like JPP go for the ball. As I say though, there were positives for the visitors. Alberts had a big game and I'm again very impressed with Viljoen. He isn't the most elusive player but most of what he does is good and he has that knack of making telling contributions at key points in the game. I definitely see a bit of test potential there. Congrats to the sharks for the win, but I maintain that it was incredibly fortuitous.
