Sharks defence heroic, but unsustainable; Planet Rugby

Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold was proud of his side's defensive effort in their win over the Stormers, although he admitted such a shift wouldn't be sustainable throughout the year.

The Stormers dominated possession and territory at Newlands as the Sharks finished with 164 tackles to the Stormers' 101.

“We did substantially more defending, it was just wave after wave of Stormers attack… a really good attack, as well,” Gold said.

“I thought we did work incredibly hard from a defensive point of view and showed a lot of character which I’m very proud of.

“It’s fair to say that we’re not going to be able to go through a season like that… we’re going to have to look after the ball better when we do have the ball and we’re going to have to exit our 22 a little bit better than we did in the first half.”

The foundation for the Sharks' success was build around their competitiveness in the set-piece, holding their own in the scrum and keeping the international combination of Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit quiet at the lineout.

Gold revealed the respect the Sharks had for the Etzebeth-Du Toit combination had been a driving factor for his pack in the build-up to Saturday's derby.

“Respect is a hell of a thing and it brings things out of you, and we respect these two guys,” Gold added.

“Obviously we know Pieter-Steph very well and Eben is colossal.

“One of the things that the Stormers have been so good at in recent weeks is contesting. We had to go to the drawing board.

“Pieter-Steph knows our mentality and Eben is ferocious. We had to think a little bit out of the box. We weren’t pretty, but that’s what you have to do when you’re playing a good team … you need to win possession.

“If they had got the upper hand to on us from a line-out point of view that result would have been very different.”

Well, I guess the good news for the stormers is they had more possession & territory. Finishing must have been a problem. 
Bad news is two of the best locks in SA were out dueled in the line-outs according to Gold anyway. What do the ESPN stats show?

 we have a relatively poor hooker JW. Wee bongi is not up to it.
Also wee Carr and wee kolisi were outmuscled all afternoon. You bcan play one of them but not two against a big pack like the sharks.I forecast that these small players will fade as the season goes on - that includes the midget backline who will get worn down by taking too many knocks against more powerful opponents. hence we need Allende, Du Preez and Van Wyk back.
Cheslin is a classical example of this as he forms  dips as the season goes on. Always has. Play him at scrummie where he belongs! 

 Beeno
I substantially agree with you in this case.  I think the Stormers backline was an easy case to defend against.   Ver maak is way past his best and should not be in the set-up at all.  Coleman is a joke in bad taste at flyhalf and De Jongh is a waste of space at 12.  The latter tried to crashball and not pass the ball - both negatives.  I also have problems with Leyds and Kolbe.
Unless the Stormers restructure their backline on Saturday - it is going to be a mess and a bad one at that.   I would play the following backline against the Brumbies - they cannot be worse than the one used on Saturday:-
15   EW Viljoen14   De Jongh13   Van Wyk12   Kotze11   Zas10   J-L du Plessis9     Groom 
De Jongh is not a 12's a r s e - or perhaps he is - and if he has to play I will put him at 14 and van Wyk at 13.       

 Beeno there's something you need to get into your head. Kolbe can not move to scrumhalf this late in his career, he doesn't know the intricacies of the position and all the finer aspects of scrummie play. Plus can he even box kick? Just because he's small doesn't mean he should be put into that position, typical South African mentality right there and isn't an objective assessment of him as a player. Keep him in the outside backs where he has the ability to use his best assets, it doesn't help the Stormers don't spread the ball any wider than the centers the majority of the time.
 

 Shezza 
My problem with Kolbe is that he started off very well and faded badly since then.  The reason in part is that his style has been worked out by the opposing teams and they have introduced counter-measures which his small size cannot contend with.  I think he should play Sevens rugby - the best he can achieve in rugby.