sharks lose jordaan for the super rugby season,,,

The Sharks have been hit again by injury as outside centre Paul Jordaan has been ruled out for the rest of the Super Rugby season due to injury.

Jordaan will be sent home from Sydney Australia after injuring his knee in training at their Manly base in Sydney.

"We're very disappointed to lose Paul Jordaan, he's out for the rest of the season," said Plumtree on the Sharks site.

Plumtree says that their injury list now have 16 players on it and they are now waiting for news on Lwazi Mvovo to see how far he is away and he'll possibly fly over.

"Paul suffered an ACL (knee ligament) injury (6-9 months out). He was playing touch rugby, we were just having a light run, jogging out the jetlag and he stepped, was caught and his knee collapsed. "

"It's a big blow for us, we're all disappointed for Paul and for the team.

"It's the last thing you want, the side is already depleted and to lose a guy in your first training session is pretty depressing, but there's not much we can do."

With Jordaan out, it appears that JP Pietersen could end up playing in the number 13 jersey as he did in their 2012 campaign.

"Hopefully we'll get Lwazi back and there's a possibility of bringing JP back into the midfield, we'll make those decisions once we know the status with Lwazi. "

"We might be forced to play JP in the midfield, it's not his primary position obviously, but he did a good job for us last year with his x-factor."

Plumtree confirmed that the hope is to have Pietersen back from injury for the Highlanders' game next week.

Sharks could sure use some good news.

Interesting the ebb and flow of the season for the SA franchises as the Bulls have recently been bolstered with returning players and players rounding into form, Stormers are also getting key players back and look to make a run, Kings for the first time this year looked seriously outclassed in the competition and Cheetahs run continued strong this past weekend. I think Cheetahs need to beware the Kings this weekend and don't let off the gas as the Kings have shown to be a proud, determined and well-coached side and this could be a classic trap game. Engelbrecht has to start over Watson though, especially at 8.

Funny - ha-ha.   For me as a Shark supporter it is really a tragedy to see hte Sharks backline killed and Steyn is a defnite to do just that.  He did so earlier in the season and he would do so again should Plumtree be forced to select him.

You love the word career-defining - so lets use it here as well.   The career-defining moment for me was last Saturday - when Steyn F#cked up the best try-scoring opportunity they had in th match against the Cheetahs.  But that is a constant with him and we can accept that the Sharks are gone this year to somewhere around 10 position on the log - with a dead backline. 

I think Frans also needs a senior player outside him with clout who will shout and screem for him to pass the ball. 

My only issue with a fit Frans is that he can hog the ball- and in this way the opposition know what to expect- not a pass.

I don't see JP messing around waiting all day for Frans to pass the ball as a dummy support runner. 

Also JP will probably be able to run better lines off Frans to recieve offload passes, and passes in close quarters.

Jordaan may get stronger as he gets older, but at the moment he is more suited to wing where he can use his pace. 

Steyn runs straight at the opposition center in the mistaken belief that he can break his defence.  That never happens and the result is inevotable - anoteher maul and anpother slowly recovered ball.

I am not sure who will be the Chief's centers this week - but the Sharks better hope that Kahui is not one of them.   If he is the poor defence of Steyn as happened  in the Brumbies game would be catastrophic.   I know that the Sharks are in dire straits with the inkury situation as bad as it is - but I cannot see a loss of less than 20 points against the Chiefs - it is probably going to be more like 20 points.     

Like happened in the Brumbies game - Steyn's poor defence cost them about 21 points - since all tackles missed by him ended up eventually as converted tries.   Likely to recur if he is at center.   

As for Fransie/ JP.  naah, been there done that. JP is a wing and Fransie is a fullback. Neither of them have the vision to play centre.

We know what Ndungane, Bosman and co offer. Lets not waste anymore time. We are not going to be competitive enough to win the comp with players like that so lets look beyond them.

In the backline they can play Viljoen at full back and Steyn at 12 - but Steyn is a weak link there.  Even if fit - he hogs possession and cannot read games properly.   They can bring Pieterssen to center and use Ndungane at wing - but he is getting slower and slower.   mvovo is still out as far as I know.    Under those circumstances I agree with you about the younger players - bring them in and see whether they cannot get the backline functioning better - but that would mean a change would have to affect Steyn as well - since any other moves would be worthless otherwise.   They could do te following:-

*   Play Steyn at full back

*   Move Viljoen to flyhalf

*   Play Lambie at 12

And fill the other positions with Pietersen, Mvovo when he is fit again and then use the youngsters mentioned by you. However, in my opinion as long as Steyn stays at 12 - the youngsters would be at a serious disadvantage.  The situation could change with the return of Whitehead - in which event - if I was Plumtree use the following backline:-

15    Viljoen

14   Mvovo

13   Youngster

12   Whitehead

11   Pietrsen

10   Lambie

  9   Reinach

Until Lambie and reinach returns I would use some of the youngsters.

Amongst the forwards the Sharks also have problems.   The injury to Beast was a hard one to take.   I do not think Van Rensburg is an adequate replacement for him.   Jannie is not really up to standard - but they have only used him off the bench in the last two games in any event.   Cooper did very well and can remain as hooker until Bismarck returns.   Howeve,  I think that the problem remains with their locks and loosies.   Albert's return could help - but that remains a problem.   Coezee has been blowing hot and cold - more cold than hot.   Daniel is in the same boat as Coetzee.   The other weak link is Franco,   On the bright side Du Toit is developing well as a lock - where I prefer to see him play.

In essence it is a hard one for Plumtree to face and I think that he will be well-advised to be rathr adventurous and do as you mentioned. 

But for now the obvious solution is to return Frans to 12 where he belongs and move JP to 13. JP is a handful wherever he plays, he will be more so at 13.

I thought he was great at 13 last year and by all accounts Plum is going to move him to 13 and rightly so

There is not anything wrong with Jordaan's defence.   He made 70 tackles thius far in Super 15 and missed 4.  Your issue is with one tackle he missed on Freuan - so one-eyed jack remmebers one missed tackle and forget about the rest.  But those are stats and not favoured by you if it clashes with your ideas.

A center that really should work on his defence is De Jongh - making 24 tackles in total and missing 8 - a miss ratio of 25%.  Same advice for him perhaps?????