Sharks vs. Chiefs pre-game articles & discussion

Double injury blow to sharks - Planet Rugby

The Sharks have been dealt hefty injury blows with the news that Cobus Reinach and Philip van der Walt have returned home from New Zealand.

The Springbok scrum-half and hard-working loose forward both suffered injuries in the Sharks' hard-fought 15-14Super Rugby win over the 14-man Highlanders on Friday.

Reinach has picked up a calf injury while Van der Walt looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a neck injury.

Ahead of this weekend clash with the tournament leaders, the Chiefs, Stefan Ungerer and Giant Mtyanda are flying are flying out to join the Sharks on tour and provide back-up.

TKB Latest Chiefs Injury
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Chiefs are missing Lowe, Ngatai and a couple of props besides losing TKB. They will be able to field a decent team but the pack will have its hands full with the Sharks.

F acing a crucial game in New Plymouth against the Chiefs on Friday, the Sharks have lost two key players to injury.

Halfback Cobus Reinach suffered a knee injury in the 15-14 win over the Highlanders in Dunedin while loose forward Philip van der Walt suffered a neck injury.

Both players have returned to Durban. Reinach will be replaced by Stefan Ungerer and van der Walt by Giant Mtyanda.

Meanwhile, after the first tour game loss against the Blues, coach Gary Gold was delighted with his side's efforts to beat the Highlanders.

"The character shown by the guys was huge," he told sharksrugby.co.za.

"We showed incredible fight to hold out for what is a memorable victory over here, a difficult place to come to, especially when they're reigning champions."

The fact they didn't manage to score a try against a side reduced to 14 men for three-quarters of the game when centre Jason Emery was red-carded for a dangerous tackle of airborne fullback Willie le Roux was of concern.

"We're disappointed not to have scored tries, it's something we are going to be putting a lot of time and attention towards," Gold said.

"We had a couple of try-scoring opportunities and a few momentum build-ups that we didn't finish, but the Highlanders are a good defensive team and against a quality team like them, playing at home, keeping them out aside from that one try – which was well taken – was a creditable performance.

"Although we didn't score any tries, there was a lot of intent shown and some fantastic phases we put together. Our confidence is getting there," he said.

"We choose to take a lot of positives out [of the win] but we'll be particularly hard on ourselves for understanding that there are a lot of opportunities for us to improve."

Meanwhile, former Springboks coach Nick Mallett believed Sharks captain and prop Tendai Mtawarira was guilty of harassing the referee during the game.

His constant questioning of Ben O'Keefe and his attitude to yellow cards issued against Stephan Lewies and JP Pietersen was concerning.

"The way in which Beast Mtawarira approached the ref was completely incorrect," Mallett said on SuperSport TV.

"In one instance he actually said: 'It's not fair, it's not fair. You're just trying to even things up'."

Mallett said that was a way of saying the referee was cheating and not being objective.

"You cannot, as a captain, make accusations like that. When I saw where the chat originated from, the scrum had collapsed and Beast's head was in the grass, a penalty was given and a yellow card for JP Pietersen. He didn't even see that JP cynically grabbed a guy's foot and deserved a card. So he comes in and harasses the referee. It's not right," he said.

After an earlier game where coach Gold was fined for approaching a TMO twice during the Crusaders game in Durban Mallett said there was a 'culture of blame' which wasn't wanted in South African teams.

 

 Two teams with walking wounded. Sharks not being able to score tries & now playing the Chiefs who score more tries than any one else in the competition will be a problem. 
Tries:Chief 43Saders 36Cheetahs 32Canes 32Lions 30Sharks not even in the top 10
Chiefs will have to get the ball anyway they can as their pack is depleted & the back- line is missing three quality players.

 Nick please oak you know how much cheating has happened against SA sides so realistically can you blame Beast as the frustrations levels must be huge.
Best just go and flatten the wee chiefies. One hopes the wee chiefies fron row are all wearing corsets! Not that the Sharks scrum is what it was.

"Meanwhile, former Springboks coach Nick Mallett believed Sharks captain and prop Tendai Mtawarira was guilty of harassing the referee during the game". Nick Mallet

 Beeno, you always take the word of Nick as gospel so why not in this case? 

 Chiefs must face another major breakPaul Gregor

Another major injury blow and another business as usual response from the Chiefs.

The Super Rugby leaders will be without Tawera Kerr-Barlow until after the June test window following confirmation the All Black halfback has broken his hand in a random incident in last week's match against the Hurricanes where he accidentally clobbered the back of Aaron Cruden's head.

They will also have to face the Sharks in New Plymouth tomorrow night without back rowers Tom Sanders and Maama Vaipulu and lock Michael Allardice - all of whom are suffering the effects of concussion. Also unavailable are in-form backs James Lowe and Charlie Ngatai.

But it has been a feature of the Dave Rennie coaching era that expectation are not adjusted in the face of injuries.

Several times this year they have had to deal with multiple injuries and yet the quality of their rugby has rarely suffered. The men who come on have all delivered and Rennie is of the view that has to be the case again when they face a Sharks team that will be confident after clinging on to beat the Highlanders last week.

"The positive thing around injury is that more guys get opportunity, it grows your depth, you learn more about individuals, and so on," Rennie said yesterday. "We've got a really good group, hard working. I know we're a pretty young side, but I'm really happy with the effort they put in. We've got a group of leaders who are doing a great job in bringing those young fellas through, they dedicate a lot of time to them outside of training.

"In the end, everyone suffers injuries, and you've just got to get on with it. No one looks back and says you win or lose because of injuries, it's just whether you win or lose. We'll have a reasonable side on the park this weekend and we won't be using injuries as an excuse."

Having already lost another All Black halfback, Augustine Pulu, to a broken arm, the Chiefs have had to call in Kayne Hammington to the bench. But despite being down to their fourth-choice, Kerr-Barlow's injury is likely to have more significance to All Blacks coach Steve Hansen than it does to Rennie.

By the World Cup last year, Kerr-Barlow had established himself as the No2 halfback behind Aaron Smith and was frequently making useful late cameos off the bench. His accuracy and speed of decision-making greatly improved and he was able to inject himself into tests and make a telling impact.

While Kerr-Barlow hadn't been in such rampant form in the early part of this year, he was still expected to feature in the June tests and be involved against Wales. But that won't happen now and arguably that opens the prospect of Kerr-Barlow's Chiefs teammate Brad Weber to further press his claim with the national selectors.

Weber has been in compelling form for the Chiefs and his running game, especially, has been prominent. Blessed with incredible pace and acceleration, Weber has been able to spark the Chiefs into some of the best attacking rugby the competition has seen in years. He's been keeping Kerr-Barlow on the bench in recent weeks, which is also why the Chiefs will feel they can continue to perform the way they want despite injuries.

Senior players such as Brodie Retallick, Aaron Cruden and Hika Eliot will be expected to help Rennie hammer home that message and ensure that the Chiefs capitalise on their "home" advantage.

 Weber is very impressive  but the bench 9 will be exposed far more now that TKB is out. Chiefs should do fine but they are facing their challenges.
will TJ be the backup 9 for the ABs or will weber put some heat on him?

 Preview: Chiefs v Sharks; Planet Rugby

The home side are the form team in the competition and showed in their 28-27 victory over the Hurricanes last weekend that it will take a special effort to beat them.

Their attacking play has been superb throughout the campaign and despite losing experienced campaigners like Sonny Bill Williams and Liam Messam to the All Blacks Sevens side they have found capable replacements in players like Seta Tamanivalu and Taleni Seu, who have come to the fore with some superb performances.

Another player, who has played phenomenally well is full-back Damian McKenzie. The 21-year-old has an excellent skill-set and is one of the tournament's leading goalkickickers.

But despite, the emergence of up-and-coming stars like the abovementioned trio, it's experienced campaigners like co-captains Sam Cane and Aaron Cruden, who have been at the forefront of the Chiefs' superb form.

Despite being burdened with their captaincy roles, both players are in excellent form and will look to continue where they left off against the Hurricanes in this fixture.

The Sharks claimed a valuable 15-14 victory over the Highlanders in Dunedin but despite that result, they have received plenty of criticism for their dour style of ply which has seen them scoring just 14 tries in eight matches.

By contrast, the Chiefs have scored a whopping 43 tries after the same number of matches. The Sharks' defence has been impressive this season but one feels that that won't be enough to be victorious against the attacking prowess of this Chiefs side, who are particularly lethal in counter-attacking situations.

The last time these team met:  The previous match-up between these sides was a close affair which the Sharks won 12-11. Hookers Hika Elliot and Bismarck du Plessis and Sharks centre Frans Steyn were all red carded in separate incidents inside the first half-hour in a drama-filled encounter. Sam Cane scored the only try of the game in the first half via a rolling maul. Pat Lambie scored all the Sharks points, via four penalties, and the Chiefs' other points were scored by Aaron Cruden, who succeeded with two three-pointers from the kicking tee.

Players to watch: Although his more experienced counterpart Tawera Kerr-Barlow is sidelined through injury, one-cap All Black Brad Weber has made the Chiefs' number nine jersey his own this season. Weber provides a crisp service to his outside backs and his sniping breaks makes him a potent threat on attack.

First-choice captain Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira had a meltdown against the Highlanders last weekend – when he questioned a decision made by referee Ben O'Keefe – and has paid the price as he was subsequently dropped for this encounter. This means that there will be plenty of pressure on new skipper Keegan Daniel. Although Daniel has captained the Sharks in the past his leadership skills will be in the spotlight while he is also expected to play a big role in the battle at the breakdown with Chiefs counterpart Sam Cane.

Team news: Chiefs head coach Dave Rennie has made five changes to his run-on side. In the forwards, hooker Hika Elliot and Japan Test prop Hiroshi Yamashita come in to the starting XV while Dominic Bird returns from injury to partner Brodie Retallick in the second row and Taleni Seu is promoted from the reserves to start on the blindside flank. There's just one change in the backs with Anton Lienert-Brown returning from injury to start at inside centre.

Sharks boss Gary Gold has rung the changes to his starting line-up. Cobus Reinach is out through injury which opens the door for Michael Claassens. Likewise, with Philip van der Walt having returned home from tour, Daniel du Preez reverts to the number eight position. Up front, there is a new front row with Dale Chadwick replacing Tendai Mtawarira, Franco Marais making way for Kyle Cooper and Lourens Adriaanse and Coenie Oosthuizen swapping jerseys.

Form: The Chiefs have won seven from eight matches this season and beat their neighbours, the Hurricanes 28-27 in what was arguably the match of Round Nine. The Sharks claimed a morale-boosting 15-14 victory over the defending champions last weekend after losing their three previous matches against the Crusaders, Lions and Blues.

Prediction: The Sharks' triumph over the Highlanders would have boosted their confidence but they face a formidable Chiefs side, who have the ability to score tries from anywhere on the field. Chiefs to win by 12 points.

Previous results:

2015: Sharks won 12-11 in Durban
2013: Chiefs won 37-29 in Hamilton
2012: Chiefs won 37- 6 in Hamilton
2012: Chiefs won 18-12 in Durban
2011: Chiefs won 15-9 in Hamilton
2010: Chiefs won 19-18 in Durban

The teams:

Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Toni Pulu, 13 Seta Tamanivalu, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Sam McNicol, 10 Aaron Cruden (cc), 9 Brad Weber, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane (cc), 6 Taleni Seu, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Mitchell Graham
Replacements: 16 Nathan Harris, 17 Siate Tokolahi, 18 Kane Hames, 19 James Tucker, 20 Lachlan Boshier, 21 Kayne Hammington, 22 Andrew Horrell, 23 Shaun Stevenson

Sharks: 15 Willie Le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Garth April, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Keegan Daniel (c), 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Dale Chadwick
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Jean Deysel, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 Joe Pietersen, 23 Odwa Ndungane

 There you have it, the prediction is Chiefs to win by 12. Its the Sharks defense against the Chiefs offense, I know what I would pick... Go Chiefs!
We will see how this patched up Chiefs team will do, we still have McKenzie,  Cruden, Weber & Seta who have real fire power/guile. I would expect the Sharks forwards to be tough & the Chiefs had their struggles in the pack against the Canes so we will see how that goes. Chiefs have some decent forwards, Elliot,  two really good locks (Bird, Rettalick) & Seu is emerging as a good player. Cane is Cane & will do the grunt work in terms of strong defence & Leitch will be outstanding once again. We will have to see how the two locks do.
Overall the Sharks approach of trying to win in the forwards & accumulating penalty kicks will not be enough to stop the Chiefs try scoring machine.

 This article shows that the Chiefs have racked up some amazing stats but we all know the wheels can fall of at any time. Canes looked fantastic last year only to lose the the Landers.
2016 Chiefs amazing stats

JW, none of your articles address the real issue for Friday's game . . . if the Chiefs scrum gets demolished this week in the same way the Hurricanes demolished them, will they cheat and fake an injury again to enforce uncontested scrums?

That's the real question which I see you have conveniently avoided.

 Well rumour has it several of the props have slight back twinges going into this game so we will have to see.
I notice that the Tokolahi is on the bench so they may call upon his "experience".
We may never know what happened in reality as there was not sound for the discussions between the coach and the trainer and the trainer and Toholahi.