Terribale News- Keegan Daniel injured his knee while Tim Whitehead has a suspected broken arm.

The Sharks scored 11 tries on their way to beating the Leopards 71-8 in a Super Rugby warm up match at Woodburn Stadium in Pietermaritzburg on Friday.

The Sharks ooutscored the Leopards by 11 tries to one but the victory may have come at a cost as captain Keegan Daniel injured his knee while Tim Whitehead has a suspected broken arm.

The Sharks were in control of the match throughout and led 31-3 at half time.

The second half started slowly for the Sharks but they soon found their feet again and scored 40 points in the half.

The match was the first of two friendlies for the Sharks in their preparation for the Super Rugby season and the second is against the Pumas in Durban next week.

The Sharks start their Super Rugby campaign in Bloemfontein against the Cheetahs on February the 23rd.

Final Score Sharks: 71 (31) Leopards 8 (3)

Scorers

Sharks
Tries: Pat Lambie, Jacques Botes (2), Odwa Ndungane, Tera Mtembu (2), Lwazi Mvovo (2), Jean Deysel, Frans Steyn, Allan Dell 
Conversions: Pat Lambie (5), Meyer Bosman (2)

Leopards
Try: Elardus Venter
Penalty: Johnny Welthagen

Teams

Sharks

1. Allan Dell , 2. Kyle Cooper , 3. Wiehahn Herbst , 4. Pieter-Steph du Toit , 5. Franco van der Merwe , 6. Jacques Botes , 7. Jean Deysel , 8. Lubabalo Mtembu , 9. Charl McLeod , 10. Patrick Lambie , 11. Lwazi Mvovo , 12. Francois Steyn (Captain) , 13. Tim Whitehead , 14. Odwa Ndungane , 15. Riaan Viljoen

Replacements :16. Craig Burden , 17. Tendai Mtawarira , 18. Jandre Marais , 19. Anton Bresler , 20. Keegan Daniel , 21. Cobus Reinach , 22. Meyer Bosman , 23. Paul Jordaan , 24. Louis Ludik

Leopards

To follow.

My team will be in the final and win it - so please dream on.

THE SHARKS ARE ALWAYS THE BEST

I think the Sharks finished last years SuperXV as the form team in the tournament. The Chiefs were the most consistent through out the competition, but no many would argue that at the end of the tournament when the Sharks had a full strength team and played into form, that the Sharks were the better team.

for me kegan daniels is what i call a high school captain, a captain in name alone. i have never seen any real leadership qualities from him the entire spXV season.
the qualities i like from a captain is someone that inspires with his presence alone and comands respect as soon as he enters a room. naturally he needs to be a very good player which daniels ticks off the list and has to be able to challenge his teammates and the officials, when his teams backs are to the wall and are in need of some guidance.
ive never seen daniels do any of this, all i see is a player who plays well, but his perforamnce is hardly awe ionspiring stuff, its just adequate.
in the match against the chiefs in the finals, i saw daniels do one thing other then play, he asked the ref if there was obstruction when kane thompson scored his try from the scrum, other then that u wouldnt have ine iota of a clue that daniels was captain unless u saw the team roster.
i could see ruan pienaar making a decent captain, but of course his shark playing days are done and dusted,,,at least for the moment.

"but no many would argue that at the end of the tournament when the Sharks had a full strength team and played into form, that the Sharks were the better team"
i would argue that, sharks had a very good run, but the crusaders end of season run was just as good as the sharks and it included beating the chiefs in hamilton, and beating the chiefs is something the sharks havent done in two years.
also improtant to note that in both the chiefs matches against the sharks in durban and hamilton, the chiefs wernt at full strength either.