Lets look at the key issues here. These two teams met in the Pool stages and the Highlanmders had a runaway win against the Sharks in Kingspark and the question remains - who were in teh teams and what will happen on Saturday.
Obviously one cannot say in advance who will be in the strating line upops and on the bench on Saturday. It is not clear at this stage whether for instance Ben Smith would be in teh Highlanders team. He is a key selection for them - without hinm the Highlanders looses a lot of their competitiveness.
The real issue here is - why did the Sharks loose so badly against the Highlanders at Kings Park and who really had a negative impact on the game insofar as vertain selection Sharks players are concerned.
Lets look a the game itself.
Sharks
Swil started as flyhalf and converted 6 penalties keeping the Sharks in the hunt. H was subbed in minute 54 - when the score was 25-18 and replaced at flyhalf by Francois Steyn. The latter caused a major disruption int he Sharks backline by constant kicking after taking over at flyhalf. He for instance caused 3 possession turnovers by kicking balls out of touch directly - he missed to find touch with one penalty kick - he kicked a turnover ball away fromt eh half line over the goal line - where Ben Smith merely dotted down. He added to the problem by missing a tackle that ultimately resulted in a try being scored.
The main problem was the fact that the Sharks backline was totally disfunctional from an attacking perspective - they showed very little in attacking ability. The ball rarely went past the inside backs (10 or 12) and when it did the results were negligible. The result was that the Sharks never came near to scoring a try - even when there were a possibility pf attacking play an aimless kick - fielded by Smith in particular - was always made.
The other problem the Sharks had that day was their defense. It as not so much the total number of tackles missed - but the key tackles missed that let to tries by the Highlanders. The Highlanders scored four tries against the zero scored by the Sharks and all of those were the result of poor tackling by senior players.
The Highalnders
The team played an all-round attacking and fast-moving game that had the Sharks at sixes and sevens - the Sharks just could not keep up with the tempo.
What is to be expected
As stated - this largely depends on team selection. The Sharks forwards are slowly finding their feet and they have a better lock combination than they had on the day in question. Even if Beast is not playing - they have the Du Toit youngster that will be good enough as a loose head prop.
The problem is with their loosies - Alkberts let the Sharks down badly in the previous match and he was not capable to keep pace with the game then played. For instance the tackle attempt of Alberts on Treeby - where Alberts ended up on his backside - was pathetic. Will he be any better on Saturday - I have my doubts.
However, it is the Sharks backline that is really gong to be problematic. There is only one example where the Sharks benefited from a backline attack involving Francois Steyn - ie in the Crusaders game. Whenever Steyn was involved the backline never functioned properly from n attacking perspective. The real problem was Steyn's passing and kicking game. When there were clear overlaps he made skip-passes cancelling out the overlaps or kicked the ball away aimlessly.
On last Saturday the Sharks scored three tries for the first time in weeks. All three tries were scored by backline players - but the irony was that the tries were only scored because Steyn was not involved in the moves at all.
The other problem in the backjline is Pietersen in the no 13 position. Pietersen had some really strong runs since moved to that position - but his defense was not at all sound enough. Analyzing his defense - he was constantly beaten by attacking players and either did not make any tackle or missed tackles far too often.
Can the Sharks win on Saturday?
I think they can - but there are some serious issues to be addressed. This is once again going to be a fast-moving game and
* the Sharks will have to counter that by not playing Alberts as a loosie - he is far too one-dimensional for a game of that nature;
* the Sharks will have to find ways and means to get the ball past Francois Steyn - witout damage being caused by him if they want to have the backline functioning properly; and
* they will have to seriously reconsider and plays Sitohle at 13 and Pietersen at 14 and not the other way around.
If Styn is to play at 12 - then they should move Jordaan - the best defending center in Super 15 this year - to 13. But then the problem remains - how do you get balls past Francois Steyn in the backline to ensure any attacking play at all?
