The Sharks nobble becomes epic

 We need Fransie back big time, I think Lambie and Fransie will hopefully make a big difference to our team. 

Haven't seen the game yet, but Esterhuizen tackle count was 2/8 ? Eina.

The Sharks started the year with thoughts of playing expansive rugby...whereas their MO  has always been bruising tough rugby. Jake got that, and built a successful campaign using their points of competitive advantage.

But then a consensus formed among foolish Sharks fans that Lambie , Reinach, Coetzee, Stephanie and Jordaan gave them the basis to play expansive rugby. RooiAAs and Moronic were frothing at the mouth about Jake!
It was never going to happen,but the Sharks leadership bought into the fantasy in the quest to be popular. They deep sixed Jake and started a vicious downward spiral. 
Now the penny is beginning to drop that guys like Coetzee are very one dimensional.

It was a fools errand from the beginning. This thing needs rebuilding, unfortunately all the real talent....Beast, the du Plessis brothers, Frans....Alberts are late in their careers.
So a lot of money will have to be spent.

Esterhuizen is another myth where Jake had it right....shifting this slow footed player to flank. It was there for all to see in the Junior WC final, where Esterhuizen was easily beaten for a decisive try.
You can't play top level centre defence with no speed off the mark.  

 Jake White supported Esterhuizen, he started him and played him for the full 80 of a pre-season match. The reason why he played flank is because he was the best suited size wize for the Sharks Vodacom cup team to play there as they had an injury crisis there. I'm not a fan of Esterhuizen and I think he needs to improve big time, but don't twist stories for your suiting.

 The Sharks has more problems than they have potential solutions and the return of Fransie and Deysel would not solve anything.   The players they really miss are Lambie, Jordaan and Du Toit.
So lets start and look at the problem areas:-
Full Back  -  Ndungane is no full back and the sooner they find a reasonable full back the better it would be for the team.   He was constantly out of position and his kicks were almost all aimless allowing counter-attacks from the opposition.
Centers   -   The  present center pairing is a joke in bad taste.  Pietersen is too slow to be an outside center and his ball handling is poor as well.   His ball carries was non-existent and his defense was wicked - missing two of five tackle attempts (a 40% missed tackle ratio) .   There is only one consolation for him - and that is the defense of Esterhuizen was non-existent (making two tackles and missing 8) and his ball handling was as bad as well.    Would the slower Fransie have made a difference in defense and attacking play - and the answer is not bloody likely.   Fransie routinely had a missed tackle ratio of 28% this year - 26% last year.   That was consistently worse than Esterhuizen's  defense was up to today.   It would not be possible to be worse in defense than Esterhuizen was today - but Fransie would give that one a good go.
Flyhalf    -    Both Zeilinga and Steyn has the same problem - aimless kicking straight into the hands of waiting recipients.   That said - Zeilinga is nothing more than a Vodacom Cup player and they are in serious trouble without Lambie.   Steyn's kicking game was viciously poor last year - aimless and mostly resulting in loss of possession - so the Sharks really need a player at flyhalf that can read games and dictate the play of the backline.
Locks    -  Lewies tried his utmost - but of the Tight 5 only Bismarck, Beast and him could be rated as acceptable.  The geriatrics are not up to standard.
I think it is time to call up Jordaan and Fisher at center and forget about the players who thus far played at center.   They are hopeless beyond redemption. 
The problem is the Sharks Bench is hopelessly inadequate.   They need an adequate outside backline player, and a back up flyhalf and back-up scrummie.  Their loosies are slow - but in tight play adequate.   Against a team spreading the ball wider - they are totally inadequate and of little use.   
They are in serious trouble insofar as locks are concerned.  I would not think that it would help much as long as they have to use the two geriatrics.   They should rather use Oosthuizen as a lock and Bothma at 7 - but their problem remains, there loosies are just to slow to be really acceptable.   At present their loosies are just carrying the ball a few meters and the chances of losing possession after those few meters are higher than acceptable.
Then their props - other than Beast.  Du Plessis is way past his sell-by date and Stevens is an insult.  Adriaanse is a Vodacom Cup level prop - Du Toit will be away for the rest of the season doing Under 20 duties.   A pretty hopeless situation to be in.
The Sharks will have to start a rebuilding programme this year and to recover from the Shocking player situation prevailing at present will take time.  The useless must be faced out and the list is long.                            

 Jake was bloody hopeless in selecting Francois Steyn - the latter destroyed whatever remained of the Sharks backline.   At center he was absolutely hopeless in attacking play and his defense was wicked.  At flyhalf his aimless kicking was an insult and he managed to kill potential overlaps by skip passes, plainly kicking balls away aimlessly or just  plain  ineffective ball-hogging.   He beat all Super 15 backline players by losing ball possession 32 times - a sick record at best.   Those are facts confirmed by stats.
Lets face facts the problems of the Sharks started when Smit took over as Sharks CEO.  His decision to fire Plumtree was wicked - Plumtree has shown subsequently how good a coach he really is when coaching in Ireland and and at the Hurricanes.   Venter and Smit brought in their chommies and White did nothing to improve the player situation at the Sharks.   Matter of fact is he made it worse by displaying favouritism and causing decay in the team spirit.  
The list of dubious players are long and in any rebuilding they will have to rid them of the following:-
Pietersen, Ndungane, Murray, Steyn, Cronje, Hofman, Alberts, Botha, Wentzel, Jannie, Adriaanse and Stevens - to start with.                

Jake White selected him for the 2014 Super Rugby squad, of course he supported him. With the pressure that was on Jake White to deliver he took a very conservative approach, played Fransie at 12 with Lambie at 10 and when Lambie got injured it made Esterhuizen's chance of playing even less likely.  
Yes you are twisting the story, the reason for Esterhuizen playing Flank was published and now you're trying to give a complete different explaination to endorse your opinion. 

 Shezza
You are dealing here with a twisted individual and disagreeing with him is useless.  Esterhuizen played in one game as a loosie and now suddenly it was career-defining.
I obviously was shocked by Esterhuizen's performance today - but he was by far not the only seriously-deficient player today - the list is long.      

To be honest I don't give a flying fig what either you or Moronic think Shezza....if Jake rated Esterhuizen he would have at least given him significant bench time.  Two  losers having a hissyfit. 
And as usual Shezza you have your facts wrong...he was first selected at flank for the U 21 team

The Cell C Sharks Under 21s

15. Timothy Swiel
14. Alcino Izaacs
13. Nukululeko Marwana
12. Gareth Miekle (C)
11. Alrin Eksteen
10. Brendon Cope
9. Dylan Marcus
8. Jean Pretoruis
7. Andre Esterhuizen
6. Barend Potgieter
5. Sias Koen
4. David Fisher
3. Bartholemew le Roux
2. Jacques Taylor
1. Matthew Jones

 If you're going to try and swerve away from the true reason why Esterhuizen was selected at flank by debating which competition it was in, then it goes to show that your argument is weak. 
I doubt Jake White would have given any 20 year old center gametime last year, Lambie's injury really put him into a conservation mind set.

And because Fransie was a makeshift flyhalf Jake White would never in a million years put a rookie outside of him. 
Swiel was the natural successor to Lambie... Not Esterhuizen... 

You're also forgetting the other centers that were ahead of Esterhuizen, like Jordaan and Whitehead.

Swiel was a 20 year old....you claimed Jake wouldn't play a 20 year old. Best thing you can do now is be a good loser. 

We're talking about Esterhuizen remember? 
Difference is that Swiel had Frans Steyn in his best position outside him and the settled and the experienced Mcleod inside him. Esterhuizen would have had Fransie at flyhalf , where he is abysmal at, and Sithole who was playing his first season of Super Rugby at outside center.  

 The same Jake White who played a 19 year old in a RWC final..........

You're purposefully ignoring some glaring facts, Jack White had a settled team of the best players in the world for the RWC, at the Sharks he had a far weaker squad where it's dangerous to blood new players.
Cling to that reason for dear life why don't you, your wilful ignorance is exasperating to debate with. 
"Unprovoked attack"?
How is this an attack? I started debating with you, none of my comments had any jibes compared to you
"Fool""Chump""Losers having a hissy fit"
If you can't debate with class then there's the door mate.

You have to love how Moronic....devious old political schemer.....never even mentions Alberts in his long description of what was wrong with the Sharks. No concession he had a decent game....just dishonest, cowardly silence. Why? Because these were Alberts Stats for today:

 

8Alberts0/000/7/11231530 11/11/000/0

 

 

One clean break, 5 tacklers beaten, three offloads, 11 out of 12 tackles made and a lineout taken. 

 

 

It always amazes me when people are so bitter and twisted that they can't process facts. But here you have a live example. To o twisted to be honest.

With class? Debated? "Twist stories for your own suiting " isn't opening a debate, it's accusing another poster of lying.  You got what you deserved.  

An accusation is more a criticism, I'm still being respectful, your little jibes on the otherhand are not...

 Stupid old piece of BS.
I never mentioned any loosie - other than to state clearly that the Sharks have three loosies who have the same quality - way too slow to be playing as loosies.   They are acceptable around the fringes - but for the rest they are not capable with dealing with a team that takes the ball wide.   They are also suckers for punishment insofar as ball protection and recovery are concerned.     Alberts may be better as a lock - where he can make carries of the magnitude mentioned.   Two of his eleven carries resulted in the line break mentioned and four defenders beaten - but even those carries ended up in another maul.   The rest of the carries ended up with a meter gain of less than a meter. 
However, fact remains.  A team can afford to have one slow loosie out of 3 loosies.   Three slow loosies together represent a disastrous situation.   

Just two twits in a hole digging....no need for any further comment.

 Just a village idiot that cannot find adequate supporting info to deal with issues on a sound basis - so he runs off like the coward he really is.

Whatever Moz... 
I do wonder what would have been had Vorster been picked for the U20 WC instead of Esterhuizen, probably would have won it.

 Our teams can run the ball and ceratinly mch more than we do. The Lions and Cheetahs
have proved this comprehensively. We need a balance between power rugby and atacking finesse. We are very capable of both.Jake likes first to ghet basic disciplines like set piece, fitness and defence in place. Then to move on to the more creative aspects of play. Proof. Witness how he saw the need to employ Eddie Jones. He won the RWC with a side capable of palying total rugby.
The oaks dont realise Jake was only in phase one and building a winning culture and getting the basics right. Jake is a bit too deep for ou snapster, ou maaaikie and rooitwit to follow.