The Sudden improvement in Shark Performancs

Watching the game last night I came to various conclusions.   In the first instance there was a change in the whole approach of the Sharks towards the game and that is the key to be borne in mind.

But let me be straight and made direct comments on the issue.   In the first instance the backline for the first time this year functioned properly.   Bosman was a ten times better player than Francois Steyn was at center and it showed clearly that Steyn was the key to the por backline performance in the past.  

Even when he came off the bench the signs was not at good.   His one good thing was the try he saved.  For the rest he was sub-par.   He had a good run at one stage - but like a headless chicken apparently lost sight of the fact that there are other players in the team to whom he could pass to carry the ball forward - he just got tackled and lost the ball possession.  The other case where he had the ball he made a bad forward pass - not marginally so, but really so far forward it really was a joke.   Maybe playing him at full back may worrk - he is not a center at all.

The other major change was to play Du Toit at lock - he really had an extremely good game and will only develop further during the season.   Also an improvement was replacing Burden - he really is a bad joke as a hooker.  Matter of fact virtually all players coming from the bench showed massive weakening of performances - but I suspect Plumtree thought it was not important and the players he brought on was just experimental and not serious considerations for the future. 

 The biggest change was poor opposition.

Mike you are true to form - as ignorant as ever. Did Bosman play? In a 10 try blitz he was completely anonymous. The guy is not S15 standard end of. Frans showed more enterprise with ball in hand when he came on.

With 2 weeks before their next match, Frans will get fitter and has to be restored back to 12, to replace the ineffective, out of his depth Bosman at 12

Saffex

Bullshit baffles brains once more.  Steyn did one good thing when he came on as full back by preventing the try of the Rebels.   He carried the ball twice when he came on and in the one case he ran like a headless chicken - neither looking to pass the ball to any other player - got tackled and in the process lost possession of the ball.  In the second case he made a forward pass - so far forward that the recipient never got near to catching the ball.

You cannot have him at center - he is clueless in that position and he won't be back in that position at all for the next month.

Bosman distributed the ball very well - something Steyn is utterly incapable of doing properly and he in fact got a good rating all round.    Despite the fact that Lambie was apparently playing a poor game by his standards and was apparently carrying an injurey resulting in his replacement - the backline of the Sharks for the first time this year fubctioned better and performed properly.

Please watch games properly and evaluate outcomes before you make rubbish comments.

Wrong, Bosman went awol in the same fashion de Jongh did for the Stormers and for the Boks against England.

In a game where a side scores 10 tries, you expect your 12 to make some kind of impression. Bosman showed absolutely NOTHING with ball in hand. But having said that, he never disappointed me as I never expected Bosman to show me anything for he is not capable of creating anything as a player - he does not have the skill set to beat players.

As for the Sharks backs functioning better, bullshit - it was the forwards that scored all the tries bar a Reinach intercept, the Viljoen fall over the line and that Ludik try......for the rest Lambie, Bosman, Jordaan, JP and Mvovo featured very little in a dominant display

Frans when he ran at least looked to use the step and swerve, we saw the swagger back and it was good to see. He needs to start at 12, its the easiest decision ever. I would not even have Bosman on my Sharks squad, let alone bench - he is a bog ordinary player, in the same mould as Louis Koen or Braam v/Straaten. Even Morne Steyn is a better rugby player

Jordaan was strangely absent - team has 10 tries and he didn't have any or even any try assists. Don't remember him being involved in any of the movements leading up to the tries either. Had a couple of runs, but there was acres of space in that Rebel defence.

Disappointing. Hope Serfontein gets a full game soon so we can see what he has - may be a good combo for the Boks with JDV at 12.

Spot on Matey....Jean at 12 is the right choice, but 13 is unclear.

Saffex - sorry - but your brain has stopped functionuiing insofar as backline play is concerned - and it got stuck on Francois Steyn - the center who does not remember there ar other backline players ouside of him that also have to get the balls to perform.  

Here is Bosman's stats for the game - since you said he vanished like De Jongh did in the Twickenham game and I will just to prove how impossibly obseessed you are give Jantjies stats as well:-

And now for the De Jongh's stats that you referred to:-

When you make really completely false statements on this site is when I and many others doubt your objectivness in player assessments and your complete prejudice against certain players and adoration of others - who get praised for effectively doing very little  in games.   I am also giving you the stats on Engelbrecht as a starter as well:-

Engelbrecht got the ball 5 times - made one kick, passed the ball twice and carried it twice making 8 meters.  No line breaks - (no defenders beaten) loss pession of the ball twice  - made 5 tackles and missed 2.    If that represents a good performance than your standards for good performance is complete and utter rubbish.   It is effectively a average performance coupled to a serious deficiency in defence.    I checked te stats after seeing his performance with my own eyes and that is after I thought he was deficient in performance - the stats basically confirmed what I saw.  

Mike what part of us telling you, your stupid stats mean absolutely nothing - more so in the way you present them - you really are a laugh.

Bosman did stuff all in a one sided game. Jean was the best of our 12's on the weekend, with Frans Venter and Ebersohn both better than Bosman.

At 13, JJ was our best, he was better than Jordaan, Sadie, de Jongh and Cooke - FACT

You need to find a better source of stats, for whoever compiles the crap you keep quoting, is obviously visually impaired or knows nothing about the game - no wonder you quote these stupid stats so often.

What part of stats provide no context do you not comprehend dumbo?

Mozart

Leet me be quite clear on the issue of Jordaan - I was not satisfied by what he did on Saturday.   For that purpose I am quoting his stats as well:-

 I know he got the ball 3 times during the game from Bosman   Bosman passed the ball 6 times in the match and three of those was to players other than Jordaan.   In the case of the Ludick try Jordaan was used to draw in the defender - leaving space for Ludick to run through and score.  

However, where I though Jordaan did not do well was when Mvovo passed the ball to him and he knockd it on and where he failed to catch the ball kicked towards the end of the game.   He did well when he had the ball in hand and is defence was sound.

I do believe that he is not up to the standard where he was last year and I hope he does show improvement in future.    However, fact is that none of our 13's this year showed anything at all - the best 13 was in fact De Villiers - but that was when he was playing outside of De Allende.

Also I had to look at the other outside centers and they really did squat on Saturday - so my selection was with some hesitation of Jordaan - and I said so earlier.  

@mikey,

the main issue raised by many here was the fact that it was the sharks were facing the rebels, there is a real possibilty of false hope creeping up on the sharks & what makes it worse is they have a bye before the crusaders game, so theres no accurate gauge to see if it was a one trick wonder, an anomoly to a season which has produced results the real bottomline, but not perofrmances. IMO sharkies have been one of the worst top teir teams in the comp at the moment.

du toit was solid, but nothing spectacular, his impact of the bench was more notable IMO. and i think that bressler and van der mewe are a better locking duo. du toit can come of the bench like he has previously and really set things alight.
alternatively, they can move du toit to the no7, but u need keegan, kankowski & coetzee to all play, so thats a real bad selection headache.
for now i would leave him on the bench as he has real impact as an impact player, something that is not common for the majority of all players starting on the bnech.

bosman was good, but when the crusaders come a knocking are u really going to choose bosman over francois steyn??? normally that wouldnt be a tough question, but steyn hasnt been his usual domaint self lately.
i would still pick steyn ahead of bosman, francois will come in handy when crusaders midfeild & lossies look to crash their way over the advantyage line, & most of the crusaders traffic in this regard comes through opposition midfield.

its going to be hard to see what plumtree decides to do next week, but im expecting the crusaders to win and win easy no matter who they pick.
 

Sas, you have to be kidding as you must be taking the piss. Steph du Toit was huge. Bresler has been average all year compared to the impact he made last year and Franco once again was a no shower.

I have read some crap in my time, but your take on Steph du Toit is laughable.

His player rating is 9/10 for good reason and he walks the Rugby 365 side of the week

Sasue

I am with Saffex here.  Du Toit was as far as I am concerned  a huge improvement on bressler and I can see him developing further - After all he is only 20 years of age.

Saffex

Let me be blunt - I saw with my own eyes that Engelbrecht did f#ck all on attack eand was a liability in defence.   Bullshit will always be topmost when you try and rate some players and discredit others.  

Mike your take on any centres play is a load of bullshit. Man you were stupid enough to pick Bosman as our 12 of the week - what a laugh.

I saw JJ play, he was good and the best of our 13's this weekend

Saffex

OK - my take on centers is a load of bullshit - yours is a laugh a minute.   I really laugh out loud when you praise players like Steyn and Engelbrecht who have done very little in playing at center.

At least I was correct in what I wrote about Francois Steyn and that has been proved convincingly since the time when I predicted that Steyn would be  out of contention for selection at 12 in the Rebels game.   It now transpires that Steyn would predominantly be used at full back in future.   He is in fact in third position for selection at 12.   First choice after his return would be Whitehead - second choice Bosman, with Steyn only considered if both Whitehead and Bosman are not availab;e.

With Steyn not playing at 12 for the Sharks - and Meyer no doubt aware of what is happening - there is no hope that Meyer would select him as the Springboks no12.

Engelbreht is best on the wing - not at cente.    That last minute effort by him against the Reds was praiseworthy but he should have at least made an effort to get slightly further in field so as to avoid going out of play.   However, though the effort was not successful - the way he played typified a wing rather than a center,

Laugh a minute - you really are pricelss as the board comedian

Mike stop making it up, the only reason Frans was taken out of the Sharks starting 15, was to give him time to condition himself.

You are lying about where he will play in future. Plum has NOT said he will play at fullback in future, he said in that interview that he may play 15 if Ludik was not fit to play. Part of Frans's contract with the Sharks is that he play mostly at 12.

Frans is the best 12 in the country, once he is fully fit he will return to 12, Whitehead will either play 13 or off the bench and Bosman will fall out of the match 22 as he is the least talented of the lot.

JJ is a good wing, but a better 13, vindicated by the fact that the Bulls play him at 13. Your take on him staying in filed for that try is not only pathetic it again exposes how stupid and ignorant you are.

JJ is a class act and has started the S15 well. This past weekend, he was our best 13 by some distance, given Jordaan did stuff all in a 10 try blitz and we had no shows from de Jongh, Cooke and Sadie - FACT

Saffex

Since you apparently never pay attention to games I am not at all surprised that you miss the following commentby the commentator:-

"and the commentator said that he spoke to John Plumtree who said that Frans Steyn is mostly going to be considered at fullback from now on. "

I did not make it up - what Plumtree said was consistemnt.  He never said anything about Steyn returning to center after he conditioned himself.  He only referred to playing him predominantly at full back   The extract above indicates further confirmation that if Steyn is utilized in future it would be mostly at full back.   That really implies he would only be utilized at center when there is no other centers available to play ahead of him in that position as I understand the situation.

I like your support of Francois Steyn - you are probably his most loyal fan in the world - but he is going nowhere fast on that one.    So start screaming at Plumtree that h is an idiot because Steyn is NOT in th frame to play regualrltyat 12 in future -end ofstory.

As to Engelbrecht - his game is really a shamble of unconcincing ball carries - crashballing - poor defence ( his defence against the Crusaders was a shamble  in th words of the NZ commentators themselves0 and he was poor on Saturday again - 5 tackles made and 2 missed does not repersent anything but mediocre defence..   What made him look good at 13 is really a mystery to me.   However, as you are a magician that canby th wave of his  wand can turn poor play into good play - .I do accept your explanation with a great chuckle.  Please keep it up - the joke is most enjoyable.`

Mike, crap Plum has not said anything about where Frans will play - he is not stupid enough to be in breach of Frans's contract with the Sharks. Frans returned to the Sharks on condition that he play mostly at 12 and its the position Meyer is only going to consider him for.

As for JJ, I watched that Bulls game again and JJ's open field tackles were brilliant. He only missed one tackle, but that was only because he was stepped when he rushed out of the line as he had no defensive support on his inside.

With ball in hand, the first time he ran, he beat the first defender in contact and took the ball forward, the other times he passed, he never kicked the ball once as you said he did and then in broken play he beat Digby on the touch line with a hand off.

Your take on him is just a bunch of lies

Saffex

As a lawyer you should no that any contract of that nature  has performance clauses and the Sharks management and coaching staff will decide whether Steyn has prformed sufficiently or not.   From their statements and actions thus far it is clear they do not accept that Steyn has met requirments at center.   That undertaking to play him at center does not imply that he can under-perform and get away with it purely because it is in his contract with the Sharks.

In the absence of that performance requirement - to be determined not by you or anyone else - the Sharks have the full right to use him anywhere they deem fit to use him.  The Sharks is under no obligation to use him at center on the wishes of Meyer only.   However one thing is abundantly clear - Meyer would know exactly what is happening and secondly - Meyer will not insist on playing Steyn at 12 if his performances in that position are unacceptable by the Sharks.  Similarly there is no way that Meyer would select him automatically at center if the Sharks do not play him in that position.

Now lets get to Engelbrecht.   First you said that Engelbrecht missed no tackles - now you said he missed one.  I believe I saw him doing everything and nothing more than ESPN Scrum said.    Believe me it was also confirmed by Foxsport and Test Rugby.    My suggestion is go and watch the game again - ad the true situation may become a bit clearer to you as well.  Slowly - slowly we are gettin there.  Blinkers off please..  

And that handing off of Ioane - led to what - zilch because he was out of play when he did it .  

Rubbish, players contracts do not contain performance clauses in them. No coach would be stupid enough to say that a certain player was only going to be considered in a certain position moving forward - especially when that player wants to play in a certain position.

Plum will have had no issues with Frans given his first two performances of the year. He then expressed concern with the Sharks performances as a whole after the Kings and Brumbies games. He was specificaly asked about Frans by the interviewer and Plum revealed that Frans was struggling with his fitness.

He said we needed to be patient with him as he is a class act and will get back to fintess shortly given he had already lost 8kg in two months. Meyer has gone on record as saying Frans will only play 12 for the Boks and he sees him as a vital member of his side.

As for JJ, welll I said he did not miss a tackle, because in fact he did not really - as he had rushed out of the defensive line and never got a hand on the player - but it would count as a miss - which I have no issue with. For the rest of his game, his tackling was damn good - he hit the players hard and low, it was textbook stuff.

No one gives a shit about your ESPN stats, we keep telling you that. I watched the game twice, its on Youtube......JJ had a solid game and was easily the best 13 of the weekend. Your boy Jordaan has been a disaster, what was it that you called him in your fantasy side - a complete flop or something to that effect. Next you will be telling me de Jongh, Sadie and Cooke were better than JJ this weekend???????

Saffex

A player contract without conditions as to performnce and behaviour - you really mustt be kidding.   In other words the contractir has no rights and the player all the rights.   Never heard such garbage in my life before.

Bullshit - Plumtre expressed concern about the backline performance after the Stormers game and said tghey are working on it.   So evryone expected a bettr performance against the Kings and it did not really materilise.   It was aftter that that I forecasted that Steyn would b dropped -- but despite all the warning signs that he failed - he was kept in the team for the Brumbies game.

The interview you referred to was after the third disaster against th Brumbies.   You really missed out on the interview after the second game against the Stormers - as per normal you do not like to quote th whole picture.

What Plumtree said about playing Steyn at full back is alo ignored by you - so your whole argument in this case is really funny.

As to your Meyer story - I cannot recollect Meyer saying anything like you mentioned - but even Meyer will not select Steyn if he is not performing and also not if he is convinced that the Sharks had good reason to move Steyn away from 12.

De Jongh was definitely better than Engelbrecht this weekend  -  and Sadie ad Cooke was in any event on par with Engelbrecht.   All four in fact poroduced nothing of note - so you are really talking tripe about Engelbrecht as well.

Mike stop making it up bloody hell you are stupid. A players contract does not contain a performance clause, much like a coaches contract does not.

I know exactly what Plum said in the radio interview, so you can bang on and lie all you want. I also know Meyer is a huge Frans fan and that he has said he will only consider him at 12. Meyer will have no issue with Frans at all, he was damn good in the first 2 games of the season and knows he is a class act who will walk the Sharks side once fit. Plum knows this as well and had said as much, he said Frans had to be patient in getting himself fit and in shape.

de Jongh better than JJ......bwhaaaaahaaaaaaa..........Cooke and Sadie on par with JJ........bwhaaaahaaaaa........you really are as thick as pigshit.