Guru’s take on the game:
The B&I Lions in summation, had a terrible first half. They ended up pulling it together from the 46th Minute onwards. They looked very rusty, uncoordinated and got easily frustrated at the breakdown where only in the second half, did they manage to clean out their opponents effectively.

All I can say is, IF the Lions are to beat the Boks, they will need to get to the breakdown quicker and clean out more effectively. I also felt that they rushed to pass the ball out to their backs so much so that they ended up being predictable. The Sharks were not committing men to the ruck or maul and would just shut down the Lions backs. The most disturbing thing for me was the fact that the Lions camped in the Lions 22 for the 1st 20mins of the game and yet came out with naaathing. If that had been against the Boks, the Lions would have gone to the break at least 15 points down coz their first half performance was bad.

And to cap it off, my favourite moment of the match was when the great BOD intercepted a pass from just inside his own 22 and against the run of play, he set off on a “try scoring mission under the posts” and by the way Ron, the Sharks players were running towards the Lions tryline and were in a good position to score so you can imagine how focused they would have been on shipping it wide. Anyway, BOD gets the ball and sets off, and the unknown, unheard of Sharks academy youngster Mvuvo (don’t even know his first name) who is easily the 5th or 6th choice winger at the Sharks stops in his tracks, turns around and starts chasing BOD. Ron, I am not exaggerating, this boy literally REELED IN BOD and this was 10 metres from the tryline. So in other words, BOD was given at least a 10metre head start in a 70metre dash (i.e from 22 to 10m from try-line) and he still lost the race. This is meant to be one of the best centres around? A centre being caught by a 6th choice winger in a 70m dash WITH A 10M headstart???????????????????????

Ah gents, the boks are ready for you Lions……………………..

Manny’s response:
Lions saw flames again at the breakdown in the first half. That’s why they couldn’t turn all that pressure into points. Each time they got into the red zone the Sharks would turn the ball over and clear it. I don’t agree about them looking rusty and uncoordinated Guru, the problem would be that the Lions would get frustrated at breakdown which would k.o their attack.

And yes Guru, BOD was reeled in! But his game has never been based on blistering pace. And whether or not he is 6th choice wing has no bearing on how quick the lad will be. Kash played thugs rugby but was quick enuff to push Charlton for 80/85 metres! Speed and rugby ability do not go hand in hand! And what did Phillips do to the Sharks right winger?? Left him for DEAD..a scrum half leaving a winger in his dust…the same way Byrne left Tier-blanche for dead!

Once the Lions sorted out the issue at the breakdown in the second half they annihilated the Sharks and if they bring that second half performance against the Boks then Boks are in trouble Guru! Turnover/breakdown is Lions Achilles heel but they are ironing out that issue! What are Boks gonna do to iron out the scrum,fly-half and fullback problems?

Notice how O’Gara used the kick option into space quite often. This was against Terblanche and how many times did those kicks cause problems? Imagine now with sumone who isn’t familiar with positioning at full-back i.e. Steyn/Rose? It could be a party.

Guru, the Lions are ready for the Boks. Wallace’s second half performance was quite encouraging. The match against WP will be a very good warm up for the Boks cos of Watson.

Ron….lets get ready to Rest these Boks!

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For those of you who watched the Cheetahs beat the Sharks on Saturday, you will recall the try Jongi Nokwe scored. Jongi broke down the wing and had a clear run to the try line from the half way line but Sharks, 8th man, Ryan Kankowski chased Nokwe and actually caught the winger and got a hand full of Nokwe’s shorts but somehow Nokwe broke free from Kanko’s grip and continued on to score the try. What was amazing was seeing a Springbok winger have a foot race against a Springbok number 8 and the number 8 caught the winger! Not many people would think that a loose forward could catch a winger. What is interesting is that many have said Jongi is one of the quickest wingers in the game today but Kanko made light work of catching him. The question: Is Jongi not as quick as we think or is Kanko just amazingly quick (as quick as a winger)? Let’s not forget Kanko is much bigger, physically than Nokwe. Consider this (these are stats taken from Wikipedia); Kanko is 106kg and 1.93m tall and Jongi is 84kg and 1.84m!

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I know Guru is going to have a field day with this post! The Cheetahs beat the Sharks on Saturday 31-6. Now that is not a narrow victory, that is a thumping if you ask me! No one, gave the Cheetahs any hope going into this game, after all the Cheetahs had not won a single game all season and they were up against what many think is the best team in the Super 14 this season. The question is: What is wrong with Sharkey (The Sharks)? They have lost twice this season, first to the Reds and now the Cheetahs. Both the Reds and the Cheetahs are probably two of the weakest teams in the Super 14 and the Sharks go and loose to them! I boil it down to one simple fact, the Sharks were too complacent both times. I hear that they only arrived in Bloemfontein on the Saturday of the game when they should actually have arrived on the Friday to prepare for the game. They thought it was going to be a walk in the park but it was not meant to be! Sharkey needs to wake up soon or else they will be in trouble!

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If there is one player who should never play at flyhalf it is young Frans Steyn. The guy has bags of talent but he looks out of his depth when called upon to be a flyhalf. We all saw his nightmare when called to fill in the number 10 role for the Springboks in 2007 against the All Blacks in Durban. At that time, Jake White said Frans will not play at number 10 again because he needs space and you rarely get much of it at number 10. Then Steyn was flyhalf again for the Barbarians last year and what another disaster. He had a bad game. And now he has to fill the role for the Sharks now that Ruan Pienaar is injured.

We saw Steyn’s performance on Saturday against the Reds when he moved into the flyhalf position when Ruan got injured. Yet again, another disaster by Steyn at number 10. The guy is a center or for me his best position is at fullback.

I am now worried about the Sharks if they are going to rely on Steyn being their flyhalf. They must be wishing they had Butch James to call upon. With the Sharks facing the Force this weekend in Perth, it may not be a guaranteed Sharks win as many my predict. Steyn will be up against Giteau who many say is the best flyhalf in the game today. I got a feeling the Force could just edge this one simply due to the fact that Steyn is at number 10.

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Clearly the biggest shock of the Super 14 this season happened on Saturday morning when the Sharks took on the Reds in Australia. Virtually no one gave the Reds a chance. Looking at the Super Bru predictions, I think only 6% of everyone who plays Super Bru picked the Reds to win. I will not lie, I never saw this one coming. Credit fully goes to the Reds. People are talking about the Reds playing entertaining rugby this season and hats off to them for not trying to change their game plan. There is a belief about the Reds this season that this brand of rugby their playing will bring great results for them. Confidence must now be sky high in the Reds camp following this win over the Sharks.
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The Sharks have finally named their starting XV for the big one against the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday. Many of us had thought that we would be seeing the Springbok frontrow for the Sharks but there are some changes. Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira is not fit for the game on Saturday having suffered a sternum injury and his place at loosehead prop goes to Deon Carstens. John Smit will start the match at the hooker position ahead of Bismarck du Plessis who is slowly coming back from injury and only finds himself on the bench. Jannie du Plessis completes the Sharks frontrow. The Sharks backline virtually picks itself but it will be interesting to see the Pienaar - Steyn combination at work. Even more interesting will be seeing Steyn going head to head with Jean de Villiers.
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We are only a few weeks away from the start of the 2009 rugby season. The Super 14 kicks off February 13 and many in South Africa will be wondering who out of their 5 franchises will be capable of going all the way this year and winning the Super 14. It is no secret that ever since Super Rugby has started, South African teams have not done as well as the New Zealanders or Australians. This year could be different as the Australasia teams are not looking that great, on paper that is, and the New Zealand teams loosing a lot of players to Europe. This may just be the perfect time for South African teams to start making a mark on Super Rugby.
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