Save the best for last…

So many reasons to be hoogs die moer in on this Monday. Not cutting any short cuts, so let’s get down to the Doosie of the week:

In my opinion, regarding the team itself, there is two nominations for the award. And I can hear Couch Critic saying I have something against them, so this week will have a Shared Doosie….

Dale Chadwick: Had a solid game in the scrums but his handling needs work. The young prop has the potential to one day take over from Beast but he needs to learn how to catch a ball. Lost it at a crucial time on attack.

Keegan Daniel: Ja, I will say this once again: He lacks the leadership to captain a side like the Sharks. The Sharks has had some great captains over the years and comparing yourself to them will only make your job more difficult. Not to mention his 3 knocks early in the game.

I would also question John Plumtree. He took off his best player (Meyer Bosman) to put on Marius Joubert, now I am sorry but Joubert was great in 2004, he was great in 2010 in France, but this is a whole different ball game. I am sorry but he either needs to put more faith in Paul Jordaan or bench a extra forward.

Then there was “that” deliberate knock when the try line was looming. I will never forget when it happened two years ago and Kurtley Beale did the same, to be sent off with a yellow but the Sharks never recovered from that game. I think the inconsistency of the refs was once again put under the spotlight, especially after Kaplan and Bryce was removed from the IRB “elite” list of referees.

My yster is none other then former Free State player Meyer Bosman. Set up the first try, was prominent and strong on attack and defence and actually makes a decent pairing with Whitehead who is also coming into his element. One feels that he will be hard done when JP Petersen comes back this weekend against the Brumbies but I would give JP 60 minutes and either sub him or move him to the wing to accommodate Bosman. Well done lad.

On a Tech note:

So with the Ipad 3 announced a few weeks ago, it’s predecessor has been greatly reduced in price and is flying off the shelves. I have been trying to get my hands on one for the last week now, considering that I fly a lot, the use of it is endless. After being bullshited by Incredible Connection, I hope that my last real chance lies with another Apple reseller in Cape Town, Digicape. If there is any fundi’s out there, let me know your thoughts on the unit, how well does it compare to the Galaxy, Motorola or Blackberry playbook.

Cheers.

PS: Saturday is a day many Saffa’s has been waiting for, especially all the ladies….and off course Wynand Olivier as the Bulls will show off their away kit for the first time….Pink for Pink…jeerrre meisie.

So last year I took a trip to Durban, not my first, but my first at visiting my team play against the Bulls. It took some time to plan and get everything together. Firstly booking plane tickets is a fairly easy process. Then for the accomodation….was another fairly easy process.

With spending money sorted only one thing still loomed, buying tickets for the actual game. This proved a nightmare, imagine me coming so far, only to be told that it was sold out. I had quite a few nightmares and woke up many times at night with that single thought hovering in my head.

About 3 weeks before the scheduled game I contacted the stadium to ask whether there was any way which I could secure seats. I was met by a dude that clearly lacked any form of enthusiasm and was directed to Computicket, which, lets be honest, don’t give out the best seats in the house. At that time the Computicket allocation was not even available on the net, which caused some more headaches.

Exactly a week before taking off, I thought of possible solutions. I contacted some of our suppliers, wondering whether they had no tickets available, or even tickets for sale which I would gladly purchase to which their reply was a very grief struck NO. I then phoned one of my colleagues at our Durban Branch and he gladly went to the stadium to buy the tickets himself, to which I reimbursed him on me arriving at my hotel.

What I learned from this valuable lesson is that Kings Park has a very old and outdated ticketing system, and this is just one reason (ok in my opinion) the biggest reason why stadium attendance is so low, also considering that the Sharks enjoy a large support base and that Durban is a very popular tourist destination.

So the Sharks came to Cape Town. We had a few box tickets, and Railway stand tickets given by a very friendly supplier. We however on the Thursday needed 3 extra tickets as more passengers decided to embark on the trip to Newlands. I went onto the web and found that “Ticketpros” was selling all tickets online. It was such a easy buy, you could even choose your seating, much better then Computicket. I read that the Bulls also recently started the service and that TicketPro’s are currently busy negotiating with other Unions…

I do hope and pray the Sharks is one of them. Because when I should visit Durban again, I want to first purchase my tickets and not the other way around.

Cheerio

REM

Follow me on Twitter @Sharkie187

With the Lions and Bulls enjoying a bye, it was left to the Stormers, Sharks and Cheetahs to keep the SA flag flying high, all three playing against overseas teams.

The Stormers kicked off the weekend against the Blues and eventhough they didn’t manage to get the full 5 points, it was still a very good game for the men of Cape Town. I don’t think I have been surprised as of late as to the level they played at. They showed some good variation and that is key.

The Sharks continued the trend with a well fought 27-22 victory over defending champions the Reds. It looked as if the Durban team would succumb to yet another defeat but they stuck in there and although they were robbed of a try and robbed in the ref giving one that had a forward pass in it, it was still sweet victory. A few worrying niggles for Steven Sykes and Wiehan Herbst as well as the Doctor Jannie Du Plessis should leave the coach with a few sleepless nights.

The Cheetahs made my Sunday. They played with tenacity and fought for every inch. I thought they were fantastic, grabbing a last minute win against the Rebels.

Perfect Weekend for SA teams.

I would like to bend the rules here. Since Doosie and Yster is designed to look at performances of players I would love to multiply my Doosie and make is Doosies….

So Doosie number one is actually Mark Lawrence and Jonathan Kaplan. For two such experienced refs to not see THAT forward pass was horrendous to say the least. And the Tip Tackle by Diggy Ione on Marcel Coetzee warranted a Red Card…flat out.

The next would be the every Durbanite that could not make it to the game. Strangely when I mentioned this to some friends they blamed the weather…fair enough. But there was just too many open seats. I have seen other stadiums packed and then we were talking about rain storms that could result in floods. The Sharks need to find a way to get the seats full again….one such idea on how is simple….Ticket Pros, but more on that later.

Player wise Bismarck had a horrible start to the game, but my Yster should be between Charl Mcleod and Marcel Coetzee. Coetzee played like a man possessed. He was solid on defence once again and took the ball up nicely despite being tipped earlier.

Still loads of errors and lots of work to be done but the Boys who consider themselves decent tourist will look to get of to a flyer against the Tahs. I would expect nothing but 3 out of 4 on tour for them .

In other news, the Sharks will be playing a World XV lead by John Smit as a farewell for our former captain. The team will consist of Ruan Pienaar, BJ Botha, Johann Muller as well as Percy Montgomery from a SA point of view, with Phil Waugh, Doug Howlett and Luke McCallister joining the party. Other players from Italy, USA and Samoa and other countries are still being confirmed. All proceeds will go to the John Smit Foundation which will help amongst other charity organisations. This is for a noble cause and will off course see Barney run out one last time at his old stomping ground. Wish I could be there, then again you never know…

Till Later

No…bless your dirty mind, not that Quickies…. 

REM just briefly returns to blogland. It’s overdue, only one freaking post this week. Have to apologize, I have been away on business in Gauteng but now I am back, still finding my feet under the shit load of work I got. A few weekend pointers.

1 Testrugby.com

I tried out this whole Test rugby thing last year at the suggestion of buddy ol pal MetUysh. It was actually quite lekka. But of the 4 weeks, I have been so busy that I have only made one week’s picks. So it sucks to be me….

2 Superbru

Although I picked Chiefs to win…..fcuk, what more can I say. I wonder how much money would have been lost if we all bet money on it. Dobbel H….some help here….

3 Sharks v Reds

I am confident the Sharks can win. Look, the Reds is still a championship side, but they have a kak history in Durban, and the Sharks look well prepared, nice team, looking forward to it.

4 Tendulkar 100*

A lot will be said about the “little maestro” reaching his 100^th International ton against a kak side like B/Desh….and don’t tell me about how they improving and kak, he should have got it against Australia but they were manshamed.

5 Newlands

I hate Politics

6 Manchester United

I am confident that Chelsea can put a knock on Man City this weekend. I have always despised both teams but go Blues I would say

7 Talking about Blues

A win for a very confident looking Blues side will open up our conference…(from my point of view )lol. Eventhough I went with a Stormers win, I would love to see the Blues doing it one time…

8 One Time….

Met a kak sexy hostess from One Time Airliners while on my way home last night…..speaks my language as well…

9 Nr 8 has fokol to do with sport…

But it is a fact….chasing tail is a sport hahahahahaha

10 I am still at the office….

Yeah, I am leaving at 6, I still have shit to do…and work tomorrow.

Till later peeps

REM

PS: MetUysh…I think it’s time for you to upgrade that TV of yours….saw the new LG line…..they bringing out the biggest LED in South Africa….a mammoth 85”(217cm). You can fit Andries Bekker and the top half of Kitchener in there. It’s a mamoerse thing and the Rugby looks awesomist on HD…..just a pity Kitch and Black Beauty will watch dude porn on there..

Anywayz!

With the Sharks pulling off a Bonus Point Victory over the Lions, and the Bulls falling short against the Blues, they pulled back some points to now lie third in the SA conference. This weekends results will no doubt open up our conference with Conference leaders the Stormers facing a very confident Blues side.

It was tough coming to the Doos and Yster of this week as lots of players had better games. But there was also glimmer of hope when you consider how players performed. The game against the Lions was error strewn, but the Sharks had to wait until the last move of the game to barge over from a rolling maul for their 4^th try of the game.

Fred Michalak looked very hesitant. I honestly think that at this point in time he doesn’t enjoy his job at 9. I have suggested they try bring him on as a sub and start with Charl. His indicisivenes could have proven costly and he was removed early to give his substitution enough time to settle in. A poor performance, and although I am in two minds about my Dosie candidate for the week, our former Dosie….Keegan Daniel had a very close call but he showed confidence in backing his players for that last try.

A player that stood out was once again JP Petersen. Now detractors has said they words about the coach moving him from his preffered position of Wing to Outside Centre. At International Level he is a must, strong on defence and he can vary his attack. The coach saw the bigger picture and with the experience of Adi Jacobs having left the team and Jaque Fourie looking in search of the Yen, I must laud this approach. JP showed good signs of someone playing in this position for the third week in a row, at this level having last played there on Primary School. The try he made for Bosman was a beauty and I do look forward to him shining there for many years to come.

Off topic now:

Years ago I had to attend a work conference in Jozi. The conference ended the Friday night and I flew back the Sunday afternoon. My cousin (a huge Stormers supporter) wanted me to watch the game at Loftus. He drove up from Cpt with his wife to visit his Inlaws in the East Rand.

We went to the stadium and the Stormers just beat the Bulls. Because I was a neutral, I celebrated with him…until we came to his car.

At that time he drove a Mazda 6, but the problem was never his car. It was his number plate which read “EK SKR WP”…..loosely translating to Ek skree WP.

His car had a brick thrown through the windscreen. The Union was quick to react because you don’t somma piss off a fan especially a Armed Forces Lt. They were forced to pay for the repair of the windscreen….

Now what came into the mind of that Blue Bull fan this weekend throwing Kevin M with a water bottle? Swift action has been taken, but still this type of behaviour is unacceptable. And I am sure these Unions has actions in place incase something like this happens. It’s a occurrence that still happens all over the world, believe you me, it is something that won’t stop now.

Till Later

REM

What’s up with all the beef on these blogs? Just a simple question though because this morning I open my browser and there you have Couch Critic taking a swipe at Hugo, Hugo claiming Couch Critic’s last post was rubbish, people complaining and bitching and moaning.

Then there is the ever present, then missing Black Beauty and his almighty Teke Teke, and Kitch, well Kitch has been behaving himself, on a short leash from Blog Ed, who in turn has a crush on Dar and Aneleen. Then there is Hopestar who hugs Lobo, who in turn slams Sherriff for claiming the latter wants to score Brownie points for stating Smith Biff is the shit. Sherriff then pours a drink and takes out his words on Inhlanzi who in turn scolds Hanjo for saying the Lions are shit. Hanjo and Johann then defends the Stormers and their awesome start to the season and saying they are going all the way once again this year, like every year since Super Rugby started in 1996. Bloues throws statistics at them and they have a “Yo Mamma” battle with Nick Cannon as the judge. Hugo feels intimidated because the competition is in Urban slang “Mamma” is n Afrikaanse woord.

Fcuk people. I hope you see the trend I am going at here. Need I once again remind yall that this is a sporting forum. I love going online when I enjoy my first cup of Java at work, to catch up on your views for the weekends sport. I don’t have the energy or time to go through beef and people wanting to bite each other’s ears off. Word of advice.

If you want to, then go enter the War of the Blogs Royal Rumble. Our Main event will be a Fourway match and it is for the “Moaner of the Year award”Your contenders will be:

Kitchener: 625 pounds Brakpan

Couch Critic: 325 pounds PMB

Black Beauty: 110 Pounds Arniston

Hugo: 400 pounds Stellenbosch

Then we also have the Royal Rumble, where you must first use a war of words before throwing your opponent over the top rope and then through a table. It will be contested by 15 wbloggers(no typo).

Dar-George

Hanjo-Parklands

Johann-Muizenberg

Sherriff-Amanzimtoti

Awesome1-Fourways

Lobo-Umhlanga

BlogED-Woodstock

Hopestar-Sasolburg

Bloues-Centurion

Powa-Constantia

DarthMaul-Vereeniging

H&P-PE

GreenMan-Sussex

Uysh-Kruger National Park(lol)

Baylion-BoKaap

Point im making is simple. I love sport, love watching, love reading about it. And that while my Kinky Afro is playing in the background. Ya’ll bitching and moaning is working on my nerves….you know who you are…..

PS: This post is just to show that this is a sports blog site. If you have personal issues with one another go join Lithnet or somewhere else kanala

PPS: To make sport relevant in my post….

Sharks to win by 3

REM

So a few nights ago I saw a re run of the 95 Currie Cup final between Natal and WP.  It was the first Bankfin Currie Cup of the professional era….like the ring of that….Bankfin Currie Cup.  Anyway, brings back good memories, especially of a good team, considering that the bulk of Springboks from the World Cup truimphant team came from the Lions.

For those younger (eventhough I am also) fans who don’t remember or who only became Shark loyalist lately, the game was played at a slow tempo.  It was a mudbath (not as serious as the France Semi Final a few months earlier.)  Cabous van der Westhuizen scored for Natal and Tiaan Strauss who would later betray his country and move to Australia.  The game was full of errors, simply because the weather never allowed running rugby. 

What impressed me the most though was the kicking of a certain Theirry Lacroix.  The commentator made the statement that at that time he was the best fly half in World Rugby.

Bearing in mind that the Rugby World Cup was played a mere 4 months prior to the final of the CC, one has to wonder just how good Lacroix was.  The Australians had Michael Lynagh, New Zealand Andrew Mehrtens, England Rob Andrew, Wales Neil Jenkins and South Africa had Joel Stransky who won us our first World Cup….then again the French had Theirry.

What made him so great in my opinion was his simplicity and his ability to provide that flair when it is needed.  He had the most laid back approach when kicking for goal, two steps, kick low…simple.  And proven in the Final was his ability to keep the scoreboard ticking.  What is even more impressive is the fact that his fellow countrymen Freddie Michalak has exactly the same style.

Last year the Sharks had to go to Loftus to win the Bulls and go through as the runners up to our conference.  They did so and that game was largely won because of the ability Fred showed by turning the Bulls and keeping the score board ticking with his kicking.  This French connection suddenly got me thinking….

Where the hell is Lacroix????  What is he currently doing??? 

I think that the likes of Patrick Lambie, Meyer Bosman, Louis Ludik, JP Petersen and Riaan Viljoen will benefit greatly from a decent, well established kicking coach….

…..I then googled…..

He is a Physio…..

So this is a request to B Van Zyl, CEO of Sharks Rugby.  Get your house in order boet, Lacriox will be a excellent benefit to your staff, not that Hugh Reece is doing much now.  He will be well received.

follow me on Twitface….@Sharkie 187

Sorry about the late report back maaters, I guess too much Whiskey and Rum was consumed at Newlands over the weekend. Also I have been quite busy out of the office Monday and Yesterday, hence the fact that I am only writing a “shortened” version of Dosie and Yster this week.

Look, not much can be said about the game. I for one am glad at the defensive effort we put in by not allowing their Springbok laden back line to cross the whitewash. We gained some insight into the abilities of certain players and I must say I was impressed from both sides. Once again, I am disappoint but I am certain that the Sharks will make right.

My Dosie of the week, for the second time in a row is Keegan Daniel. He had a much better outing but the only thing that lacked for me was the discipline he showed when he conceded the penalty that won the game for the Stormers. What also made me wary, watching from the Railway stand, especially at the Boxes, you can see lot’s of movement, and being there in person also allows you to see things the camera doesn’t and one of them is clearly how he is simply not communicating with his chargers. Even after the umpteenth time standing behind the post waiting for the goal kicker, he was just standing here….what happened the good ol fashioned huddle?? In Peter Steph Du Toit we have a capable replacement….I would suggest Plumtree starts using him now.

My Yster of the week is someone that carries a lot of hope on his shoulders. He is the SA Young Player of the Year 2011, Marcell Coetzee…

Mind you, he is not a Willem Alberts or Jean Deysel, but he gained valuable metres going forward, always running straight and hard. The only thing lacking in his skill set must be said is the hand eye co ordination that Alberts possesses. He has many great games in him, even some that will make his name a household feature.

This weekend, the Sharks will host the Lions for their first home game of the campaign. The will look at this chance to bounce back and start returning to winning ways. Will it be easy….no….will it be difficult….maybe…..will we see running rugby….you never know. All I know is that they need to win….point…..

Jip, the game of the weekend.  It will be rof en ombeskof.  And once again REM will be there (although I must say as a Capetonian who has visited Newlands numerous times) that it still doesn’t compare to Kings Park…..but anyway….

Years ago (think it was 3), the Sharks came to Cape Town in their opening game.  The place was packed ekse, Stormers fans were aplenty, as was the Sharks, but most of them was sitting at the Railway stand.  I normally get Grand Stand tickets, and there I was, on Valentines Day, went with 15 buddies to watch the game.

We had a dop en tjop at the School.  Then headed down for the game.  And as always the place is packed.  And off course everywhere you go, (me with my Sharks top on) was boo’d and skelled and made fun of.  Which is all good and well in the spirit of the game.

We took our seats….realised our one Blou Bul tjommie was gone….only to reappear 20 minutes later, even more drunk then when we last saw him.  There was this fokin annoying dude sitting behind me.  The Sharks were being outplayed.  Only had 3 points on the board at half time.

When we eventually took the lead close to the 60th minute, (Stef scored under the post), this dude was still tuning the same tune the whole game, “JP jou moffie”, JP jou Tief”…it was getting boring.  But I don’t know whether this dude was too dikgesuip to realise I had a Sharks top on, and I turned around and told him “Jy hou jou bek”….he told me “Jy sal mos gemoer raak jou Na*&…to which I stood up…I guess he was surprised at my size….”Sorry broe my naam is Gamat”

*True Story.

And then again, tomorrow I return.  We should be there early, so If anyone wants to hook up for a dop, send a PM.

Enjoy it, and remember, no matter who wins….SA Rugby benefits…

Fokit

Naaatttaaaaallll!!!!!!!!!