The Final: Sharks vs WP, Sat 30 Oct, 17:30 CAT, Durban

[Intercept King JDV]

The Teams:

Sharks:
15. Louis Ludik, 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. Stefan Terblanche (captain), 12. Andries Strauss, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Patrick Lambie, 9. Charl McLeod, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 7. Willem Alberts, 6. Keegan Daniel, 5. Alistair Hargreaves, 4. Steven Sykes, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Tendai Mtawarira

Replacements: 16. Craig Burden, 17. Eugene van Staden, 18. Anton Bresler, 19. Jacques Botes, 20. Rory Kockott, 21. Andre Pretorius, 22. Riaan Swanepoel


Western Province:
15. Conrad Jantjes, 14. Gio Aplon, 13. Juan De Jongh, 12. Jean De Villiers, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Willem De Waal, 9. Ricky Januarie, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Francois Louw, 6. Schalk Burger (captain), 5. Anton van Zyl, 4. Adriaan Fondse, 3. Brok Harris, 2. Deon Fourie, 1. JD Moller

Replacements: 16. Hanyani Shimange, 17. JC Kritzinger, 18. De Kock Steenkamp, 19. Pieter Louw, 20. Dewaldt Duvenage, 21. Lionel Cronje, 22. Paul Bosch

Source

May the best team win the Cup, in other words

PROOOOOOOOOOVINCE!!!, My prediction: Sharks 16 -20 WP

 

[Seaton]

Mon the Sharks, let's show thr Cape Town wannabees how it's done
And more importantly get the Province supporters to shut up and not slosh beer all over me!

Prediction: Sharks to be charged with theft after Lwazi Mvovo is found to have Gio Aplon in his pocket
Hoping for a 23-15 cracker (to the Sharks of course

 

[Intercept King JDV]

In 2007 Habana stole the Super 14 trophy out of the Sharks hands, how nice won't it be if JDV steals the Currie Cup out of the Sharks hands with a last-minute intercept try!?

Come on Jean, you owe me an intercept try!^_^

 

[Draggs]

Sharks defence was immense two weeks ago, they could certainly go for it.

NZ v Aus in the morning and the CC final in the afternoon- what a day!

 

[Seaton]

Very few posts I must say
It's very humid here at the ground, and the clouds are hanging ominously in background

Anyways, the grounds are starting to fill.and the atmosphere is a somewhat relaxed one

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Man o man. I have been looking forward to this for 2 weeks. Every day counting down. Now it's just an hour away. Man o man. I am a bit scared about WP's attack. I don't see the Sharks win this one unfortunately.

Lambie's average kicking can cost us. But then again, I said that 2 weeks ago

 

[Seaton]

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[User1245]

Gotta be honest I had a feeling we were going to take this game easier than our game against the Bulls. And De Waal choking in must-win games is becoming a bad joke.

Well done boys.

On a side note, I strangely feel sad that we losing Strauss now. I've never rated him but he's been awesome recently, especially in defence. I'd rather like if we got rid of Swanepoel instead.

 

[Seaton]

Feel the same about Strauss, but Bosman is no slouch at tackling either, and he can pass!

 

[mrbiggels]

ag man, wp played like ****, they looked like they were a bunch of headless chickens. there was no structure , no plan, nothing. wp can now officially call themselves allblacks cos all they do is choke. it was embrrasing how they played. another thing that made it worse was the fact that dwayne vermeulen wasnt chosen for national. only hope we have is PDV's contract expiration date.

 

[Intercept King JDV]

Congrats you bunch of Sharks guys, the best team definitely won the CC.I'm still shocked about Burger's captaincy and that de Waal kicked so badly!

9 years will now become 10 years, that is not Ayoba!

 

[Seaton]

I was dissapointed that EP Kings never made it through to the 1st division, to draw a crowd of 42 000 people for a promotion match is no mean feat (considering there was 'only' 52 000 for the main final).

For those who never watched, EP Kings and Pumas were equal in most areas (one could say that EP have the edge in these), but were very poor in the line-outs and on loan Monty Dumond had a nightmare with the boot.

Going back to supporters, its all well that the fans came out in their droves to the final, but the dissapointing thing is that most only go for the final (not even semi), and try to show a degree of fustration in the league phase when games are lost.
I really do hate gloryhunters, just as bad as Bulls supporters

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Man o man. What a match! Lambie played an amazing game only for the second time this season. I was so afraid his kicking would cost us but luckily for us he did well! 2 tries, 3 conversions and 3 penalties. Man o man. Ludik, Strauss, Daniel and Alberts also had a cracker of a game. I still cannot believe we won 30 - 10 and most of all we were able to keep Habana, Aplon, Jantjies and JdV on a leash. I was surprised WP started off with Januarie at scrumhalf when they have the much better Duvenhage on the bench.

What was an even bigger disappointment is the fact that Januarie is selected for the EOYT. No Duvenhage or McLeod. We have a squad now with only 1 real fullback (Aplon) and M. Steyn, Pienaar, F. Steyn, Lambie and Jantjies for the halfback position.

Januarie, Burger and de Jongh are out of the squad now due to injuries. I hope we can welcome Duvenhage/McLeod to replace Januarie.

It's nice to see the complete Sharks-scrum being selected for the Boks.

 

[Seaton]

Steady on with McLeod, frankly I have a new found likeing to his play, and I was stressing when he got injured, as I could just imagine Kockett throwing that one wild pass that would cost the game, after the shocker he had in the final league game. Certainly not international level, yet. (Although at 27 he has nae got particularly long left)


Januarie was selected purely as Duvenange was put under pressure in the S14 game against the Sharks, and the pressure told with a very poor performance.
The same thing happened in the Currie Cup 1st round match, but he was better protected, but even then it showed in his game. The same thing happened in the final, he got put under pressure and his distribution suffered.


However, he is still young (22) and should resolve this pressure issue in the next 2-3 years. Until then I'm afraid he will be a massive risk at international level, and little 5-10 minute cameos off the bench aren't the solution.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Don't we have any scrumhalfs better than Januarie?

 

[ST1]

Why did they not play Hoffman? he flew up with them,... Friday i heard he was going to start.... Then he wasnt even on the Bench

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

I'm watching the match for the 3rd time now and I have to say the Sharks were simply amazing in defense. Not much you can blame WP. Tackles, counterrucks, steals. All in all the team that wanted it the most got the cup by showing an amazing display of drive, motivation and confidence.