truth of the old proverb “she who laughs the last, laughs the longest” came true as the Sharks hammered a pretty ordinary Province side in the Currie Cup final! With the season about to end, I thought it was good time to mention who I feel was the Sharks player of the season.
It is not an easy choice to make and I am sure everyone will have their favourite and to be honest the entire team effort was worthy of mention. Take the evergreen Captain Terblanche for example, moving to the centre position to make way for Lambie and then Ludik at full back, he managed to hold his own and outplayed every centre in the country, including de Jongh in the Currie Cup final. His quiet but inspirational captaincy was evident throughout and it was clear he had the respect of his players.
Then we had some great matches by Charl Mcleod who took his opportunity with both hands and sadly for Rory Kockott proved to be the Sharks answer at scrumhalf. Electric pace and tenacious defending not only did he get his reward of winning the Currie Cup but finds himself called up to the Bok squad!
Willem Alberts is a possible candidate for my Player of the Season too. He is a colossal player who I believe should have been used more on the EOYT and I hope that we see him at the World Cup in 2011. His bull dozing runs and unstoppable marching at the defence many times gave the Sharks the impetus to exert their authority over the opposition.
Of course every Sharks fans favourite, Pat Lambie was sublime in his first season and the defensive work of Andries Strauss inspirational. However the Sharks player I believe should be my Player of the Year award, goes to the man who has already scored the fastest try in Super rugby. “The worker”... “the never say die”... “punch above my weight”, Keegan Rhys Daniel!
So what if PDV doesn’t seem to believe in the Sharks flanker for me and I am sure thousands of other fans of the Sharks, Keegan played brilliantly and I can’t think of a match where he played badly. So much for being too light, he was the form flanker in the Currie Cup outplaying the favourite Schalk Burger and others with consummate ease in the Sharks thrashing of Province. In 2009 Daniel and Botes swapped places for the flankers jersey in most of the matches and one wondered if Keegan was going to become just an ‘’impact’’ player. Yet in 2010 he was awesome and whenever he wasn’t on the field the void that he left was tangible. He is that sort of player who just gives me, a Sharks fan in Cape Town that feeling of calm, that everything will be alright as long as Daniel is playing.
He is a player who you would want to go to war with, a player who never will surrender and for me The Sharks Player of 2010! Well done Keegan!
Follow me on Twitter @_mishmish_
Michelle Lyle was rated as The Sharks number 1 fan on Twitter for the amount of tweets she sent out on The Sharks. (http://www.slideshare.net/BrandsEye/brandseye-battle-of-the-fans-currie-cup)
