the troops lurch along. Dick Muir in desperation has called for the services of Ray Mordt to instill some steel in the defense but can anyone really believe that the Lions will be able to beat the Sharks? Not on your life!
Fresh from a bye the Sharks will arrive at Coco Cola Park with only one objective in mind and that is to win with a bonus point. Nothing less than 4 tries will suffice in a victory that will see the Sharks hanging on by the skin of their teeth to a playoff spot. With that clear mission in mind we will have to expect the Sharks to run at the Lions hard and play them out of contention within the first 20 minutes.
Yet the Lions will be looking at this match as a chance to piece together whatever pride remains and can try to spoil the show and will be trying to produce a miracle with a team of players who would struggle to compete in the Vodacom Cup. Expect the Lions to run for all they are worth and try to catch the Sharks on the back foot in the early exchanges.
Fuelled on by the fumes of Dick Muir’s pre-match pep talk there is every reason to expect the Lions to be up for the encounter for at least the first 5 minutes. However if the Sharks can get on the score board early it will be “neusie verby” ,the floodgates will open in dramatic style and the Sharks will be running in tries through the leaky Lions defenders from all parts of the field.
Upfront amongst the big men the Sharks will for once go into this match believing they have the upper hand and it is one area that could get very ugly for the Lions. The visitors will have a tight five that will easily dominate the rucks and mauls with added support coming from Jean Dysel, Willem Alberts, and Jacques Botes. With these forwards I expect to see at least one try resulting from a maul.
The Sharks have recovered brilliantly from the early season woes; Pienaar looks as good as ever and has been the stand out player in the Sharks backline in recent victories and the combination with Goode is starting to work. Lambie has fitted into top class rugby as we all expected he would and the Sharks still have the experienced Terblanche to rely on in the midfield. All in all for the Sharks this is a victory waiting to happen!
Prediction: No ways can the Lions do anything other than lose this one. They average more than 45 points against them per match and although they have scored tries they just don’t have the defense to compete. Sharks to win it by 20. Or will the Lions surprise?
Teams:
Sharks: 15 Patrick Lambie; 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Stefan Terblanche; 12 Riaan Swanepoel, 11 JP Pietersen;l 10 Andy Goode, 9 Ruan Pienaar; 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Johann Muller, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 John Smit (capt).
Replacements - Craig Burden, Tendai Mtawarira, Wilhelm Steenkamp, Alistair Hargreaves, Rory Kockott, Andries Strauss, Lwazi Mvovo.
Lions: TBA
