Do the Sharks have men upfront for Sat’s battle

There was a moment in the second half of the Stormers versus Sharks match at the beginning of last year’s Super Rugby competition which ultimately summed up the difference between the teams on a day that the Sharks were given a playground bloody nose.

The Sharks’ premier battleship, if we can switch to naval parlance, The Bismarck, had sailed out of harbour to replace John Smit, and before he had a chance to lift his head above the parapets of greater Newlands, he was upended onto his stern by a knock-out shot from a torpedo boat in the shape of Reinhardt Elstadt, the unheralded young lock who was so impressive in Super Rugby last year but will not play this weekend because of injury.

It was a tackle (within the law) of premeditated aggression that was in accordance with the home team’s battle plan for the day, and Du Plessis (and the Sharks) were blown out of the water. In short and if you will forgive the parody and the mixed metaphor, they were bullied out of their tuck-shop money.

The Stormers clearly had a policy of getting their retaliation in first, so to speak, because the Sharks forwards had travelled with the reputation of being the mean men of the SA challenge, and the shocked Sharks were sent scuttling by a number of cheap shots as the Stormers (successfully) strove to establish a physical superiority, and at the same time the Sharks were revealingly found out to be unable to fight fire with fire.

It was a case of no more Mr Tough Guys as the Cape pack prevailed, and won the game, and the Sharks have not forgotten what went down that day.

CJ van der Linde (now with the Lions) in particular, flaunted the bounds of reasonable behaviour and while there will be others in blue jerseys that will happily step into Van der Linde’s belligerents boots, there is the obvious question this time around of whether the Sharks have the men up front to do anything about it.

It could help the Sharks’ cause that this time there is no Schalk Burger (injured) and Francois Louw (moved to Bath), and coach John Plumtree acknowleged that another week of coming second at ruck time would, in all likelihood result. in another loss.

“Winning the battle of the breakdown is really important, as is our support play to the ball-carrier,” Plumtree said. “It is vital, and we have put a big focus on it this week. If we let the Stormers’ loosies into the game, we will be late to the breakdown, so it’s really important that everyone works hard.

“We need to tidy up a lot at ruck time” he continued. “We want to play a lot of phases, we want to keep the ball in hand, but first of all we need to win the ball.”

The Sharks will name their team today following fitness tests on wing Odwa Ndungane (who missed the Bulls game last week), No 8 Willem Alberts (who has not played since the Currie Cup final),

by Mike Greenaway www.iol.co.za