Sharks vs Tahs preview

Here is a rugby trivia question you will do well to answer correctly. Which South African Super Rugby coach had a better record overseas than he did at home? The answer is Hugh Reece-Edwards, who in the year 2000 won just one match – against the Waratahs in Sydney – before being fired later in the campaign after a string of defeats in Durban. One win … and it was overseas.

One wonders if that statistic will cross Reece’s mind when the team bus pulls into the Sydney Football Stadium (now known as the Allianz Stadium) tomorrow (Kicki-off 6.35am SA time). He is now touring with the Sharks as an assistant coach and he better than most knows that his win there was the last time the Sharks beat the Waratahs on Aussie soil.

But can they turn the light blue tide? The heart says yes, the head says no, not when the home side is so desperat. As Willem Alberts put it – it would have been much better for the Sharks had the Waratahs put 50 past the Force last week (instead of losing 21-20 in a major shock), and the week before had closed out a game against the Highlanders they lost 17-18,and in round one done the same against the Reds, who scored a match winning try instead in injury time. The Waratahs’ sole win was in round two, against the Rebels in Melbourne.

In short, there isn’t the slightest chance of complacency in the Waratahs’ camp given that a defeat to the Sharks will mean their worst ever start in Super Rugby since the competition’s birth in 1996. The under-fire Waratahs are 11th while the Sharks are two from four and seventh.

It measures up to be the game of the weekend – the desperate home team against a Sharks side that is tired of losing in Sydney and is anxious about starting well in the first tour game and about building the momentum generated by the last fortnight’s home victories against the Currie Cup champions and Super Rugby champions, after close defeats to the Bulls and Stormers away from home in the opening two rounds.

Interestingly, the Sharks’ coaching staff has opted for pretty much the side that finished the game so brilliantly against the Reds last week, although injury in some cases has forced their hand. Nevertheless, who at season’s start would have predicted a starting second row of Anton Bresler and Jandre Marais?

Ross Skeate is injured, and patched up Steven Sykes is on the bench while Alistair Hargreaves is still recovering from a pre-season ankle injury. But the bottom line is that this unheralded second row did the business in that frantic second half against the Reds, and deserves to start this week. The Waratahs won’t know who the heck they are, not do many Sharks supporters, but these guys have a chance to show that they are the future.”

Otherwise the pack is much the same. Tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis has recovered from a calf injury strain sustained during the match against the Reds and will start alongside brother Bismarck, but no such luck for Wiehahn Herbst.

He has been replaced on the bench by SA Under 20 tighthead Nick Schonert, the 20-year-old product of Maritzburg College and the Sharks Academy. He is short on experience but big on potential and impressed for the Sharks XV in their two Vodacom Cup matches to date in 2012. At 1.89m and 118kg, Schonert has the physical frame to make it at Super Rugby level.

The Waratahs management, meanwhile, have reacted to the pressure they are under by making some dramatic changes, including a new half-back pairing.

Captain Daniel Halangahu has been relegated to the bench, with Berrick Barnes his replacement at flyhalf, and prop Benn Robinson is the brand new captain.

Partnering Barnes in the No 9 jersey is Brendan McKibbin, who replaces former Cheetahs scrumhalf, Sarel Pretorius, which is odd because Pretorius has been one of their best players.

\Waratahs:15 Bernard Foley, 14 Tom Kingston, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Tom Carter, 11 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Chris Alcock, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson (c).
Subs: John Ulugia, Paddy Ryan, Sitaleki Timani, Lopeti Timani, Jono Jenkins, Sarel Pretorius, Daniel Halangahu

The Sharks: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel (c), 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Jandre Marais, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Dale Chadwick.
Subs: Craig Burden

by Mike Greenaway www.iol.co.za