Super XV Final: Chiefs v Sharks - Preview & Live Match Thread

[Biltong]

First topic message reminder :

The Super XV final is here, after 16 rounds of pool matches where the Sharks qualified in 6th position just making the play offs and the Chiefs winning the New Zealand conference to end in the second position it is now time for the two finalists to go for glory.

The Sharks will play in their 4th Super Rugby final and the Chiefs in only their second Super Rugby final.

Road to the final for the Chiefs:
Lost against Highlanders at home 19-23
Won against Blues at home 29-14
Won against Crusaders away 24-19
Won against Brumbies away 29-22
Won against Waratahs at home 30-13
Won against Western Force away 20-12
Won against Cheetahs away 39-33
Won against Sharks away 18-12
Won against Hurricanes at home 33-14
Won against Lions at home 34-21
Lost against Reds away 27-42
Won against Bulls at home 28-22
Won against Blues away 41-34
Won against Highlanders away 27-21
Lost against Crusaders away 21-28
Lost against Hurricanes away 25-28

Semi final:
Won against Crusaders at home 20-17


Road to the final Sharks:
Lost against Bulls away 13-18
Lost against Stormers away 12-15
Won against Lions at home 32-20
Won against Reds at home 27-22
Lost against Waratahs away 30-34
Won against Brumbies away 29-26
Lost against Hurricanes away 18-42
Won against Blues away 29-23
Lost against Chiefs at home 12-18
Won against Highlanders at home 28-16
Won against Western Force at home 53-11
Won against Cheetahs away 34-20
Won against Stormers at home 25-20
Lost against Lions away 28-38
Won against Bulls at home 32-10
Won against Cheetahs at home 34-15

Play off match:
Won against Reds away 30-17

Semi final:
Won against Stormers away 26-19

The Chiefs have led the conference most of the time, only to fail the top spot by losing their last round robin match to the Hurricanes, the reality is they are the form team in the competition winning their conference ahead of 7 times champions the Crusaders.

The Sharks were almost out of the running halfway through the pool rounds courtesy of a very poor start. But they never gave up and with a run of 6/7 wins in the last 7 rounds managed to secure the sixth spot that forced them firstly to have to travel to Brisbane to take on the Australian Conference winners, after dispatching them in style, they travelled back to SA to take on the South African Conference winners, only having now to travel back to New Zealand for the final in Hamilton.

The Chiefs will go into the final as the favourites, they beat the Sharks in Durban, they have the home advantage, they had an extra week of rest during the play off week and they don’t have to travel.

The Sharks have it all to play for, in the last 3 weeks they will have travelled over 30 000 km from Durban to Brisbane, From Brisbane to Capetown, and now from Capetown to Sydney and then on Thursday from Sydney to Auckland, only to get on a bus to Hamilton.

So the odds are stacked against them, but never write off a team that has nothing to lose, they have beaten both the other conference leaders against the odds, what’s one more win?

Match ups.
Kerr Barlow and Cruden vs Mcleod and Michalack
Schwalger vs Bismark
Clarke and Retallick vs Bresler and Alberts
Messam, Latimer and Thompson vs Coetzee, Daniels and Kankowski
Lambie vs Robinson
SBW and Horril vs Whitehead and Pietersen

It should be a cracker, do the Sharks have anything left in the tank or are they running on empty. Both the sharks and the Chiefs have a net try surplus of 17 after the round robins, the Sharks scoring 2 more tries than the Chiefs and the Chiefs conceding two tries less than the sharks.

I don’t think there are two more deserving temas in the finals, the Chiefs for making it too the top in the most competitive Conference and the sharks for having beaten both the other two Conference winners.

[aucklandlaurie]

hehe.. I get your point LB, yes weightlifting was a bad example to use.

[Guest]

Ah yes, the heptathlon woman were the ones I was thinking of Laurie. I caught them at the hurdles stage. They were very impressive athletes.

[aucklandlaurie]

I caught them at the pole vault volt, a very opportune time.

[emack2]

Auckland Laurie the reference to the "Bum of the Month Club"was reference to the Great Joe Louis .He had one such a group of boxers that were easy marks for him.Those he could easily beat like SBW has just for money the term "Bum" was an american slang for a tramp or easy beat NOT a part of the Human anatomy.Morganwg NO I don`t go a lot on a person who walked out on a RL contract and gets banned for it.Then does the same in Toulon to win an AB place
which he failed to do.I have no truck with ANY player who`s loyalty is to himself first then his team any where else.I`d rather have a team man who is solid and dedicates himself to the team and the Shirt.

[Rory_Gallagher]

A big factor in this game for me was playing Alberts at second row. I realise that the Sharks were not as strong there, and that they had an abundance of flankers/8s but really his game has suffered dramatically. He is the exact sort of player they would have wanted to play that carrying game he is known for, but he is more involved in the tight exchanges at second row. He is still phenomenal in this aspect of rugby, as he puts in some monstrous hits and offers brute force at the breakdown, but in the back row he can play a more balanced game. In the SH they like seem to like using their tight 5 to primarily do the donkey work, leaving the main runners to get more ball.

Another factor was the strange substitutions made in the second half. Bringing off Pieterson especially was a strange call. Does anyone know why he was taken off? Taking off Alberts was also a mistake, as I think they just lost a huge amount of physicality there.

[Biltong]

I agree Alberts should not play at lock, I think Plumtree saw more benefit in playing him there than Sykes.

But the other problem was you can't use Alberts everytime to run in channel one, it becomes predictable, and sadly the Sharks just didn't look sharp in their decision making.

Why they both went off, is a mystery to me.

[aucklandlaurie]

I presumed that Pieterson was injured.

In our commentary,Justin Marshall expressed his dismay at the Pietersen replacement by saying " not only is he a Springbok, but also a very good Springbok", or words to that effect.

[Rory_Gallagher]

Yeah I watched it with the same commentary. I never used to rate Pieterson before, and I didn't get to see as much SH rugby until this season really, but he is quickly becoming one of my favourite players to watch. He is a complete game breaker, truly world class.

I think he should possibly focus on playing 13, because he is such a well balanced player who should get involved as much as possible. He is a great defender, great kicker, great support runner, and has the power/pace to back it all up.

Also, when will Cruden be replacing Carter? Too soon to ask?

[Biltong]

I would like to see JP Pietersen partner Frans Steyn for the next 5 years, I think between the two of them we will have one of the great centre pairings, both have good skills, strong in defence and has some vision to attack with the willingness to look for the offload to a supporting runner.

Pietersen in particular has changed the way he attacked this year.

[Rory_Gallagher]

Lambie/Goosen - Steyn - Pieterson

Now that would certainly be an interesting combination. Both dangerous in attack and robust in defence. Could be the spark needed for the springboks. Steyn in particular has such a good offloading game.

Though with this new guy Jordaan (who was very impressive) might Steyn move back to 15?

Like I said, not short of options anyway. Meyer has a lot of talent on his hands. Quite a big responsibility, he should choose wisely.

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