Rugby Asteroid

Three weeks ago we predicted that the Sharks would get three “big fat losses” on their road-trip and that’s exactly what happened. Two weeks ago they lost to the Brumbies in Canberra, last week they were thumped by the Waratahs in Sydney, and last night they went down to the Crusaders in a cold, wet game in Christchurch. Coming into the game the commentators made much of the fact that the Sharks had a far greater motivation to win than the Saders, and this was certainly evident with all the yapping coming from the boys in grey. At times the visitors sounded like a meeting of the Women’s League of Knitters. But apart from affecting the refereeing a little bit, nothing much was gained by it.

For years now there has been an intense rivalry between the Saders and the Sharks. Afterall, it’s the best team from NZ playing the best team from South Africa, the Cantablacks versus the Sharkboks. Historically matches between these two teams are close-contests. Since 1998 the Sharks and the Crusaders have played each other 12 times. In 11 of those games the winning margin has been less than 12 points. On only five occasions has the margin been greater than a converted try. Although last night’s game could’ve gone either way, the final margin of 8 points was actually a bit of a blow-out by historical standards.

One way to view a Sharks-Saders game is as a test trial. So who improved their chances of selection last night?

For the Sharks, No.8 Ryan Kankowski (pictured) had another stand-out performance. In one highlight moment he broke the tackles of McCaw, Brett and Laulala before scoring a brilliant individual try. This young man rocketed into a Springbok jumper at the end of last year and will no doubt be seen again in the Tri-Nations. Frans Steyn also played well for the Sharks, tackling well and making clever kicks in play. One wonders why he wasn’t given more of the kicking responsibilities given the sub-par performance from Ruan Pienaar.

For the Saders, Greg Somerville showed good form as did Keiran Reid. Stephen Brett kicked well and Richie McCaw had another brilliant game despite being binned for 10 minutes. Andy Ellis worked hard but at times seemed eager to kick possession away. But the man who decided the match was replacement prop Wyatt Crockett. Putting boot to ball three times Crockett put managed to get himself and the ball over the try-line at just the right time. It was a bumbling, comical passage of play that left several Sharks players face down in the mud and effectively sunk their chances of winning a home semi-final. Brilliant!