24 JUST FOOTY
MONDAY JULY 21 2014
White’s great Sharks ignore history on deep southern crusade
By CARLY ADNO
SUPER RUGBY
THE Sharks are one of the
most successful Super Rugby
franchises never to have won
the competition, and history
would suggest they are not
about to break that duck.
Jake White’s men had to dig
deep to overcome the Highlanders 31-27 in Durban to
book their place in Saturday’s
semi-final clash with the
Crusaders. It leaves them on
the verge of qualifying for their
fifth Super Rugby final, but
only once in the competition’s
history has a team travelled
out of their own country to win
the title.
Not that White is paying
any attention to records. What
gives the Sharks a sliver of
hope is the fact that they managed to beat the Crusaders in
Christchurch for the first time
earlier in the competition.
“We’ve got some great
memories there – a couple of
months ago we had a great
time,” White said.
“I think it would be disrespectful not to get to New Zealand straight away.
“I’m old school and I think if
you’re going to play in that
country you’ve got to live in
that country.
“It’s a long-haul, it’s obviously about 36 hours to get
there. It’s never been done
before that a team who has to
fly there has won, so we’ve got
no chance of winning the game
and we might as well just enjoy
the 36 hours and have fun this
week.
“It’s meaningless what the
history books say, otherwise
we might as well stay here.”
The four-time runners-up
of the competition have an excellent record in the semi-final
stages, having won five out of
the seven knockout games
they have played.
And while their win over
the Highlanders wasn’t as convincing as they would have
liked, White insists it will give
them enough momentum as
they head to New Zealand to
face a Crusaders side littered
with All Blacks.
Running
out of
puff not
for Tahs
By JAMIE PANDARAM
RUGBY UNION
IN the middle of a surprise
hill-running session in Coogee
last Tuesday, the Waratahs
stopped and spoke of their finals predicament.
With panting breath, players and staff discussed the
possible outcomes for their
path to the Grand Final, with
games to come between the
Brumbies and Chiefs, and
Sharks and Highlanders that
would decide who they faced
at Allianz Stadium this Saturday.
“We had a bit of a talk in the
middle of that hill-running session,” NSW coach Michael
Cheika said.
“Everyone had been talking
at length about the different
scenarios. The players hadn’t
been in this position before; sitting back waiting for teams to
play so we could discover who
we’d be playing.
“We were all breathing
quite heavily, but that is where
I wanted to have this conversation; not in a meeting room,
but doing something tough.
“I told them if we’re going to
do this, we need to do it against
the hardest teams, to gain respect.
“Then there can’t be any
talk about luck, or it was a
fluke, or this team was coming
back from South Africa.
“Where we are as a team,
we need to do it through the
toughest route possible, to establish ourselves. It is the only
way to prove ourselves.
“So we spoke about the outcome we wanted, which was to
play the Brumbies, who as the
fourth-ranked team was the
highest-possible ranked side
we could play in the semis, and
then play the highest-ranked
opposition in the final, which is
the Crusaders.
End of the
section for
Kiwi outfit
in Durban
FRANCOIS Steyn kicked two
late penalties to give the
Sharks a 31-27 victory over the
Highlanders after a thrilling
Super Rugby playoff in
Durban.
The first of his kicks on 74
minutes at Kings Park nudged
the home team into a onepoint lead and he scored again
in the final minute to clinch
victory.
Each team scored three
tries in a seesaw struggle with
the New Zealanders coming
from 10 points behind to lead
the South Africans 17-13 at
half-time.
The Sharks snatched two
tries within four second-half
minutes to gain a five-point
advantage only to fall behind
again before Steyn came to the
rescue.
Flanker Marcell Coetzee,
hooker and skipper Bismarck
du Plessis and left wing Tonderai Chavhanga scored tries for
the Sharks.
Fly-half Steyn succeeded
with two of three conversions
and four of five penalty attempts in perfect goalkicking
conditions.
Centre Malakai Fekitoa,
prop Kane Hames and centre
Phil Burleigh crossed the tryline for the always adventurous Highlanders. Fly-half
Lima Sopoaga did not miss a
shot at goal, converting the
three tries and also potting two
penalties.
The Sharks now head to
New Zealand to face record
seven-time champions the
Crusaders in Christchurch
next Saturday in the semi-finals and the other semi-final
on the same day will be an allAustralia affair between the
New South Wales Waratahs
and the Brumbies in Sydney.
The Brumbies edged defending champions the Chiefs
from New Zealand 32-30 earlier Saturday in another playoff
thriller.
SUPER
SEMIS
Saturday, July 26
CRUSADERS
V SHARKS
AMI Stadium,
Christchurch, 5.30pm
WARATAHS
V BRUMBIES
Allianz Stadium,
Sydney, 7.40pm
PERMUTATIONS
Crusaders and Waratahs win, final will
be played at ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Sharks and Waratahs win, final will be
played at ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Crusaders and Brumbies win, final will
be played at AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Sharks and Brumbies win, final will be
played at Kings Park, Durban
“Maybe three or four years
into a period of success you
can do it another way. And this
is no disrespect to the other
teams, but this year we want to
beat the best possible teams if
we’re to win the title.”
It is typical of the no-corners-cut mentality of Cheika,
but it also presents one of the
toughest tasks any side would
have to face to claim the
premiership.
The Brumbies are Australia’s most successful Super
Rugby franchise, and the Crusaders are the most successful
franchise of all time.
And despite hammering the
Brumbies 39-8 just three weeks
ago, the Tahs will face an altogether different beast this Saturday with Wallaby stars Matt
Toomua, Sam Carter, Joe
Tomane, Pat McCabe all missing from that game, while prop
Ruaidhri Murphy was forced to
start at hooker in the absence
of Josh Mann-Rea, who has
“It’s a great way to take momentum into the next couple
of rounds,” he said.
“Ideally you want to make
sure you get a comfortable win,
but at this stage of the competition it’s highly unlikely. We
know that if we can play well
enough, we can beat the Crusaders – it’s been done before.
For me, it is about getting us to
Christchurch and understanding we’ve got to be fresh.”
Waratahs’ Kurtley Beale during their recent win against the Queensland Reds
also returned. Cheika noted
after the Brumbies’ victory in
Canberra last Saturday, players
including Toomua, Nic White
and Ben Alexander were interviewed by Fox Sports and
wanted to play NSW rather
than the Crusaders.
“I’ve always known the
Brumbies to be a little bit more
guarded, so I found it very interesting that on the television
coverage they were talking
about wanting to face us,” Chei-
ka said. “They obviously think
they can beat us more than
they can beat the Crusaders.
They were showing that they
feel we’re an easier target.”
Brumbies captain Ben
Mowen, who described the
thrilling elimination final as
their “best performance in the
last three years”, did not hide
his enthusiasm for a showdown against NSW, with each
team having beaten the other
this year.
Picture: DARREN ENGLAND
“I think it’s massive, from
the supporters’ point of view,
you get two really in-form
sides going up against each
other,” Mowen said.
“It’s a game apiece this season so you essentially get a decider. You’re guaranteed an
Australian side in the Grand
Final, and obviously playing at
the SFS is a real bonus, that’s
going to be an amazing experience for guys to play at a full
house there.”
SHARKS
HIGHLANDERS
31
27
COASTAL SHARKS
Tries: M Coetzee B du Plessis
T Chavhanga
Conversions: F Steyn 2
Penalties: F Steyn 4
OTAGO HIGHLANDERS
Tries: M Fekitoa K Hame
P Burleigh.
Conversions: L Sopoaga 3
Penalties: L Sopoaga 2
NTNE01Z01MA - V1