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Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit (23-07-2011, 18:00 GMT)
Natal is preparing for round 2, having beaten the Bulls to a pulp, winning 35-16, scoring 4 tries in the proces. Big man was Ross Cronje, who played his first match for the Sharks in over 2 years. The call-up of Charl McLeod to the Springboks, the injury of Conrad Hoffmann and Michalak moving to fly-half in the absence of Lambie (Another Springbok call-up) made way for the scrum-half, who's twin brother Guy, is used to playing fly-half.
His rush in the first half from a scrum, opened up the Bulls defence and gave Botes, Daniel and Coetzee the opportunity to outnumber the backline and go over for a 5-pointer. Keegan Daniel, who has been appointed to lead the Natal province this Currie Cup (he takes over the captaincy from Stefan Terblanche) was amazing as well together with Frédéric Michalak. In the win over the Noord-Transvaal provincial side, the French Barbarian (he scored a try against England for the Baa-Baas earlier this year) took things into his own hands in leading the way, scoring 20 points in total. His first points were from a try, after good offloading in the corner.
Another player who stood out, was Craig Burden. He didn't get a lot of chances in the Super 15, with John Smit and Bismarck du Plessis, both being favoured over him. He took the chance he got and despite the game being tight (Burden plays best in open play, with his agility, pace and technique) he played as good as he did last year at home against the Blue Bulls. The 25 year-old Durban-native was dominant in the scrums, almost taking apart the much experienced Gary Botha, who gave him some compliments in the post-game interviews.
With a bonus-point win, the Sharks are looking to stay on a high. They are travelling to Nelspruit, to take on the Pumas. The Mpumalanga side almost caused an upset in the first match of the season. Facing the Lions at Ellis Park, things didn't look to bright, but Ashwin Scott gave them the early lead with a magnificent rush down the touchline.
Ricardo Croy, the Pumas' fly-half, was the man of the match, having some wonderful offloads and long range passes. Converting all 3 tries, he was very decent with the boot, only missing 1 penalty. He added 6 points with a penalty and drop-goal. The Pumas, who are part of the Lions Super Rugby franchise, have some decent players who would do fine in the Lions franchise.
Marius Coetzer, the big lock, was strong in the line-outs and might make the day of Skeate and Bresler very difficult.
One thing I thought was very odd, was the fact that the Pumas played in red in the first half, and switched to black in the second half. Against the Sharks, that little trick won't be possible.
Recent results:
2010 Pumas 14-30 Sharks
2006 Pumas 14-82 Sharks
2004 Pumas 30-13 Sharks
2003 Pumas 35-27 Sharks
