URC 2022/23 Round 8

Tooting Carmen · Nov 23, 2022

Not a bad squad for the Scarlets in SA, considering the players missing through either injury or international presence: https://www.scarlets.wales/article/scarlets-take-30-man-squad-for-south-african-test/

TRF_stormer2010 · Nov 24, 2022

Thanks for starting the thread!

With the amount of injuries for the Bokke the Stormers have had to lose a few players to test duty whereas I think otherwise our locks, Fourie and Roos as well as Libbok from the backs would've been available for us. Still no Nel. Happy enough with the side we are fielding despite that.

On the one hand I don't particularly rate our starting locks so no real loss there and we are deep wnough in the backrow to cover for Fourie and Roos. Happy enough for Wolhuter to get a shot to develop our depth and start giving him more opportunity. I had high hopes for him and his career suffered a massive knock with almost two years out injured and coming back in slowly. We'll see how he goes.

15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Cornel Smit, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak

Substitutes: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Jean-Luc du Plessis

Tooting Carmen · Nov 24, 2022

Scarlets scrum-half Gareth Davies believes his early season form did not warrant a place in Wales' squad for the autumn internationals.

Davies was left out in favour of Scarlets team-mates Kieran Hardy and Dane Blacker and Tomos Williams.
The 32-year-old is in South Africa preparing for a two-game tour starting against Stormers.

"My form was nowhere near good enough going into that autumn series," said Davies.

"I have embraced it and have been working hard the last couple of weeks.

"Hopefully this next block of games between now and the new year I can get a bit of form back and we will see what happens from there."

Scarlets are without current Wales players Ken Owens, Ryan Elias, Josh Macleod, Sam Costelow, Dane Blacker, Leigh Halfpenny and Kieran Hardy with Wayne Pivac's side playing Australia outside World Rugby's international window.

Tonga lock San Lousi is back for Scarlets after suspension but his fellow countryman Vae'a Fifita is unavailable after playing for his country against Romania last weekend.

Fifita is expected to link up with the Scarlets for the match against Lions on Sunday, 4 December.

Centre Scott Williams returns against Stormers, while back-row trio Dan Davis, Blade Thomson and Tomás Lezana are also back in the ranks after injury.

Davis makes his first start of the season, while Thomson and Lezana are named on the replacements bench.

Scarlets are 15th in the table after only one win in the opening seven games while defending champions Stormers are fourth after only suffering one defeat so far.

"We have had a good week here in Cape Town and are looking forward to getting back out there on the field," said Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel.

"We are not where we want to be, there is no hiding from that, but we have an exciting block ahead of us, starting out here against the Stormers."

The home side will also be without their internationals with South Africa facing England.

Lock Gary Porter will make his Stormers debut while centre Cornel Smit, fly-half Kade Wolhuter and flanker Marcel Theunissen all make their first starts of the season.

Stormers: Clayton Blommetjies; Angelo Davids, Cornel Smit, Dan du Plessis, Leolin Zas; Kade Wolhuter, Paul de Wet; Ali Vermaak, Joseph Dweba, Neethling Fouche, Ernst van Rhyn (capt), Gary Porter, Junior Pokomela, Marcel Theunissen, Hacjivah Dayimani.

Replacements: JJ Kotze, Leon Lyons, Sazi Sandi, Connor Evans, Ben-Jason Dixon, Nama Xaba, Herschel Jantjies, Jean-Luc du Plessis.

Scarlets: Johnny McNicholl; Tom Rogers, Jonathan Davies (capt), Scott Williams, Ryan Conbeer; Dan Jones, Gareth Davies; Steff Thomas, Daf Hughes, Harri O'Connor, Sam Lousi, Tom Price, Aaron Shingler, Dan Davis, Sione Kalamafoni.

Replacements: Taylor Davies, Kemsley Mathias, WillGriff John, Blade Thomson, Tomás Lezana, Archie Hughes, Rhys Patchell, Steff Evans.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)

Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira (SARU), Paul Mente (SARU)

TMO:Frank Murphy (IRFU).

big ginger 8

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#4

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T

Tooting Carmen

Bench Player

Nov 25, 2022

#5

Good try by Tom Rogers. (Clutching at straws?)

big ginger 8

Hall of Fame

TRF Legend

Nov 26, 2022

#6

Great catch pass from Osborne given the circumstances.

Le Frére Alpha

Fat Boi

TRF Legend

TRF Supporter

Nov 26, 2022

#7

Russell should start for Ireland.

I'm 3.5 Guinness in

T

Tooting Carmen

Bench Player

Nov 27, 2022

#8

Well done Cardiff! Did not see that one coming - winning 35-0 at the Sharks! Kudos also to the Ospreys for managing at least a bonus point try and staying within twenty points despite their shadow squad.

W

Welsh Exile

First XV

TRF Legend

Nov 27, 2022

#9

Tooting Carmen said:
Well done Cardiff! Did not see that one coming - winning 35-0 at the Sharks! Kudos also to the Ospreys for managing at least a bonus point try and staying within twenty points despite their shadow squad.

Just watching the game now. Sharks look terrible to be fair. Not to take anything away as it’s still an impressive result and performance

Groundhog

Grond van der Hogg

TRF Legend

TRF Supporter

Nov 28, 2022

#10

Happy with that win for Munster. I think the ship is steadying a bit. With that said we were comfortably better than Connacht and let them back in a bit. They didn't deserve a point out of that game. Still 5 points is an important result. Another must win against Edinburgh next week

T

Tooting Carmen

Bench Player

Nov 28, 2022

#11

Groundhog said:
Happy with that win for Munster. I think the ship is steadying a bit. With that said we were comfortably better than Connacht and let them back in a bit. They didn't deserve a point out of that game. Still 5 points is an important result. Another must win against Edinburgh next week

Yeah why have Munster had such a poor season (at least by their high standards)? Is it more the coaching or the players?

Groundhog

Grond van der Hogg

TRF Legend

TRF Supporter

Nov 28, 2022

#12

Tooting Carmen said:
Yeah why have Munster had such a poor season (at least by their high standards)? Is it more the coaching or the players?

Adjusting to a new system for the most part I'd say. It's an entirely new regime in there and Mike Prendergast clearly has ambitions to move the ball more than we have in recent times. They've been improving measurably though I'd have to say. Rotten time with injuries hasn't helped either. We've used pretty much every academy player we have so far this season, so while I'm not happy with where we are on the table, I think we will come reasonably good and the amount of players we blooded (guys like Edogbo have been massive finds) should stand to us.

saulan

First XV

Nov 28, 2022

#13

Sean Everitt is out as Sharks coach following that Cardiff loss:

'This is a sad development': Sharks and Everitt part ways

NEWS: Sharks head coach Sean Everitt has stepped down from his role with immediate effect.

rugby365.com

Honestly, best thing that could happen to the Sharks in my view. They have some of the best talent and incredible investment, but their coaching seems to have been the weak link. Now with potentially some proper coaching they may be a lot more formidable. I know the team was weaker because of the Boks game this weekend, but they still featured a number of Springboks/internationals and should've looked to have at least gotten a point on the board.

T

Tooting Carmen

Bench Player

Nov 28, 2022

#14

saulan said:
Sean Everitt is out as Sharks coach following that Cardiff loss:

'This is a sad development': Sharks and Everitt part ways

NEWS: Sharks head coach Sean Everitt has stepped down from his role with immediate effect.

rugby365.com

Honestly, best thing that could happen to the Sharks in my view. They have some of the best talent and incredible investment, but their coaching seems to have been the weak link. Now with potentially some proper coaching they may be a lot more formidable. I know the team was weaker because of the Boks game this weekend, but they still featured a number of Springboks/internationals and should've looked to have at least gotten a point on the board.

Also, it was the first time I have ever seen a try chalked off even after the conversion was taken, although according to the ref a try only automatically stands once the re-start has been taken...

T

Tooting Carmen

Bench Player

Nov 28, 2022

#15

Groundhog said:
Adjusting to a new system for the most part I'd say. It's an entirely new regime in there and Mike Prendergast clearly has ambitions to move the ball more than we have in recent times. They've been improving measurably though I'd have to say. Rotten time with injuries hasn't helped either. We've used pretty much every academy player we have so far this season, so while I'm not happy with where we are on the table, I think we will come reasonably good and the amount of players we blooded (guys like Edogbo have been massive finds) should stand to us.

Well last season Cardiff used lots of academy players (principally because the "real" Cardiff team were trapped in SA for ages when Omicron broke out), and this season they are the best-performing Welsh team. (Granted, that isn't necessarily saying very much, but still look at that match against the Sharks!)

unrated

First XV

TRF Legend

Nov 28, 2022

#16

It was apparently the first time ever that the Sharks as a Franchise has been nulled in a game, and the first since the pre-fanchise era when they were held scoreless in 1972.

Ed Coetzee the CEO took the interview duties after the match, apologizing to the the fans and promising immediate action. But I did not think they would do it. It's not that great to cut our coach midseason, it puts more pressure on Neil, they could have just downgraded Everit, and made him more involved with the academy while the other coaches got more responsibility.

I thank Everit for his service over 15 years to the Sharks, he ultimately did not achieve as much as was expected, but his contribution to the youth teams is valued.

It's not disrespectful to Cardiff, the loss was a huge setback for the team, home games cant be lost, this team was not a team devoid of talent. The manner of defeat hurt people, what we offered was negligible. I guess reflecting on it heads were bound to roll, but, sadly, this had to happen midseason.

We need to now invest in a world-class head coach, need more data analysts, and would love to bring in someone like former Springbok Psychologist Henning Gericke to help the players deal with the mental aspect of their game. It's a very questionable side of our game.

I hope Ed and company are above this to now use this as an excuse for renewed "building", success needs to happen this year, we need to win a ***le or more change is needed. We need the ROI now not next year.

Players need to wake up if they are to realize their ambitions, someone will need to start emerging out of our "bubbling under the group".

Well done Cardiff, you ****** us up at home and now massive change is being swept across the franchise. I hope something good leads out of this.

This will be good for a potential future rivalry. I can guarantee that the next time we play Cardiff that absolutely everybody involved at the Shark will know that it's expected to redeem themselves. I can just imagine that the best team being prioritized for Cardiff, and a big media buildup to this fixture next year.

T

Tooting Carmen

Bench Player

Nov 29, 2022

#17

unrated said:
It was apparently the first time ever that the Sharks as a Franchise has been nulled in a game, and the first since the pre-fanchise era when they were held scoreless in 1972.

Ed Coetzee the CEO took the interview duties after the match, apologizing to the the fans and promising immediate action. But I did not think they would do it. It's not that great to cut our coach midseason, it puts more pressure on Neil, they could have just downgraded Everit, and made him more involved with the academy while the other coaches got more responsibility.

I thank Everit for his service over 15 years to the Sharks, he ultimately did not achieve as much as was expected, but his contribution to the youth teams is valued.

It's not disrespectful to Cardiff, the loss was a huge setback for the team, home games cant be lost, this team was not a team devoid of talent. The manner of defeat hurt people, what we offered was negligible. I guess reflecting on it heads were bound to roll, but, sadly, this had to happen midseason.

We need to now invest in a world-class head coach, need more data analysts, and would love to bring in someone like former Springbok Psychologist Henning Gericke to help the players deal with the mental aspect of their game. It's a very questionable side of our game.

I hope Ed and company are above this to now use this as an excuse for renewed "building", success needs to happen this year, we need to win a ***le or more change is needed. We need the ROI now not next year.

Players need to wake up if they are to realize their ambitions, someone will need to start emerging out of our "bubbling under the group".

Well done Cardiff, you ****** us up at home and now massive change is being swept across the franchise. I hope something good leads out of this.

This will be good for a potential future rivalry. I can guarantee that the next time we play Cardiff that absolutely everybody involved at the Shark will know that it's expected to redeem themselves. I can just imagine that the best team being prioritized for Cardiff, and a big media buildup to this fixture next year.

So do you expect the Sharks to make a great comeback and eat everything in sight?

JohnKA

Bench Player

Nov 29, 2022

#18

Was about time Sean got the boot. Hope Powell is up for the job. Sink or swim.

unrated

First XV

TRF Legend

Nov 29, 2022

#19

Tooting Carmen said:
So do you expect the Sharks to make a great comeback and eat everything in sight?

Nope, I dont think Powell is ready yet to succeed in his first spell as a 15 man coach. Not on his own that is

Bluemoon

First XV

TRF Legend

Nov 30, 2022

#20

unrated said:
It was apparently the first time ever that the Sharks as a Franchise has been nulled in a game, and the first since the pre-fanchise era when they were held scoreless in 1972.

Ed Coetzee the CEO took the interview duties after the match, apologizing to the the fans and promising immediate action. But I did not think they would do it. It's not that great to cut our coach midseason, it puts more pressure on Neil, they could have just downgraded Everit, and made him more involved with the academy while the other coaches got more responsibility.

I thank Everit for his service over 15 years to the Sharks, he ultimately did not achieve as much as was expected, but his contribution to the youth teams is valued.

It's not disrespectful to Cardiff, the loss was a huge setback for the team, home games cant be lost, this team was not a team devoid of talent. The manner of defeat hurt people, what we offered was negligible. I guess reflecting on it heads were bound to roll, but, sadly, this had to happen midseason.

We need to now invest in a world-class head coach, need more data analysts, and would love to bring in someone like former Springbok Psychologist Henning Gericke to help the players deal with the mental aspect of their game. It's a very questionable side of our game.

I hope Ed and company are above this to now use this as an excuse for renewed "building", success needs to happen this year, we need to win a ***le or more change is needed. We need the ROI now not next year.

Players need to wake up if they are to realize their ambitions, someone will need to start emerging out of our "bubbling under the group".

Well done Cardiff, you ****** us up at home and now massive change is being swept across the franchise. I hope something good leads out of this.

This will be good for a potential future rivalry. I can guarantee that the next time we play Cardiff that absolutely everybody involved at the Shark will know that it's expected to redeem themselves. I can just imagine that the best team being prioritized for Cardiff, and a big media buildup to this fixture next year.

Still have huge respect for the Sharks and boy do Cardiff fans know what it's like to have a bad game and have the wrong set up in the past. I enjoyed the game at the arms park last year as well (not just as we nicked that one), although Cardiff have played the Sharks without the SA and Wales internationals available, which is a shame. I'd welcome a friendly rivalry with someone other than the Dragons haha. Hope the season turns around for you with some change.

Rhys Carre continues to make a complete mockery of Pivac, he's by far the in form loose head in Wales. Thomas Young has also been a great signing and also unlucky to miss out to Macleod and Lydiate in my opinion, but then happy they've both been available to Cardiff.

I think the main take away was game management and fitness for me - it's something we've been rubbish at in the last few years and it made it very difficult for the Sharks to get any rhythm. Need to take this form into the next game against the Bulls, which will be a huge challenge, and try to be more consistent.