Sharks show how to shake it up, rattle Kiwi teams, then roll them over

Saturday Comment

HERE were two points of significance to last week’s match between the Crusaders and Sharks in Christchurch that should be given more than just passing consideration by people in rugby. And I am not referring here to the obvious, which is that history was made by the Sharks at that venue and it was achieved by a team reduced to 14 men.

But the big moment of the game, which was the sending off of Sharks flank Jean Deysel, should not be allowed to disappear from memory just because the Sharks won.

Deysel was in the wrong. Stomping a player in the face is unacceptable regardless of the circumstances and would have been a sending off offence in any era.

But while Deysel’s action was unacceptable, those who make the rules and apply them, and those who officiate in the games, should take note of what led to his reaction. New Zealanders have arguably long been adept at cheating at the breakdown, but the new habit of holding back players on the other side of the ruck and thus removing them as a factor is taking it to a new level.

When the Stormers visited Christchurch earlier in the season it was only good refereeing that prevented Schalk Burger from being sanctioned.

You may remember the incident – what was picked up on the first bit of television evidence was Burger’s arms waving around wildly as if he was striking out. It was only on much closer inspection that it became apparent Burger was being held at the breakdown and his frustration was understandable.

The referee rightly perceived it as Burger trying to free himself, and no sanction was imposed. Apparently, the Stormers players were told after the game that it was something they were victim to when they played the Chiefs a few weeks previously. And that was why it became a topic for discussion in the media when the Stormers built up to their game against the Chiefs.

I remember thinking that if the trend continued it was an accident waiting to happen. Maybe the Deysel incident last week was that accident. Something needs to be done to ensure that the practice is eradicated from the game before more accidents happen.

The second group of rugby people who should have taken note of last week’s Christchurch result are those deluded individuals who think the Springboks can beat the All Blacks at their own game, which is presumably what the South Africans were trying to do at Ellis Park in the deciding match of last year’s Rugby Championship.

To me it is no coincidence that the two South African teams that have come closest to beating the Crusaders in Christchurch in recent times both based their quest around a similar template.

TThe Stormers weren’t down to 15 men in their game there two months ago but they defended so well that the Crusaders became clearly rattled, just as they did against the Sharks.

I can’t remember a Test match between South Africa and New Zealand when the Boks have prevailed with anything other than a suffocation strategy (in the old days they used to call it subdue and penetrate), and the significant Super Rugby wins scored by local teams in New Zealand have followed a similar trend.

While Heyneke Meyer rightly pointed out last year that the All Blacks have been on an upward curve with their mental strength, Kiwi rugby teams do remain an odd beast in that they can be rattled when they are involved in low scoring games where they just can’t get away from their opponents.

High scoring close games, like the Ellis Park Test last year and the Soccer City clash in 2010, don’t seem to be a problem for the All Blacks. They have belief when they know they can score against their opponents and they back their better conditioning and more potent attacking weaponry to get the job done.

It is when you drag them into a space where they start making mistakes and feel they just can’t get it together, and wonder if they can break the opposition defence down, that they become vulnerable.

There were several experienced All Blacks in the Crusaders side last Saturday but their temperament looked more suspect with every minute that passed without them being able to add to their first try. The knowledge that it was 14 men holding them out and that they should be expected to get the job done didn’t help.

There is no denying South African rugby, in order to become more appealing to fans who have many competing sporting codes and forms of entertainment vying for their attention, needs to find a way to become more skilful and attack minded. But that is a process that will take a long time and will require different conditioning as well as a coaching revolution that starts with the skill sets and thought processes of schools players.

In the right here and right now, the way the Sharks won last week is the only relatively tried and tested way to eat away at the All Black aura of invincibility.