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/ 10 October 2008
”In some competitions you get a prize for that,” said a rueful John Plumtree. The Sharks had just finished at the top of top of the Currie Cup log.
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/ 28 September 2008
The Sharks beat the Lions 34-20 in a vital Currie Cup match in Johannesburg on Saturday thanks to two huge blunders by Earl Rose.
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/ 14 September 2008
The Sharks ended their ten-match Currie Cup losing streak against the Cheetahs when they defeated the Bloemfontein-based team 22-10 on Saturday.
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/ 8 September 2008
An Australian surfer said a large shark towed him out to sea like a "powerful jet-ski" after it became entangled in the leg rope of his surfboard.
The Sharks held on for a hard-fought 16-11 win over the Lions in a crucial Absa Currie Cup match at the Absa Stadium on Saturday.
A shark was found in a swimming pool at one of Sydney’s most popular beaches on Friday.
Sharks in the Mediterranean Sea have suffered dramatic declines in the past few decades as overfishing has taken its toll on the sleek and ancient predators.
The Canterbury Crusaders and New South Wales Waratahs won their way to rugby’s Super 14 final, creating an emotional showdown for retiring coaches Robbie Deans and Ewen McKenzie. Deans guided the Crusaders to a 33-22 win on Saturday over the Wellington Hurricanes, their 10th final in 13 years of Super tournament rugby — and Deans can now bow out with his fifth and their seventh championship title.
New South Wales (NSW) will travel to Christchurch to play the Canterbury Crusaders in the Super 14 rugby final after beating the Sharks 28-13 in Sydney on Saturday. The Waratahs scored four tries to one and were never in any real trouble against a disappointing Sharks outfit.
Canterbury Crusaders coach Robbie Deans has urged his weary players to stay on track for a seventh Super 14 rugby title when they play their semifinal on Saturday against the Wellington Hurricanes. The Crusaders have begun to look worn in recent weeks, but Deans hopes the onset of the play-offs will stimulate their fighting spirit in the match at Christchurch.
Injuries, coaching concerns and travel fatigue loom as significant factors in the Super 14 rugby semifinals when the Crusaders, Waratahs, Sharks and Hurricanes front up on Saturday. Competition leaders the Crusaders are at home to the Hurricanes in the first knock-out match, followed by the second-placed Waratahs hosting the Sharks in Sydney.
The target for a Super 14 rugby semifinal berth for the Sharks was clear — a bonus-point victory initially or a win by 18 points or more — as they took to the field against the Chiefs of New Zealand at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday night. In the end, it was a convincing triumph as the necessary tries were secured and surpassed.
Isma-eel Dollie as one of a few lesser surprises in the Springbok training squad of 42 members that was named on Saturday night. The new Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, has included a number of players who are not regulars for their Super 14 franchises or who had limited opportunities because of injury this season.
World superstar Bryan Habana dotted down twice as Super 14 title holders the Northern Bulls crushed the Central Cheetahs 60-20 in a final-round mini-league match on Saturday. However, the sole South African winners of the championship will not feature in the knockout stages after poor early-season form.
It looks like the closely fought endgame of the Super 14 might turn Saturday’s announcement of the 45-man Springbok squad into something of a damp squib. Springbok coach Peter de Villiers will want to avoid disrupting the semifinal preparations of the Sharks and Stormers and will postpone naming players from those squads.
”Good golly, it’s Ollie,” exclaimed one excited Stormers supporter on arrival at Monday’s training session in Durbanville. There he was, Ollie le Roux, the 128kg prop who had finally appeared after much speculation in the past week that he would be joining the Stormers. ”He’s been running like a spring chicken,” said Frikkie Erasmus, the Stormers media manager.
The Canterbury Crusaders wrapped up top spot going into the Super 14 play-offs but the battle for the remaining three berths stayed wide open after the penultimate round over the weekend. With one game to play, six teams hold a mathematical chance of joining the Crusaders in the semifinals.
The Sharks collected a crucial five points to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Super 14 semifinals with a 33-14 win over the Cheetahs on Saturday. The Sharks scored two late tries by winger Odwa Ndungane for the bonus point to ensure they remain in contention for a last-four place with just one round of matches to come.
Former Springbok centre and current Sharks coach Dick Muir and Stormers assistant Gary Gold were on Friday named as new South African coach Peter de Villiers’s right-hand men. Muir, who led the Sharks Super 14 team to the final of the southern hemisphere inter-provincial competition last year, will take charge of the Springbok backs.
The Canterbury Crusaders extended their lead at the top of the Super 14 table to virtually assure themselves of a home semifinal after a hard-fought 18-10 win over the Coastal Sharks on Friday. With two rounds remaining, the chances of a semifinal spot for the Sharks — who were in third place going into the match — are waning after three straight losses.
South Africa’s Coastal Sharks face a moment of truth against the toughest team in rugby’s Super 14 when they put their chances of a home play-off on the line against the Canterbury Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday. The Sharks are feeling the effects of five demanding weeks on the road in Australia and New Zealand.
Leaders Canterbury Crusaders and the Sharks will be under extra scrutiny this weekend about how they react to last week’s first defeats in rugby’s Super 14 series. The moody Auckland Blues are bracing for a backlash from the chastened Crusaders, whose unbeaten eight-match record was unceremoniously ended by the Waikato Chiefs in Hamilton.
The Sharks believe their efforts to remain unbeaten in the Super 14 became more difficult when their 10th-round opponents, the ACT Brumbies, announced midweek that coach Laurie Fisher would not be re-hired for 2009. Super 14 tradition suggests that teams whose coaches are dismissed in the course of any season respond with an immediate form improvement.
The coaches of South Africa’s only two sides that still have a chance of making the Super 14 semifinals were upbeat for totally contrasting reasons after their teams’ wins over the weekend. While Sharks coach Dick Muir thought his charges were at last starting to put things together at the back, Rassie Erasmus was impressed with his Stormers forwards.
South Africa’s Sharks overcame an 11-point deficit after 20 minutes to beat the Otago Highlanders 19-17 Friday and maintain their unbeaten record through nine rounds of rugby’s Super 14. Twelfth-placed Otago threatened one of the bigger upsets of the season when they scored early tries to lead the second-placed Sharks 14-3.
The Cheetahs claimed their first Super 14 win of the season and moved off the bottom of the table by defeating the Queensland Reds 29-14 on Saturday. The Bloemfontein-based franchise also snatched a bonus point when centre JW Jonker scored a breakaway stoppage-time try at a sparsely populated Absa Stadium.
The Hurricanes and the Sharks battled to a 13-all draw in a controversial Super 14 rugby match played in atrocious conditions in Wellington on Saturday. Australian referee Paul Marks handed out a red card, a yellow card and awarded a penalty try, before ending the game without reacting to Hurricanes centre Conrad Smith being taken out of play in a potentially try-scoring move.
The Sharks put their unbeaten record on the line in their opening Australasian tour match of the Super 14 rugby series against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday. The Durban-based team, along with table-topping Canterbury Crusaders, are the only two teams yet to taste defeat in the southern hemisphere provincial competition.
The Sharks moved up to second in the Super 14 after a pair of second-half tries secured a 22-10 victory over the Queensland Reds on Saturday. The South Africans touched down in the 63rd and 67th minutes, breaking a determined Reds defence that was put under relentless pressure.
Sharks rugby coach Dick Muir has resolved the issues he had with timekeeper Gabriel Pappas following last Saturday’s Super 14 clash against the Lions at Ellis Park. Muir was involved in an altercation with Pappas after Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis was not allowed to return to the game following treatment for a cut to his eye.
The Coastal Sharks maintained their impressive start to this year’s Super 14 competition with a hard-fought 16-8 win over the Golden Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday. With five victories out of five, the men from Durban moved back into second spot on the southern-hemisphere rugby championship points table.
After a flying start to the season, the powerful Canterbury Crusaders are giving key players a breather for their Super 14 match against tail enders the Cheetahs on Saturday. Despite making six changes, the match remains crucial for the Crusaders with pressure on the regular bench-warmers to maintain the team’s unbeaten record.