Bulls
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SHARKS

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No contest indeed! GO SHARKS GO!

C'mon peeps, the biggest rugby weekend since 95 & more people are talking politics :ohno:

Continuity for Sharks

Dick Muir has, for the third successive week, had the good fortune of being able to maintain continuity in team selection as he once again names an unchanged line-up for the historic all South African Vodacom Super 14 final to take place at 3pm on Saturday at The Absa Stadium Durban.

Given the enormity of the occasion, it will be of some degree of both satisfaction that he can rely on the same charges to get the job done, as well as relief that any injury concerns he might have had have been ruled out.

Adrian Jacobs (pictured) has been a highly effective replacement player who has played a very important role (haven’t all the players?), and last week sustained a gash to the face, but the swelling has subsided, and fears of a fractured cheekbone were laid to rest earlier in the week, providing him with the opportunity of taking his rightful place in the starting 22.

JP Pietersen took a knock to the hip, but was able to play on against the Blues in last week’s home semi-final. On Tuesday he was pronounced an 80-20 possibility, but has fortunately been passed fit to play.

The tournament’s leading try-scorer has been a constant danger to the opposition, and he will relish the opportunity to once again show his attacking prowess.

The match is sure to be characterised by territorial kicking, especially from the Bulls with Derick Hougaard marshalling matters behind his team’s gargantum pack. He will of course battle it out with the prodigious boot of Francois Steyn and the educated one of Percy Montgomery, but is felt my many to be the catalyst in his team.

“Derrick Hougaard has shown how lethal he is with the boot,” said Dick Muir. “He’s become so much of a complete player, lots of work has been put into him, and will have to watch him closely so that he doesn’t dominate the game with his boot.

“But in saying that, you can’t concentrate on just one player; the Bulls have a whole host of game breakers, they are littered with World Class players, and it will be a big ask for our players to look after those game breakers.”

Sharks Starting Lineup

15. Percy Montgomery
14. Francois Steyn
13. Waylon Murray
12. Brad Barritt
11. JP Pietersen
10. Butch James
9. Ruan Pienaar
8. Ryan Kankowski
7. AJ Venter
6. Jacques Botes
5. Johann Muller
4. Johan Ackermann
3. BJ Botha
2. John Smit (Capt)
1. Deon Carstens
Replacements:
16. Bismarck du Plessis
17. Tendai Mtawarira
18. Albert van den Berg
19. Warren Britz
20. Bob Skinstad
21. Rory Kockott
22. Adrian Jacobs



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its a HUGE one!! the trophy will be staying Durbs!! Really gotta give those dutchman a reality check and let their ego's down. The way they act you would think that they own the sport.

love the pics...wonder the outfits this week????

LOL for the bulls one!!

^^Yeh I me wonders too, but then again, anything looks good on them :D. I miss your friend there Dys, she should be like the head flasher girl!

oh kak gng miss the final coz of work fock! it... and my boss is off 2 watch the rugby anyway think ill go for the sharks im tired of winning would be nice to lose once ps: did u see the bulls cheerleaders @ the saders game

^^What shit, f*ck work man! its the SUPER 14 FINAL! & its being contested by 2 SA TEAMS! Here at my work place nobody is doing work, just talking about the final tomorrow!

GO

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GO!

I know Im over doing it now, but I just had to post this 1

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^^Yeh I me wonders too, but then again, anything looks good on them :D. I miss your friend there Dys, she should be like the head flasher girl!

sadly she is off working in london now for 18 months...

Less Knight Rider, more flashing. (And more Bull-bashing.)

Those Shark gals are HOTT!!!!! Thanks for posting!

imma be watching the match tommorow on setenta sports here in the states....I know the sharks gonna win cuz they are at home.....i dont get rugby tho lmao...how is it played?

on way to stadium now...enjoy it guys!! i'm kitted head to toe in sharks!!

Bulls 20- sharks 19 .......Sharks are chokers....that was a good game tho.

what player on the sharks is called the beast?

GUTTED is not the word, Im speechless, shocked, tired, hot, bortherd, honestly I think this ALL a bad dream! Please let me wake up. We had it won! WHY OH WHY! :cry: oh beast is a Zimbabwean player, Sumthing Wattiwara. his awesome. Steyn had a shocker today, 2 drop goal attempts, n missing the conversion :ohno:

aww poor durbsboi....that was a nail biting game....tho i dont get rugby ...i think today changed my mind about the sport...it was an exciting game...that was the 1st time i watch a full match of rugby and it made me a fan.
gotta credit the bulls...they never let down and came out winners on sat..sharks had the most talent but bulls had the heart on sat.

:cry: 1 point! 1 flippin point! WHY? WHY? STYEN, JUS CONVERT THE DAMN TRY! THAT WAS ALL!

good game, shame neither team won it, but the sharks lost it...oh Butch, one handling error i recall may have cost the team the momentum, my aunty has no treats for you this week:bash:

Are they gonna have a victory parade in downtown pretoria after this win for the bulls.....or not...how do they celebrate a cup win in SA

Yeh those sons of b*tches are going to parade the trophy around, proberbly with Steve Cockmeyer singing along in the bus.

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^^ :lol: Its too easy to blame the missed goal kick, but the Sharks should have had it won with 10 minutes to go...handling errors were costly. Suppose after watching the crusaders play in super finals, they make it look so easy. Experience in pressure games was limited across both teams, hopefully this springbok form continues well into October:)

You know, during the minutes added on, THAT WAS 81MIN & 23 SECONDS, in the ruck, a BULLS player knocked the ball on, I saw it, but then a BULLS player in the ruck on the floor pulled the ball back, Habana collected, ran side ways & scored. They clearly knocked in on, God knows how the sideline ref didnt see it, I mean even steve walsh, he can see shit happening everywhere, but how he didnt see that, eish I dno, cause if they did spot that, it would had been a scrum to sharks & the game would have been blown over & we being the victors, But NOOOOOOOO they decide to turn a blind eye to the knock on. I thought I was crazy, until Mike Greenway justified me by stating what I saw in his article yesterday.

Oh & Habana should have been sent off in the 1st minute for that tackle on Percy!

Im not being bitter, Im just trying to make sense of this loonasy

whats that durbsboi?? u wanna touch the trophy cause u havent won anything in ages....sure here oh go ......oh wait u might knock it on....we'll keep here in pta cant let u silly sharkies drop it

So I supported the Sharks and Man United...
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

whats that durbsboi?? u wanna touch the trophy cause u havent won anything in ages....sure here oh go ......oh wait u might knock it on....we'll keep here in pta cant let u silly sharkies drop it

Enjoy it while you can, we coming after you in the Currie Cup :evil:

So I supported the Sharks and Man United...
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

you made the biggest mistake by supporting Utd, no chance they were going to win it.

Walsh: I could’ve made a mistakePosted on

Steve Walsh admits he could have missed a knock-on in the dying minutes of Saturday’s Super 14 final that proved to be decisive for both sides.

The New Zealand-born referee was sprinting to keep up with a move that had stretched the width of the pitch and broke down close to the Sharks 22. Television replays show a Bulls player knock the ball forward as Walsh arrived at the ruck.

The Bulls then some how recollected the ball and cleared to the backline in a move that eventually culminated in Bryan Habana’s match-winning try.

Speaking to keo.co.za Walsh said he had not conducted the official performance review yet, but had seen television replays which he thought could have exposed a crucial error.

“Having had a look at it again I think I could have missed something there,” he told keo.co.za. “But while I’m not excusing errors, referees do make them in every game. When a game is close like Saturday’s was, there’s always a spotlight on every decision you make. ”

Walsh, who was officiating in his first Super 14 final and his 50th Super Rugby fixture of his career, was not particularly impressed with the quality of rugby on display - but added that he hadn’t expected a fluent, flowing contest.

“Look, to be honest the standard of rugby wasn’t that high - but given that it was a final - I guess you’d expect that,” he said. “The intensity was right up there with the best matches I’ve officiated at though, and the finish, well, that was just unbelievable.

“The atmosphere was electric, and when the Sharks scored late on that rose a couple of notches. There were black and white flags flying everywhere, but three and a half minutes later a gutsy Bulls side made sure the only flags to be seen were the Blue ones.”

We won the game, that was it, he should have blown for a black scrum & called of the game. I dont care who got the trophy, or who history writes down as the winner's, we are the winner's in my eyes & if you do not want to admit it hsark , its fine by me, coz we going be back next year!

I agree...The bulls got lucky

The son of a bitch!

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son of a cow

HOW to do you put a cork back on a champagne bottle?? ask a sharks supporter lolhahaha

no more sharks cricketers in the SA team

I mean dolphins..

Steve’s shocker
Tuesday 22 May 2007


Here’s the photographic evidence to prove New Zealand referee Steve Walsh
incorrectly determined the outcome of the Super 14 final.

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Walsh told this website’s Ryan Vrede he may have got it wrong. No Steve
you DID get it wrong.


This is not a picture to encourage play on. Walsh should have blown for
either a knock, or penalised the Bulls player on the ground for scooping
the ball back after losing it or any one of three Bulls players for not
being on their feet at the ruck.


Whatever the choice play should have been stopped and possession should
have been handed to the Sharks. It would have also been the end of the
game.


Once again a failure to use technology has determined a championship and
where the bloody hell was the touch judge’s vision?


This was a shocker!


Richard Young, who sent the clip, writes (sic)


Dear Country People


I only watched the last three minutes of the main game on Saturday
afternoon for reasons that might have been deduceable on Sunday.


But I have captured a series of nine still images of the video between the
45th and 47th seconds of the 80th minute thereof.


Here is just one of them in the 45th second of the 80th minute.


Would anyone care to offer an opinion on what is the meaning of this?


Apologies to recipients of this email who have no interest whatsoever in
the outcome of the Vodacom Super Whatever 2007.


Some Answer Options
Is it legal?
Is it illegal?
Is it blindness?
Is it shortsightedness?
Is it outofsightedness?
Is it conspiracy?
Is it sad?
Is it not sad?
Is it a combination of any of the above?
Posted by keo

Why we lost - Steven Gerrard
24th May 2007
Philliepo Kokalopadis:

With the stage set for a match for revenge, AC Milan got what they were looking for. Two goals from the only two chances they had in that match sealed victory for the Rossoneri. Liverpool as always never gave up the fight with a goal coming from Dirk Kuyt in the 89th min. A come back was certainly on, but time had run out, with 12 seconds left, Liverpool were still attacking at Milan & the ball had just went out for a Liverpool throw in, but the German referee decided not to play the 12 seconds & ended the game at 2-1 in favour of the Italians.

When interviewed after the match, Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard explained that the team tried their best, but did not take their chances which eventually cost them the game. The stats showed that Liverpool were the better attacking team. When asked why was Liverpool so poor in front goal Steven Gerrard said "We're all still terribly shocked from the Sharks result over the weekend, poor referring cost them the game, a game that was won by the Sharks. We all at Liverpool were disgusted to see such a blatant fowl being committed & being allowed in such a massive game. If its anything that dampened our spirits from winning tonight, it was definitely that" Gerrard then continued to say: "Our hearts were with the Sharks team & their supporter's, Rafa even said, if Steve Walsh had committed such a mistake in Spain, his balls would have been chopped off & fed to him".

The Athens finale wasn't a carbon copy of Istanbul, but was none the less more entertaining than the boring F.A Cup final that was witnessed at the new Wembley, its was a game of chances not taken, eventually costing the BETTER side the game. Rafael Benitez vowed to the Liverpool faith full that he will bring number 6 home to them & to look forward to the Red Revolution next season.

Dammit! Here's the admission! Small consolation though!

--------------------------

Touch judge's crucial error cost Sharks
Mike Greenaway
May 23 2007 at 07:36AM

The pain of the Super 14 final defeat by the Bulls won't go away for the Sharks, and the wound opened a little deeper on Tuesday when Kiwi referee Steve Walsh admitted that the match officials missed at least one infringement by the Bulls in that last mad minute leading up to Bryan Habana's title-clinching try.

As Walsh was arriving at the Sharks 22 at the ruck that preceded the Habana try, a Bulls player knocked the ball on, and then there was a deliberate act of illegal play when a desperate Bulls player lying in the ruck used his hands to steal the ball back from the Sharks' side of the ruck.

All of this occurred at the feet of the New Zealander touch judge, who seemed paralysed into inactivity, and remained frozen even when Walsh looked across to him to give a call when the ball miraculously shot across on to the Bulls side.

Walsh said that he had watched TV replays of the ruck and said the replays suggested there had been a crucial error.

"Having had a look at it again, I think I could have missed something there," he told keo.co.za. "But while I'm not excusing errors, referees do make them in every game.

Walsh, who was officiating in his first Super 14 final, added: "Look, to be honest, the standard of rugby wasn't that high; (but) the intensity was right up there with the best matches I've officiated at... and the finish, well, that was just unbelievable. "


This article was originally published on page 24 of The Mercury on May 23, 2007

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HAHAHAHAHAHA Brilliant cartoon!