Why the Sharks will beat the Waratahs

Call me crazy, but there are many reasons for predicting a Sharks victory on Saturday. Firstly, John Smit is back at hooker. The prop experiment has been a fiasco at every level, the Springbok frontrow is a joke.

And now so are the Sharks, even though they feature five current Springboks.

But order is restored, and Carstens and Du Plessis are real props, not converted 8th men or hookers.

Also, Ruan Pienaar is back at scrumhalf.

Equally unsuccessful has been the Ruan Pienaar flyhalf experiment. The guy might have the aptitude, but he doesn’t want to do it, so why force him? He’s a great scrumhalf – he kicks, passes and runs exceptionally well. He going to recover his joie de vivre and win the match.

Then there’s Riaan Swanepoel.

This guy runs straight and hard, and will actually get the Sharks some front foot ball. The past few weeks have seen Ruan take it sideways, Jacobs continue the trend, and Murray head off into the 5th row of the stands while JP hangs around his own tryline waiting to make a tackles.

With Swanepoel at 12, look for a carbon copy of the Bulls game-plan: crash ball from the centers, quick recycle to a very grateful Ryan Kankowski, and then spread it wide to the wings on 3rd phase.

Unstoppable. Especially because Kanko is the only guy making breaks currently.

There’s also the Law of Averages. The Sharks haven’t beaten the Waratahs in Sydney for ten years. That’s got to come to an end sooner or later. I’m picking tomorrow.

Plus, when did they last lose four on the trot?

That’s four good reasons. I’m still looking for a Goode reason, but maybe we misjudge the guy.