[VIDEO] Crusaders vs Sharks: Super Rugby semi-final highlights, scores, blog

Daz is a killer :) Killer Daz! Hehehe!!

No, it is fair to say that overall they are the greatest team in Super Rugby History, winning the most titles. They may not be the best team year in, year out, but as a whole they have been the best/most consistent.

You can't really compare the side vs England. It was stripped of all its talent and the game was used more as a promotional game as well as a chance for the English players to stretch their legs.

The intent was clear and he did make contact albeit with his forearm after wisely deciding not to throw the ''cowards punch''.(we have those on almost a daily basis here in Kings Cross) Should have been yellow carded. This is the problem with rugby laws. Just too much interpretation available to officials. Bakkies Botha would have been red carded and hounded for weeks , questions in parliament etc, etc :-) I assess it by what it says about the mans character. From behind etc. Not my kind of a guy.

Agreed. The lack of commitment in, and to, the tackle, combined with serious deficiencies in technique, disastrously compounds the other problems (e.g. the ones as highlighted by BB). Ah well, next year...

True. They provided the Crusaders the ball in places where missed tackles were very likely. 1. Kicking decisions/execution was primary reason. 2. Extreme deficiencies in handling & high ball nailed the coffin. 3. Weak and missed tackles didn't help...really, I would characterize it as a lack of aggression.

Yes, hopefully we can nurture Thomas well. Matt Stevens' coming to Durban too, hopefully we give all our props enough playing time. I know stats don't say the full deal, but Espnscrum has Du Toit making a grand total of one tackle in each of the Highlanders and Crusaders games. Were NZ players afraid to take on the Tank Engine? Or is it something else?

Sharks didn't lose because of missed tackles, they executed their game plan poorly and provided the Crusaders attacking ball which kept them under pressure, hence their defences weren't aligned at times, at other times they shot the line and only then the one on one missed tackles counted against them. Crusaders first try came from two errors by Jordaan, firstly his poor kick and then his one on one miss on Read. The second try was because the Sharks were on attack, they didn't attack the ruck, was turned over and then their defence wasn't aligned, big gap to exploit. If you rely on kicking it has to work, if it doesn't you have to adapt either the tactical kicking you employ (grubbers instead of up and unders or chip kicks into space) they never did that. If you kick an up and under you must succesfully chase and contest, the Sharks Aerial skills were so poor they managed one clean take during the match. There isn't really anything positive to say about this, really.

Cheers, G! Coetzee looks GREAT. Strong in all areas and i don't think the video would show him being beaten by McCaw/Todd. Lewies is very good. I think he could be the real thing. I like Mvovo at 15. Kankowski played very well ag the best 8 in the world. But is still well behind Duane, IMO. Not sure I agree about Lambie; the one thing he could have practiced so much is line kicking... This would have been a good game for Keegan D. He is very highly rated in NZ, I gather. Kyle Cooper should become a Stormer. You left out the FIND of the YEAR: Thomas du Toit. Good year for Sharks; solid foundation.

Great post. I actually agree; and in games I play or coach, I break the tackles down into more categories (dominant tackles, broken tackles, etc), and I agree that a prop missing a wing in space is a lot more excusable (and usually not the prop's fault) than a lock missing a lock in tight. Still....if you are the road team, playing a tight style. ceding 60% of possession...your missed tackles will hurt you very badly.

Exactly. If I was a forward who won a penalty by turning ball over and the resulting penalty didn't find touch or went dead, I'd be hopping mad. Pat was okay- I'm very sure we would not have won this game with Steyn at 10, but clearly he didn't have enough match practice going into this game. Bit like his performance against the Chiefs in the final of 2012. I'm more upset because we gifted the Saders the win, rather than they doing it themselves. This was winnable, we had to stick to basics, but our handling, decision making and execution was downright terrible, and there's no way you can win an away Super semifinal like that. To Harry, Biltongbek and my fellow Sharkies (Charging Rhino and Colin Kennedy), was good interacting with you. + side this year- Marcell's improved by leaps and bounds and has added fetching to his armoury. SA Super Rugby player of the year along with Whiteley IMO. The Battleship is strong as ever, even after his knee injury. Emergence of Lewies. Mvovo and Sbura massive improvements. Minuses Kankowski not great, bar one game or two. SP hasn't convinced me at full back. Good SP, bad SP, not sure what you're getting. I miss Louis Ludik a lot. JP was very average the whole season. Jake didn't use the squad well- Keegan was completely ignored. Ditto for Marais brothers, Botes, Downey. Kyle Cooper got very little game time. Hope that Swiel, Esterhuizen, Fisher, Ungerer, Meyer and Kleinhans can step up next year.

Harry, keep in mind that the Crusaders missed exactly the same percentage of tackles as the Sharks (25%). The "missed tackles" stat is unfortunately not a reliable metric by itself. It is the type of missed tackle that determines the severity of the impact, e.g. a flyhalf missing a tackle on a prop coming around the corner (quite common) where there is still space to rectify, is not such a severe miss as not putting hands on a winger at five metres out. The way I see it, the biggest problem with the Shark defence (and Boks) is the hesitation to go in low in the tackle, thus failing to put the attacker down on the ground, and then the consequent inability to contest the ball. Other than the Shark's failures of error today, this (to me) was the major technical shortcoming; the faulty tackle technique was not an "error of the day", it is badly coached technique that has systematically become part of a faulty armoury.

attendance?

At this level; kicks to touch from hard-won penalties that (a) miss touch by 5m+ (or at all); (b) gain only 15 m; and (c) go dead.... Kill a team. Sap the pack. Breed jitteriness.

They've been very pedestrian since the break tbh... They lost to the Cheetahs and made hard work of the Stormer before falling over the line against a jetlagged Highlanders side that both the Waratahs and Crusaders had put 40+ on in successive weeks just before. I know a lot of South Africans had pointed to the Shawks upset win with 14 men earlier in the year, but the 'saders are a different beast late in the season and with their first choice line up, so I didn't think they'd trouble them. Seriously hope the 'Tahs can upset them at home next week, but it's gonna be tough against a side as brutal and clinical as the 'saders in finals mode.

Crusaders were just brutal tonight - no sign at all of the inept and incompetent side wearing their uniform against the Shawks and England earlier in the season. I know they had a couple injuries, but wow... what a difference! They were playing terribly at times earlier this year, but you wouldn't know it from tonight. As a Waratahs fan, whilst I'm stoked we won last night, we have nothing like the complete game that the 'Saders do - our set-piece is a shambles and our tactical kicking is no where near as damaging as the likes Carter can produce.

Easily, well we will all remember that prediction, won't we...

No, the greatest thing that ever existed, double that and you are not as good as the Crusaders, right?

Killer stat three (the worst of all): in the first half, Sharks committed 4 unforced kick errors; Crusaders 0. Also, all Crusader up-and-unders were contested; only one Shark kick was.