Slaughter of the innocent as Sharks capitulate to Bulls in one-sided Currie Cup clash

If this had been a boxing bout, the Sharks’ corner would have thrown in the towel before half-time. Instead, the South African rugby public had to watch — with one hand over an eye — as the defending champions were annihilated 64–0 by the Bulls.

Here is the reality: we understand that the Currie Cup has become a development competition, and that is fine. But how can the Bulls' wannabees be 64 points better than the Sharks' wannabees?

Well, it clearly means the Bulls are recruiting much better than the Sharks, and those in Durban in charge of the future of the Sharks must be shown the door — immediately. It should have happened a long time ago because hit-and-miss recruiting has been their problem for years, whether it’s overloading on Springboks or signing players that make no sense given the playing strategy of the head coach.

An illustration of the dysfunction at the Sharks in terms of recruitment was the confirmation last week that Junior Springbok hero Bartho Hlekani is on his way to the Lions. This guy is arguably the hottest property in South African rugby, but the Sharks were so poor in their management that they couldn’t keep him in Durban.

Flanker Hlekani is arguably the next Eben Etzebeth in terms of potential, and he was in the Shark Tank — but is now a Lion.

The red faces at Sharks HQ over that one will endure for some time, but well done to the Lions for snatching the bargain of the century while the Sharks were out to lunch.

Spare a thought for proud former Springbok JP Pietersen. He is in charge of a team that has shipped more than 100 points in two matches — away games to the Lions and Bulls.

I feel for the man. You could hear a tone of doom in his team announcement press conference on Thursday. He didn’t quite articulate it, but the paraphrase was that his boys were being sent to their doom.

JP proved in the Currie Cup last year that he could coach the Sharks from inexperience to excellence, but you have to give the guy quality ingredients.

It’s all well and good to blood youngsters, but Pietersen would have liked to have a backbone of older players going into this campaign.

On that note, an enduring mystery for me is the Sharks’ neglect of Gerbrandt Grobler. He is a warrior player who was squandered last season when fit and able to play, and could have been ideal to build a campaign around this year.

Looking at the game at Loftus Versfeld, the Bulls were superb in crushing the Sharks.

After just three minutes, they rumbled over the line — a routine maul try for hooker Juanne Else.

This was followed up five minutes later by a similar effort from prop Dylan Smith, and with Boeta Chamberlain again adding the conversion, the game was done and dusted.

At the first-quarter mark, inside centre Chris Smit completed a well-worked backline movement.

At 30 minutes, Smit nailed his second in similar fashion, and Else scored his second to complete five unanswered Bulls tries in the first half.

Old campaigner Juandré Rudolph scored twice to deepen the Sharks’ misery, while backs Stravino Jacobs and Cornel Smit added to the horror for the Sharks.

Scorers

Bulls - Tries: Juanne Else(2), Chris Smit (2), Dylan Smith, Juandre Rudolf (2), Stravino Jacobs, Cornel Smit., JJ Theron. Conversion: Boeta Chamberlain (7).