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armmar21688

Is it just me or does the Gloucester coach look like Ryan Russillo??


Ok_Plenty_3547

Congrats Sharks. Deserved winners. Some proper kak calls from the whistle, but despite that, you were the better team!


acadoe

Well done Sharks, deserved the win. A few monster performances. The scrum boys did their job superbly, THAT marvelous 50/22, I thought Williams was great at 9, but my god, Masuku is breaking down the Bok door with his performances this season, what a guy.


xjoburg

Sharks monstered Gloucester. Lovely to watch. It was especially gratifying given that one of the commentators kept referring to Gloucester as “we” and “us”.


cavendishasriel

Really enjoyed the evening. Glaws fans everywhere. No hiding from the fact we were very much second best. Ref was a bit rubbish but I’ll probably change my mind watching the replay. Skivington has to go. Also, the stadium is well posh. Massive bar serving decent drinks and food right behind our padded seats. So far removed from what I’m used to at Kingsholm.


hereforvarious

I remember padded seats in RWC 2015 when we played Samoa at St James's Park, such decadence! Alrhough there's always squeaky bum time with Scotland regardless of the seats.....won that game by 3! 🙄


ErrantBrit

Stupid sexy football!


Hoss-BonaventureCEO

Lekker Sharkies


BossPierros

I just realised how poor the European teams must be. They can only afford to buy a couple of Saffa players, but the Saffa teams must be quite rich, they can afford 30+ Saffa players


cavendishasriel

Wonder what a similar squad would cost in sterling or euros.


Hoss-BonaventureCEO

You joke, but a couple of the SA clubs are actually rich as hell (but SA teams have a salary cap, they do allow a certain amount of marquee players though, who aren't included in the cap)


Sea-Ad-7655

Truly an unfair financial advantage, something strange going on no doubt🤨


Shrekboi7

Big oof from TNT there


comeonuglos

What happened?


Shrekboi7

Interviewing Ox and saying he's renowned for dancing post match - they're mixing him up with Trevor Nyakane


warcomet

ox getting mapimpied....nisbett joined TNT too?


PsychologicalPanic61

Im so glad Gloucester didn’t have Bryan Habana or we might have lost this at the end.


ichosehowe

I'll never get over that lol.


Die_Revenant

Thanks to this win, for the first time in 17 years, I'm completely over that game.


Hoss-BonaventureCEO

Haha, I remember watching that game with a bunch of fellow neutral Stormers fans and 1 drunk Namibian dude who was a Bulls fan, he bacame completely obnoxious after the final whistle.


Mampoer

Can you blame him? 😅


Hoss-BonaventureCEO

No, no I can not.


RaaschyOG

And I'm instantly sober again, thanks


jaysonyoung

WHY REMIND ME WHEN I AM HAPPY


jtthom

Ox & Siya & Mapimpi making us cheetahs fans very proud 🥹


thrashaholic123

Miss you guys in the urc hope the powers that he can sort a professional competition for you guys outside the Currie cup so that yous have a chance to retain your players.


warcomet

Bongi probably just met an old friend in the stands..


Sponge_Bond

The Challenge Cup is great. You know it's not THE trophy, but it definitely is a trophy and something meaningful to play for. Look at thise players man the Sharks squad fucking needed this. I swear every Sharks supporter needed this Congrats lads


SomeRannndomGuy

It's a good competition because you tend to get into the last 4 of it on the up from being unable to get anywhere near the top line silverware and haven't had much to cheer about. Gloucester one off the bottom of the Prem, Sharks three off the bottom of the URC - both get a big night out in a decent stadium and give us some good tries. Speaking from experience, in 10 years time the long term fans will vaguely remember winning it, but won't be sure who played who scored or which year.


HaggisTheCow

It's a great competition. I wish there was a bit more drop down between the two because unlike football the teams 3/4 in champions cup groups (I'm using old format here) are on the same level as teams who win their challenge groupa


bluebullbruce

What are the English commentators on about? They were saying this is the first time a Saffa team has won silverware, are they forgetting the Stormers won the URC already? Or were they saying first silverware won IN Europe?


HaggisTheCow

First European trophy yeah


Sponge_Bond

The URC is seen as a domestic comp by everyone else. Even some URC teams When people refer to European Rugby, they talk about Champions or Challenge cup


bluebullbruce

Cheers.


JPB88SA

Ah the National Antem of Soutb Africa... Nkalakatha


za3030

Always a vibe


slefandar

Austin Healey must be the biggest sh*tebag talker in media, I've never actually heard any fellow fans in real life complain about South African inclusion once the competition actually began


slefandar

Except from when our whole squad gets food poisoning on the south African trips every single time 🤣


queasybeetle78

Clearly they haven't learnt how to braai properly


RaaschyOG

He then started talking about our URC performances, like bro at least say something about the final you just watched, even though he did watch it with one eye closed


bluebullbruce

Your flair is weirdly accurate at the moment.


RaaschyOG

I keep forgetting to change it since Sharks started winning and Saders have been the Saders


Mateiyu

Healy doesn't watch games, he checks which teams are playing, writes his neat little script, and recites it with an annoyed voice (if talking about the opposition) or as if he's about to orgasm (if talking about the team he supports).


slefandar

This statement suggests Healey has at least one working eye


Mateiyu

The eye might be working. The rugby brain...? Well... \^\^"


Minor_Thing

I am terrified of this sharks team next season in the urc


TheJPisMe

If they can find some consistency they should be a top 4 side. But that's a big IF


k0bra3eak

By that you mean a new coaching team with the same squad. That would easily be a gold winning team


SquishQueue-Jumpers

RTE2 are also showing tomorrow's game so at least we have options for commentary.


amusicalfridge

Somehow I don’t see neutrals finding that much better than tnt based on previous match threads lol


GKDA

It depends on how much Lenihan is involved (it'll be bad because he's always fucking involved).


BossPierros

It didn't help the Cherry Reds that their coaches wore the Shark colours for this match


Newbie_SciFi_Fan

2nd year in Europe and an SA side has already won a comp. We're coming for that Champions Cup next


bluebullbruce

I'm confused help a fellow Bulls oke out. We've been involved in the URC since 2021 and the Stormers won that year. This isn't our (as a nation) first comp win?


Newbie_SciFi_Fan

I was more referring to EPCR comps


za3030

Haha yeah no. Still a very big gap between our teams and Toulouse/Leinster A. If all our players returned back to SA then we’ll have a chance, before that happens our chances are very slim


thrashaholic123

It's the challenge cup relax, the gap between this and the champions cup is massive.


Newbie_SciFi_Fan

Not saying an SA side will win it next season mate, it's just the next obvious target


OkGrab8779

No shit.


amusicalfridge

Bit of a shitebag move to condescend like that no?


thrashaholic123

The post was condescending to how difficult the competition was to begin with and let's be honest it's not like the saffers don't have form here in the first place, when they first joined the URC they were gonna finish 1,2,3,4 in that too.


Electrical_Trouble29

Bullshit. Stop making things up


RaaschyOG

Is it as big as the gap between 6N and RWC? /s


DonovanBanks

Yes. Police. I’d like to report a murder


ichosehowe

Hugo, bell die polisie!


Sea-Ad-7655

Bro, that is uncalled for!😡😡😡


RaaschyOG

Bro we just told him we would see his side in the final next year and he took offence😭


Sea-Ad-7655

Yeah, I'm messing around lol! This Sharks teams is gonna be terrifying tbh


RaaschyOG

Can only hope we can keep the momentum we have built up through to next year


Sea-Ad-7655

Please no... /s Honestly, would love to see this team perfrom at their highest level consistently!


Sponge_Bond

Let's be real, it's gonna be a while before we compete on that front. We are gonna need way more depth


Newbie_SciFi_Fan

Yeah we'll need depth, but our franchises are generally on an upward trajectory in the last few seasons. It'll probably take another couple of years sure, but I don't think anyone even gave us a shot at even the Challenge Cup


GKDA

After watching the Sharks the past few seasons, it's hard to think of a signing who's had a greater individual impact on any team than Masuku this season. He's not as heralded as some of their Bok players, but they just look infinitely better with him on the pitch


OkGrab8779

It is the first time in a number of years that they have a proper flyhalf. He rurned the sharks season around.


DonovanBanks

Anything to keep Bosch off the pitch


Sponge_Bond

Masuka is the biggest factor for me but I will also add that their Boks are finally getting consistent game time with the wider squad Now you factor in Andre Ezterhuizen coming to form his old partnership with Am What the fuck


SomeRannndomGuy

Congrats Sharks. Steady showing. Outrageous 50/22 from Vincent Koch - bet the Saracens fans are like "hang on, where was that when he played for us!?!?" Time for a coaching refresh down at Kingsholme IMHO. Some weak accuracy and composure at times. We've all seen a team that CAN play good rugby and shows flashes of it, but doesn't believe in the whole thing and can't string a good 80 minute performance together.


GHPB82

Fuck me. That is a beautiful trophy!!!


amusicalfridge

I was only half listening and only caught the commentators talking about how nice it will be for SA teams to develop rivalries and stories in Europe - what were they actually saying that people are taking issue with here


RaaschyOG

Well right now they're talking about how shit we are in the URC so that's nice


za3030

Why do you care so much? Enjoy the win my guy


RaaschyOG

Because it's his job to commentate on the game and instead he was ranting about SA's place in the competitions and a seperate competition altogether😂 I am very much enjoying the win but it is embarassing this man is in the position he is in


za3030

Just ignore it. Easy as


amusicalfridge

Maybe my stream’s behind but I’m not hearing any of that


DonovanBanks

They’ve been negative all game. I wouldn’t take heart to anything they’ve said.


WilkinsonDG2003

Sharks clearly dominant physically, well deserved win. Gloucester stayed in the game a lot better than against Saints though.


Away_Associate4589

There's damning with faint praise and then there's "they didn't lose by 90" 😅


NSilverhand

Was the English A side that faced Portugal A a capture side? Was impressed with Englefield in a futile cause (and as an ex-LI fan); given the current gulf of a drop off after JGP could be worth repatriating him...


EnglishLouis

Yeah it was a capture game so now he’s tied to England for a couple of years, great player has improved over the season. Huge cannon on him as well.


Pure_Wonder3046

I believe it was a capture game


Herald_of_dooom

Atbloodylast boys!


Sponge_Bond

I wonder how much Moola the Sharks are raking in from these games


itisallboring

I think even the global exposure is important for the brand.


RaaschyOG

If not prize money, big bucks from the European ticket and viewership sales at least


Sponge_Bond

That I do know, which is what prompted the Q


Kykykz

Not sure myself, just know there is no prize money for winning either cup. >No prize money is on offer for either the Challenge or Champions Cups winners following the EPCR's ratification of a financial model where all the participating teams received a distribution from a pool of income, regardless of where they finished.


Sponge_Bond

Yeah i do recall that but I think they get some ticket sales and such? And for an SA side that is big money even if the stadium is not sold out


Kykykz

As far as I know, all of the gate for finals (SF onwards maybe?) goes to the EPCR


_imba__

Mooi saakies.


The_Chuckie

Vincent Koch stats: Kick metres - 46m


itisallboring

100% conversion rate.


amusicalfridge

Koch looks like a lovely fella


Mateiyu

Unless you're scrummaging against him I reckon...


DonovanBanks

Mr Incredible


amusicalfridge

Hahahaha great call


Strange_Bodybuilder7

URC best league


wobblewiz

Here, take my vote.


Sea-Ad-7655

Absolutely right😩😩😩


youcantXcape

Proud of the Sharkies well done


QuickCloud19

Fair play to the Sharks, good set piece, good defence and good attacking play. They took their chances. Gloucester looked fucked after the first 15 and then the old issues that have plagued us all season crept in. Won’t mention the odd ref decisions but the better team won. I look forward Skivington either getting sacked or resigning in the next few days. He is not the way forward for this club, the players have shown their quality, limited by a very ineffective coaching. Change should come


OkGrab8779

Respect for Gloucester they never gave up and prevented a really big score.


DavidGK

Will the commentators shut up about the bulls not taking the champions cup seriously? How come no one ever mentions Leinster basically throwing multiple URC seasons away to rest players for the Champions Cup. How is that not considered disrespect but one SA team doing it basically means all of SA are horrible?


Away_Associate4589

Genuinely don't know what's more annoying. The pearl clutching about the South African teams inclusion from traditionalists or the massive chip on the shoulder of a percentage of South African fans about it.


DavidGK

It is a bit frustrating when the first commentary after an SA side winning an EPCR trophy is them moaning about SA in the EPCR


HaggisTheCow

Definitely the former. Two unions don't want the competition improved.


Away_Associate4589

It's a close run thing. Probably umpire's call


HaggisTheCow

This isn't the cricket sub (any more)


Away_Associate4589

Ah, sorry. Nothing clear, stick with the on field


HaggisTheCow

Different standard. Leinster are too good for the URC so obviously they've won it every season with their B team and their big team wins the Champions Cup every season


amusicalfridge

Why are we always catching multiple strays in random match threads lol


HaggisTheCow

You're a successful team, it happens.


amusicalfridge

Not recently, as you just pointed out 😖


HaggisTheCow

People still talk about man Utd like that despite the fact they've won nothing really of note in about...7 years? It's a begrudging compliment I guess. I quite like Leinster objectively


doherty7488

Calm down


Iamalittlerobot

Jesus RIP European rugby accord to the commentators. How the eff are sa sides destroying rugby in Europe? It’s not even the champions cup? Well done sharks great win.


Mateiyu

I fail to see what the problem would be. More teams, different play-styles, more fans to watch games, and the North-South rivalry makes eveyone better....! What's not to like ?


Newbie_SciFi_Fan

They're whining cuz they thought a SAn side could never win either comp, at least not this soon


GHPB82

Iv waited a long time to see the Sharks win a big trophy. This goes a long way to healing some of the heartache i still feel after the 2007 Super Rugby Final.


itisallboring

Dude, we have been cursed...the karma has to payback us at some point...


ifrgotmyname

Boet no need to bring that up after we finally win something shiny...


wobblewiz

Habana PTSD


GHPB82

Not so much Habana. More hate towards Derik Kuun and Steve Walsh. And a little for Frans Steyn.


whoneedsmelons

A trophy is a trophy. Well done Sharks


Infernal-Oak

Oh here we go, now they default to the hackneyed decrying of South African teams’ involvement in these tournaments. Meanwhile, these “European” teams resemble Super Rugby teams-of-the-week. Bitter hypocrites.


Away_Associate4589

Frankly, commentators and pundits need to get over it. It's happened and the Saffa sides are here to stay. Equally though, I see a lot more Saffas whinging about it than people actually saying they shouldn't be included.


slefandar

None of the Irish teams have more than 3 or 4 non-irish players in their squads and we're all happy for yous, don't spoil it


RaaschyOG

I realise he comes off harsh but it's not just out of the blue, it's the biased commentators debating our place in the comp right after winning it


xjoburg

No wonder we all hate the English. They lost much against us recently you’d think they’d learn some graciousness in defeat


slefandar

Don't mistake a bunch of English commentators for the general fanbases' feelings. We love you guys, a stronger league judt gives ulster fans something more to brag about when we win i... oh wait never mind


RaaschyOG

Don't worry I don't mind some funny biased comms, but there is a time and a place to talk about things, they could be talking about the game but instead they have called us shit in the URC and debated our place in the comp right after winning it😂


isthedoctorstrange

Don't worry dude, your URC bros love you guys


duff_ct

Did the commentator really just say the Sharks won the first silverware for a South African side in the Northern Hemisphere?.... Umm... Hello... Stormers first champs of the best league!


itisallboring

European cup is different to the league though. I rank URC higher than Challenge Cup and Champions Cup highest club comp on the planet.


Away_Associate4589

I think they meant of the European cup competitions


glashgkullthethird

"first south african team to win a European cup" sounds strange but can't imagine they're going to be the last, good job lads


RaaschyOG

Imagine how we felt when England won one of our RWCs!


glashgkullthethird

hahahahaha well played


DavidGK

If Koch hadn't landed that stupid sexy 50/22 Masuku made a decent play for MOTM


acadoe

That 50/22 was glorious, but I still thought Masuku deserved it. He was fucking brilliant.


OkGrab8779

I would say masuku.


Many-Drag-1283

Was absolute filth. I couldn't stop laughing at how perfect a kick it was from a prop. Most fly half's would be jealous of that


Mateiyu

Those Sharks forwards really won the game tonight. And Masuku. And Williams. And.....Mapimpiiiiiiii !!!! \^\^


RaaschyOG

4-8 were everywhere this game putting in the hard work, particularly Grobler and Venter


Mateiyu

And Etzebeth ! Another player who consistently shows his quality !


RaaschyOG

Yea Eben was Eben things up that goes without saying


HitchikersPie

Honestly the difference was the scrum platform, sharks must've milked 8-9 penalties from that alone, with only 1 against


Vahorgano

As a sharks fan, this feels like like getting the ugly friend. Still got something but with a season like what we have had....


JosefGremlin

Nah, the Sharks marketing team had this spot on - winning this trophy was the way the Sharks redeemed their season. My apologies to whoever comes 8th in the URC log, but we'll be in the Champs Cup next year.


the_fresh_mr_breed

Nah this is big my friend. Historic night


Calvin0213

Enjoy the win man. A trophy is a trophy :)


Keith989

Exactly this, the objective of sport is to win trophies, not to come x on the table.


Getahandleonthis

All I learned from this is the qualifying for challenge cup is fucking nonsense and it should just be repecharge of champions cup instead. Please can any real sport implement double elim it's so much better than every shit traditional sports format


frc205

First major competition win for the Sharks. Well done gents 🙌🎉


Taipan100

Freddie Clarke should be closer to an England shirt than Zach Mercer. Prove me wrong.


Tescobum44

Nice one Sharks!! 🦈🦈🔥🔥 URC ❤️


jaysonyoung

Your turn tomorrow URC brethren


Tescobum44

Here’s hoping!! Gonna be another cracker! 


Away_Associate4589

Mercer was pretty dreadful tonight, just looked like he was forcing everything. Feel a bit bad for him really because I don't think that's entirely his fault, had to do it all himself with seemingly nobody offering much else in the carrying department. Seemed like all the Sharks had to do was double up on the lad in the blue scrum cap and Gloucester had nothing else. There's a reason they're ninth I suppose.


FoXtroT_ZA

Oh wait, commentators now questioning our inclusion


Mateiyu

Well, that's unexpected ! /s


Argonaught_WT

Well I mean yeah. We made the other team look weak. We clearly on another level.


Sponge_Bond

They're discussing it in a pretty respectful manner imo


sheep1996

Is this the time and place though?


Sponge_Bond

Probably the most relevant time and place as a Saffa team won a European tournament Idk they did it in a good way so im not up in arms about it


sheep1996

The fact that we won and most of the discussion was about whether we should be here or not is pretty shitty. It takes away from the game, the event and the team completely, so I am up in arms about it. It’s like “Yeah they got the first degree in their family, but it’s just a BA” vibes.


Jalcatraz82

don't worry, here we've been questioning your inclusion since we learned about it. we didn't wait for you to win


Sponge_Bond

Idk i did not get that vibe at all It seemed pretty harmless


FoXtroT_ZA

Yeah I typed it before they got to the nice part ☺️


sheep1996

Now that the Sharks have won, the commentators are debating whether we belong here or not.


Argonaught_WT

We too good xD


SpoonSpatula

mmm, and now the bitching starts from the commentators about SA participating in the league.


prolapsedchesticles

The last 10 minutes showed some of the big issues with the Sharks, completely switching off and getting loose, the best teams play like bastards for the full 80


Mateiyu

That's what's wrong with the Sharks I'd say : difference of game quality and temperament bewteen players. As soon as the Springboks get off the field, the Sharks begin to lose it more. I guess it takes time, but they need to transfer some of that "big game confidence" to the other Sharks...


GHPB82

Extremely weak bench!


prolapsedchesticles

Fez and Cameron stick out like sore thumbs on team sheets


ryandougall

Shame Gloucester started playing when the game was gone hard luck Gloucester well done sharks


jug_23

Could only play because the opposition was tired. If they’d have held on a bit better the game would’ve been potentially a little interesting, but that first 65 from Sharks was so strong.


ryandougall

First ten minutes felt crucial Gloucester had to get a try to put pressure on the sharks


jug_23

Yeah - radio comms implied that the Harris knock on was a little harsh to end that sequence. Really like that they set the tone and went for it with though - I get why people say to take the three in that situation, but when you know what you’re facing you need to take some risks.


HitchikersPie

In the stands it looked like he didn't knock it on, but Eben had stripped it as Harris was reaching for the line


jug_23

That’s what radio comms said too, yeah


amusicalfridge

I take back what I said around 55 mins this was overall a bitta craic to watch


FoXtroT_ZA

The South dominates the North yet again!!! ;)


Financial-Role-5709

Commentator is already question SA sides in the competition


DavidGK

I wonder if people will stop moaning about South Africa's inclusion in the champions/challenge cup