Sharks 2011 Vodacom Super Rugby Squad

The Winning Squad:

1. Willem Alberts
2. Meyer Bosman
3. Jacques Botes
4. Anton Bresler
5. Craig Burden
6. Keegan Daniel
7. Jean Deysel
8. Bismarck du Plessis
9. Jannie du Plessis
10. Alistair Hargreaves
11. Conrad Hoffmann
12. Adrian Jacobs
13. Ryan Kankowski
14. Patrick Lambie
15. Louis Ludik
16. Charl McLeod
17. Gerhard Mostert
18. Tendai Mtawarira
19. Lwazi Mvovo
20. Odwa Ndungane
21. Sabelo Nhlapo
22. JP Pietersen
23. Jacques-Louis Potgieter
24. Ross Skeate
25. John Smit (Captain)
26. Riaan Swanepoel
27. Steven Sykes
28. Stefan Terblanche
29. Eugene van Staden
30. Luzuko Vulindlu

Sharks For Ever!

The Sharks - SA Top Rugby Team

The Sharks – SA Top Rugby Team

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Sharks v Bulls

The Sharks v Vodacom Blue Bulls – Go Shaaaaarks!!” ABSA Currie Cup Semi-Finals

Saturday 16 October 2010. Kickoff: 14h30
ABSA Stadium Durban
Referee: Marius Jonker (SARRA)
Assistant Referees: Jonathan Kaplan (AR1), Christi du Preez (AR2)
TMO: Johan Meuwesen

Head to Head – The Sharks v Vodacom Blue Bulls (since 2005):
P: 12 W: 9 L: 3 PF: 320 PA: 293

05/08/2005 The Sharks 18 Blue Bulls 14 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
21/07/2006 The Sharks 37 Blue Bulls 28 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
16/09/2006 The Sharks 32 Blue Bulls 50 The Absa Stadium, Durban
28/07/2007 The Sharks 29 Blue Bulls 10 The Absa Stadium, Durban
21/09/2007 The Sharks 26 Blue Bulls 18 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
05/07/2008 The Sharks 14 Blue Bulls 35 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
06/09/2008 The Sharks 34 Blue Bulls 25 The Absa Stadium, Durban
25/10/2008 The Sharks 14 Blue Bulls 9   The Absa Stadium, Durban (Final)
24/07/2009 The Sharks 19 Blue Bulls 13 The Absa Stadium, Durban
12/09/2009 The Sharks 29 Blue Bulls 23 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
17/07/2010 The Sharks 34 Blue Bulls 28 The Absa Stadium, Durban
04/09/2010 The Sharks 34 Blue Bulls 40 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

The semi-finals are here. The Sharks v The Blue Bulls (Durban) and Western Province vs Cheetahs – 17:00 Newlands Stadium Cape Town.

If we look at the stats, The Bulls is going to the finals. They have almost winning rate of 90%. But hold your horses:
The Sharks have won the last 5 games against the Bulls they have played at ABSA Stadium Durban. The Sharks only have 2 home defeats during the last 2 seasons, including last year’s semi-finals. This season The Sharks secured 7 victories in Durban – over the Platinum Leopards (63-6), Vodacom Free State Cheetahs (30-16), GWK Griquas (48-30), Vodacom Western Province (27-16), Xerox Lions (48-19), Vodacom Blue Bulls (34-28) and the Barloworld Toyota Pumas (27-17).

The Blue Bulls have 4 defeats – against the Barloworld Toyota Pumas (22-21) in Witbank, Vodacom Western Province (15-12) in Cape Town, Vodacom Free State Cheetahs (20-14) in Bloemfontein and The Sharks (34-28) in Durban.

Semi-finalist winning percentages:

The Sharks
Home: P 14 W 7 L 7 – 50%
Away: P 4 W 0 L 4 – 0%
Total: P 18 W 7 L 11 – 38%

Vodacom Western Province
Home: P 10 W 6 L 4 – 60%
Away: P 8 W 6 L 2 – 75%
Total: P 18 W 12 L 6 – 67%

Vodacom Free State Cheetahs
Home: P 4 W 2 L 2 – 50%
Away: P 12 W 6 L 6 – 50%
Total: P 16 W 8 L 8 – 50%

Vodacom Blue Bulls
Home: P 10 W 9 L 1 – 90%
Away: P 7 W 6 L 1 – 86%
Total: P 17 W 15 L 2 – 88%

Absa Currie Cup Semi-finals History

1954: Orange Free State 8 Northern Transvaal 9 – Bloemfontein
1956: Natal 11 Western Province 10 – Cape Town
1969: Western Province 13 Boland 11 – Cape Town
1970: Natal 8 Northern Transvaal 24 – Durban
1971: Transvaal 16 Natal 9 – Johannesburg
1973: Northern Transvaal 20 Rhodesia 7 – Pretoria
1973: Western Province 15 Orange Free State 19 – Cape Town
1974: Transvaal 30 Eastern Province 6 – Johannesburg
1979: Eastern Province 6 Northern Transvaal 16 – Port Elizabeth
1979: Griquas 15 Western Province 20 – Kimberley
1980: Eastern Province 13 Western Province 21 – Port Elizabeth
1980: Northern Transvaal 49 South East Transvaal 6 – Pretoria
1981: Eastern Transvaal 15 Orange Free State 28 – Springs
1981: Northern Transvaal 36 Northern Free State 12 – Pretoria
1982: Northern Free State 21 Northern Transvaal 24 – Welkom
1982: Western Province 47 Natal 18 – Cape Town
1983: Natal 3 Western Province 7 – Durban
1983: Northern Transvaal 32 Northern Free State 15 – Pretoria
1984: Natal 26 Orange Free State 15 – Durban
1984: Western Province 53 Eastern Transvaal 0 – Cape Town
1986: Natal 4 Transvaal 18 – Durban
1987: SWA 9 Transvaal 12 – Windhoek
1988: Northern Free State 9 Western Province 26 – Welkom
1989: Western Transvaal 9 Western Province 71 – Potchefstroom
1996: Natal 35 Orange Free State 20 – Durban
1996: Northern Transvaal 21 Transvaal 31 – Pretoria
1997: Natal 22 Orange Free State 40 – Durban
1997: Western Province 38 Transvaal 18 – Cape Town
1998: Griquas 11 Western Province 27 – Kimberley
1998: Blue Bulls 31 The Sharks 17 – Pretoria
1999: The Sharks 45 Free State Cheetahs 8 – Durban
1999: Lions 81 SWD Eagles 21 – Johannesburg
2000: The Sharks 29 Free State Cheetahs 15 – Durban
2000: Western Province 43 Lions 22 – Cape Town
2001: The Sharks 16 Lions 9 – Durban
2001: Western Province 40 Free State Cheetahs 18 – Cape Town
2002: The Sharks 19 Blue Bulls 22 – Durban
2002: Free State Cheetahs 29 Lions 43 – Bloemfontein
2004: Blue Bulls 40 Lions 33 – Pretoria
2004: Western Province 11 Free State Cheetahs 17 – Cape Town
2005: Northern Transvaal 31 Lions 23 – Pretoria
2005: Western Province 11 Free State Cheetahs 16 – Cape Town
2006: Blue Bulls 45 Western Province 30 – Pretoria
2006: Free State Cheetahs 30 The Sharks 14 – Bloemfontein
2007: The Sharks 12 Lions 19 – Durban
2007: Free State Cheetahs 11 Blue Bulls 6 – Bloemfontein
2008: The Sharks 29 Lions 14 – Durban
2008: Blue Bulls 31 Free State Cheetahs 19 – Pretoria
2009: The Sharks 21 Free State Cheetahs 23 – Durban
2009: Western Province 19 Blue Bulls 21 – Cape Town

Good luck to all the teams.

Go Shaaaaarks!!! Sharks 4eva!!!

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The Sharks v Western Province

The Sharks v Western Province. Go Shaaaaarks!!” ABSA Currie Cup Week 14

Saturday 9 October 2010. Kickoff: 17h05
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

Referee: Mark Lawrence (SARRA)
Assistant referees: B Crouse (AR1), M van Zyl (AR2)
TMO: S Veldsman

Head to Head – Vodacom Western Province v The Sharks (since 2005):
P: 11 W: 5 L: 6 PF: 262 PA: 246

Besides the fact that The Sharks conceded three away defeats – Lions (22-20), Bulls (40-34) and Griquas (40-34) – they are out for a win. The Sharks has already secure a home semi-final. If Province defeat The Sharks they will secure a home semi-final.If Province loose and fail to get a bonus point, then Province will slip down to 4th position and travel to Durban to play The Sharks again in the Semi-Final of the ABSA Currie Cup. The Sharks has beaten Province in the previous clash in Durban (27 – 16).

Good luck to both teams.

Other Currie Cup games this weekend:

8 October:

  • Lions vs Pumas – 19:10 Coca-Cola Park Stadium, Johannesburg
  • Leopards vs Cheetahs – 19:00 Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace, Phokeng

9 October:

  • Griquas vs Blue Bulls – 15:00 GWK Park, Kimberley

The scoreboard at the end of week 13

 # Team P W L D Pts
 1 Sharks 13 10 3 0 52
 2 Vodacom Western Province 13 9 4 0 44
 3 Vodacom Free State Cheetahs 13 9 4 0 42
 4 Vodacom Blue Bulls 13 8 5 0 42
 5 Xerox Lions 13 7 6 0 37
 6 GWK Griquas 13 6 7 0 36
 7 Barloworld Toyota Pumas 13 3 10 0 18
 8 Platinum Leopards 12 0 12 0 5

Go Shaaaaarks!!! Sharks 4eva!!!

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The Sharks V The Leopards

Sharks v Leopards

Tonight at 19H10 SA Time it is hunting season at The Shark’s Tank (ABSA Stadium Durban).

For tonight’s match The Sharks is without the services of the eightman Ryan Kankoski after he was handed a one match suspension for the stamping during last week’s clash against Lions. Though we are not too much worried about the clash, it is crucial that The Sharks must defeat The Leopards with a good performance to secure their status and to host a semi-final in Durban.

Another game that Sharks’ fans will be watching closely is the Western Province vs Blue Bulls game at Loftus tomorrow. A win for Province will add distance between them and the Blue Bulls. But for The Sharks a Blue Bull win is more favourable since Province is trailing The Sharks with 4 points.

The battle is on in Week 13. Good luck to all the teams.

Other Currie Cup games this weekend:

2 October:

  • Griquas vs Pumas 15H00
  • Lions vs Free State – 17H05
  • Western Province vs Blue Bulls – 15H00

The scoreboard at the end of week 12

 # Team P W L D Pts
 1 Sharks 12 9 3 0 47
 2 Vodacom Western Province 12 9 3 0 43
 3 Vodacom Blue Bulls 12 7 5 0 38
 4 Vodacom Free State Cheetahs 12 8 4 0 37
 5 Xerox Lions 12 7 5 0 35
 6 GWK Griquas 12 5 7 0 31
 7 Barloworld Toyota Pumas 12 3 9 0 17
 8 Platinum Leopards 12 0 12 0 5

Go Shaaaaarks!!! Sharks 4eva!!!

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What is the road ahead for MySQL?

Just sitting over a cuppa and playing with the ‘Solaris’ ball. The corner of my eye caught the link : http://developers.sun.com/ printed on it, the questions popped up again: What is Oracle’s roadmap with Sun Products? Is MySQL Community Server going to survive?
Solaris Ball

Somehow I am not so much concerned about Java and Solaris. I got MySQL on my mind.
As Stephane said to me: “Oracle have no commitment to open source but to clients…” Many moons ago it was the saga with IBM when they acquired Informix. There is still a community out there, there is still support out there, but we all know how things in the world of I.T. can change overnight.

Is my cup half empty or half full? Nah, it is broken. Should we start to think ahead and start looking at changing web servers with PostgreSQL or MariaDB and PHP instead of MySQL and PHP? What is WordPress , Drupal, Joomla and similar organisations thinking about the road ahead for MySQL?

Is MySQL going to stall at this point or will there be any further developments? What do you think?

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Oh JokerScope

Gosh, was just poking around the Web whilst waiting for dinner to finished “simmering”. Well apparently I have a personal planet that returned and will bring me a functional computer…

A personal planet, that is news to me. I haven’t came across a planet with my name. What nonsense is that? But the best part for me “bring me a functional computer”. He-He. This is where I stopped reading and laughed…

Well I do not have the latest and the greatest computer. The computer I work the most on has: Intel Dual Processor @ 2.16 GHz (for the Geeks: x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 13 GenuineIntel @ 2161 MHz) , 3 GB RAM, 300 GB Hard Disk, etc.

Eureka! A functional computer, but did not specify the specs. Umh, I am busy building an old computer up, is it that one?
Functional Computer?
I am an IT Techie, got problems? Bring your computer in, it will be functional, even my start signs confirm it.

Oh JokerScope, what make me read you?

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ABSA CURRIE CUP – WEEK TEN

The Sharks V The Pumas

Sharks vs Pumas
Tonight at 17H10 SA Time at the Puma Stadium (Witbank).
The Referree: Lourens vd Merwe
Assistant Referree: M Kemp and S Breytenbach
TMO: J Meuwesen

So far The Sharks has two away defeats against The Blue Bulls (40-34) on 4 September, and against Griquas (40-34) on 10 July.
Patrick Lambie is The Sharks lead scorer with 132 points during the 2010 season.

This is going to be the year of The Sharks. :-) Tonight we will be screaming our lungs out for The Sharks. We need those points on the scoreboard.

Other Currie Cup games this weekend:

11 September:

  • Lions vs Griquas – 15H00
  • Western Province vs Leopards – 17H00
  • Cheetahs vs Blue Bulls – 17H05

The scoreboard at the end of week 9

 # Team P W L D Pts
 1 Sharks 9 7 2 0 36
 2 Vodacom Western Province 9 6 3 0 28
 3 Vodacom Free State Cheetahs 9 6 3 0 28
 4 Vodacom Blue Bulls 9 5 4 0 28
 5 Xerox Lions 9 5 4 0 25
 6 GWK Griquas 9 4 5 0 24
 7 Barloworld Toyota Pumas 9 3 6 0 17
 8 Platinum Leopards 9 0 9 0 5

Go Shaaaaarks!!! Sharks 4eva!!!

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Wish Microsoft will drop IE6!

I really wish that Microsoft will stop “supporting” Internet Explorer 6!

So sure that this issue is on every designers wish list.
Also I wish that more designers will join us and trash all the IE6 (or earlier versions) and let them see how ugly the site looks like. Of course with a recommendation to download Firefox.

Why?
Because IE6 wastes designers time with hacking code for Rounded Corners, PNG Alpha Transparency problem, Flickering Background Images, and so on…

Yet today I got my evaluation version of Microsoft Office 2010 and look at this picture. They still support IE6 ~ Aaaargh!!!
MS Office 2010 System Requirements

But, yes but what does Microsoft do with Windows XP users and Windows Life Essentials (version 4+). Oh my blood pressure is busy going up. Guess what? You cannot have it. Look here, do you see Windows XP or even Windows XP SP3?
No XP
Nope. No Windows XP… And we can add IE9 to the list of denial to Windows XP users as well. Umh…

Please

I plead with you, and also on behalf of my fellow designers, if you are using Internet Explorer 6 or earlier. Please upgrade your browser software.
And please Microsoft drop your support for IE6 and upgrade your system requirements. Pretty please.
Thank You
Have a nice day!

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Oh Lemon Tree Not So Pretty

After the dog took me for a walk, it was so time for some garden inspection. This morning every fruit tree got a bucket of water. Though Spring is here, we need rain in Ermelo.

The lemon tree has been a soar point in my life. I’ve been praying hard for the lemon tree to grow. The peach, plum, quince, apricot trees are in full bloom. The cherry and “granaat” apple trees show signs of life. The white peach tree has tiny fruits, but oh lemon tree…, not so pretty…, though it does get water everyday.

I thought that she didn’t survive this winter. And there are signs of life again :-)
Lemon Tree
Oh lemon tree please grow!

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