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The Sharks completed a rare Super Rugby season double over the Lions, edging out last year’s finalists in a tightly contested derby at Kings Park Stadium tonight.
With the ultimately deserved victory, Robert du Preez’s men moved to second in the South African Conference, three points behind the Jaguares, while the Lions – who have yet to beat a local team this year – stayed in fourth, just a point behind the third-placed Blue Bulls.
The half-time scoreline was a victory of sorts for the Lions, who, despite finishing the first half with more possession than the hosts, seemed to be the side under pressure.
Having needed their scramble defence and the odd ruck penalty to keep the Sharks scoreless for most of the first quarter, one feared the dam wall would break once Sharks fly half Curwin Bosch scored an intercept try off an attempted inside pass by opposite number Elton Jantjies in the 17th minute.
That the hosts quickly followed it up with a Dan du Preez try from a rolling maul six minutes later – proof that they were well and truly in the ascendancy. They commanded particularly in the scrums, where loose head prop Mzamo Majola gave Johannes Jonker a torrid time, and at the collisions, where the visitors were being manhandled.
But the Sharks, perhaps buoyed by having beaten the Lions 42-5 in the corresponding fixture, played too much rugby in their own half and left a few opportunities on the table via a kickable penalty and two wayward would-be scoring passes.
The Lions, who initially looked rudderless without Malcolm Marx and Warren Whiteley, stayed in their fight through scrambling in defence and soon got their chances in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Their first try, through centre Lionel Mapoe, had its origins from a mazy run from deep in his half by winger Courtnall Skosan, who also made the penultimate pass in the move in which Jantjies’ deft offload got Mapoe over the line.
The Lions’ next try was courtesy of Springbok winger Aphiwe Dyantyi slipping past his Bok team-mate Sbu Nkosi, with flanker Cyle Brink rounding off the move.
And, just like that, the scores were level, with Brink, Mapoe, Andries Coetzee and Kwagga Smith having joined their wingers in turning the tide. But a Bosch penalty and another intercept try off Jantjies, this time by winger Makazole Mapimpi, meant the visitors were suddenly staring down the barrel at 24-14.
The Lions had opportunities to hit back, but a missed penalty by Jantjies, a Mapoe knock-on in the act of scoring in the 70th minute and a disallowed Reinhard Nothnagel score seemed to have put paid to their chances.
- Earlier in the day, the Stormers put in a performance high on intensity, composure and maturity in overcoming a stubborn Highlanders side 34-22 in Cape Town. The hosts scored four tries via Herschel Jantjies, Siya Kolisi, Cobus Wiese and Jean-Luc du Plessis, to the visitors’ three. The win was thanks to good set-piece work, intensity at ruck time, abrasive defence and good individual performances. – City Press correspondent
