Sharks impress in Boland mud-bath
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:44
The Sharks ran in six tries to secure a coveted bonus point, in their convincing 41-7 Currie Cup victory over the Cavaliers, despite a saturated pitch at Boland Stadium on Friday.
The visitors, who led 10-0 at the interval, made a mockery of Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske's comment that you cannot run the ball on a wet Wellington field.
Inside centre Bradley Barritt put the first points on the board in the 23rd minute, putting the ball against the left hand upright while support piled in for the captain. Frederic Michalak converted to take the Durbanites in front 7-0.
The Cavaliers fielded two 'fetchers' to counter the Sharks notorious loose trio, but attempts were in vain, as Daniel and Botes dominated at the breakdown, not to mention Jean Deysel making his physical presence felt again with a series of battering runs.
Stephan Terblanche also had a busy day for the visitors with some sterling counter work.
Michalak increased the Sharks' lead with a penalty in the 31st minute, giving the Sharks a 10-0 lead going into the interval.
The Sharks made an emphatic start to the second half, with flank Botes scoring in the second minute of the half with Michalak adding the extra points (17-0).
Three minutes later, Springbok discard Waylon Murray - who also had a stout defensive game - scored the first of two tries after an elusive run by Michalak. The French international once again added the extra points to further the Sharks' lead 24-0.
With the Sharks dominating 80 percent of the possession in the third quarter, the floodgates opened up for the Durban side, with Keegan Daniel adding the bonus-point try in the 50th minute after some good driving play.
Murray crossed for his second try in the 63th minute, while Sharks right wing Chris Jordaan dotted down in the corner in the 68th minute after beating his opponent, to take the Sharks tally to 41 unanswered points.
The Cavaliers searched desperately for some consolation in the final minutes, which finally came after the final hooter - with the Sharks two men down after yellow cards to Craig Burden and Rory Kockott - as left wing Alvin Hugo scored after a good chip and chase.
Justin Peach succeeded with the conversion to avoid a home whitewash, but would have looked forward to a hot shower with the rest of his bewildered team who were completely outplayed.
Scorers:
For Boland:
Try: Hugo
Con: Peach
For Sharks:
Tries: Barritt, Botes, Murray 2, Daniel, Jordaan
Cons: Michalak 3, Kockott
Pen: Michalak
Teams:
Boland: 15 Justin Peach, 14 Danwel Demas, 13 Cornell Hendricks, 12 Lionel Cornelius, 11 Alvin Hugo, 10 Isma-eel Dollie, 9 Neil Papier, 8 Dries van Schalkwyk, 7 Angelo
Brinkhuis, 6 Zolani Mofu, 5 Bradley Mockford, 4 Frikkie Spies, 3 WP Nel, 2 Clemen Lewis, 1 Janro van Niekerk.
Replacements: 16 Harry Vermaas, 17 Jean Botha, 18 Nico Esterhuyse, 19 Whalied Heyns, 20 Danie van der Merwe, 21 Elgar Watts, 22 Deon Scholtz.
Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Chris Jordaan, 13 Riaan Swanepoel, 12 Bradley Barritt (captain), 11 Waylon Murray, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Albert van den Berg, 3 Deon Carstens , 2 Skipper Badenhorst, 1 Patric Cilliers.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Melusi Mthethwa, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Skholiwe Ndlovu, 20 Rory Kockott, 21 Andries Strauss, 22 Monty Dumond.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Touch judges: Joey Salmans, Linston Manuels
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
