Kockott kicks Sharks to victory
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:12
Putting the boot in: Rory Kockott ready to slot another winner
Scrumhalf Rory Kockott landed a 79th minute penalty from 40 metres out to secure a nail-biting 28-25 Currie Cup victory for the Sharks over Western Province in Durban on Friday.
Twice coming from behind the Sharks outscored Province by two tries to one, with Kockott's late penalty sealing the win.
The scrumhalf's contribution on the night was 23 points - six penalties, including the winning kick, and the opening try of the match when he sniped around the edge of a scrum in the 14th minute.
The Sharks raced into an early 11-3 lead, but by half-time Province had edged clear 19-11. That lead was stretched to 25-16 in favour of Province with 15 minutes remaining and it looked like the visitors from Cape Town - with a very vocal former Sharks captain AJ Venter playing at No.8 for WP - would cause an early-season upset.
However, the heavens opened and the torrential rain was even accompanied by the occasional bolt of lightning as the Sharks found their spark and Kockott kicked four penalties (including the 79th minute winner) to secure victory for his team.
Willem de Waal, having followed his former Cheetahs coach Rassie Erasmus to Cape Town after a brief stint in France, kept the visitors in the hunt for a win when he landed seven out of seven with the boot - six penalties and a conversion.
But the night belonged to Kockott, who had his final shot at goal courtesy of a new law that has expanded the powers of the Television Mach Official (TMO) to rule on foul play in general play.
It was a call from the MO, after a flagging by a touch judge that referred the call to the TMO, which saw a penalty being awarded to the Sharks.
After being up against it for the majority of the match, the Sharks needed a hero and the man who stepped up to the kicking plate, so to speak, was none other than Man of the Match, Kockott.
With both sides fielding relatively new-look sides and playing their first top flight match for weeks, there was always going to be an element of rustiness in their play.
However, the truly dour first half showing by the Sharks would have had new coach John Plumtree warming up his vocal cords to give his charges a half-time tongue lashing.
Conceding four penalties and a soft try they headed into the interval with a shock 11-19 half-time deficit that silenced the 17,000 fans who turned up to see the Sharks in action.
The Sharks at last found their feet in the 50th minute when No.8 Keegan Daniel found himself on the wing and once again showed his pace as he went over in the corner to reduce the deficit to six.
They held the supremacy for the next 10 minutes, but ultimately continued to be the architects of their own demise as handling errors cost them at crucial times as they were headed for the red zone.
Kockott eventually managed to cut the deficit to 25-22 with two well-taken penalties, setting things up perfectly for a tense final 10 minutes that was played out in driving rain, adding further drama to proceedings. Kockott then slotted his third penalty within minutes to draw the scores level, before nailing the winner.
In a penalty riddled opening 10 minutes Kockott missed one and slotted two penalties, while Western Province flyhalf De Waal nailed his first from right in front.
And the Sharks' lead was extended to 11-3 when Kockott, who had an absolutely storming outing, sniped around the blindside from the base of a scrum on the Province 22 to dive over in the corner for the opening try.
From that point forward things progressively unravelled for the Sharks as error after error and penalty after penalty saw them under the cosh for the final quarter of the half.
And almost inevitably it was an error in the 31st minute that cost them seven points as they lost the ball on attack, allowing WP to capitalise as they quickly sent it out to veteran wing Wylie Human - who sprinted nearly 50 metres to go over untouched.
And when kicking metronome De Waal added another penalty from 53 metres out after the half-time hooter had sounded, it aptly summed up the Sharks half.
The men from the Cape continued their onslaught early in the second stanza as De Waal made the Sharks pay for conceding another penalty as he slotted his fifth kick in succession.
However, Daniel and Kockott produced their magic to turn things around for the Sharks.
Playing against his former teammates, new Western Province recruit AJ Venter received some expected jeers from the crowd, but performed solidly without shining.
The scorers:
For the Sharks:
Tries: Kockott, Daniel
Pens: Kockott 6
For Western Province:
Try: Human
Con: De Waal
Pens: De Waal
6
Teams:
Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Henno Mentz, 10 Bradley Barritt, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Keegan Daniel, 7 Steven Sykes, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Johann Muller (captain), 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements: 16 Skipper Badenhorst, 17 Robbie Harris, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Skholiwe Ndlovu, 20 Scott Mathie, 21 Lwazi Mvovo, 22 Andrew Borgen.
Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Wylie Human, 13 Dylan des Fountain, 12 PJ Vermeulen, 11 Joe Pietersen, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Alastair Siegelaar, 8 AJ Venter, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter Myburgh, 5 Ross Skeate (captain), 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Wicus Blaauw, 18 Ruaan du Preez, 19 Francois van der Merwe, 20 Justin Melck, 21 Paul Delport, 22 Zhahier
Ryland.
Referee: Christie du Preez
Touch judges: Cobus Wessels, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Michael Cupido
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