Du Preez twins shine as Sharks beat Toulon
The Sharks outscored Toulon by five tries to three, but had to withstand a powerful second-half surge by the French giants – having held a 24-0 lead 47 minutes into the match at Stade Mayol in Toulon on Friday.
While it was a winning start, there was a massive damper on the victory celebrations.
The Sharks will be sweating over the fitness of captain Patrick Lambie, who left the field just before half-time with his arm in a sling, after what appeared to be a serious shoulder injury.
And the Durban-based franchise will also need to be a lot more clinical in the execution of their set pieces.
Toulon's most dangerous weapon was their powerful maul, which brought them reward in the form of three tries.
However, the performance of the Du Preez brothers, both still just 20, will be the one massive positive to take for the Durban-based franchise.
Not only did they each score a try, but their work on defence made a massive contribution in holding off the Toulon charge in the final quarter.
The early exchanges were marked by typical French refereeing – the breakdown turning into a lottery and the South African players not adapting to the match officials' rulings quickly enough.
Toulon did not do themselves any favours with a host of turnovers.
In the 10th minute, from a penalty for offside play, Pat Lambie hooked the ball just past the left upright and it remained scoreless.
The Sharks broke the deadlock in the 19th minute, with a deadly attack from turnover ball – the result of some sloppy passing by Toulon. Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach went over from a pass by Jean-Luc du Preez, but Lambie's conversion kick was wide again – 5-0.
The breakdowns remained a mess, but the Sharks had by now adjusted the referees rulings and were beginning to win some penalties of their own.
One of these penalties became a line-out inside the Toulon 22-metre area and after initially just going sideways, a sublime offload from Reinach saw Paul Jordaan burst through the Toulon defence and over for a deserved try.
Minutes later the home team was a man down, when centre Théo Belan was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul – deliberately killing the ball just metres from his line.
It wasn't long before No.8 Daniel du Preez stretched over, after some effective phase-play, to stretch the Sharks' lead. With Lambie having left the field with a shoulder/arm injury, Joe Pietersen took over the goal-kicking, but he was wide – 17-0, which is what the score was at half-time.
At the start of the second half the Sharks scrum started to dominate and soon won a penalty at the set-piece. However, it wasn't long before the Sharks were again on the receiving end of the referee's whistle.
However, the Sharks were soon back on the scoreboard after Joe Pietersen cut the line and the pace of Lwazi Mvovo took them clear – with an inside pass to Jean-Luc du Preez got the other half of the Du Preez twins on the scoreboard as well. Pietersen's conversion made it 24-0 after 47 minutes.
Toulon finally got on the board in the 51st minute when prop Alexandre Menini got an armchair ride over the line from a powerful maul. Jonathan Pelissie added the extras – 7-24.
Now the referee decided the Sharks were guilty of repeated infringements at the breakdown and Etienne Oosthuizen was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.
From the line-up that was set-up as a result of the penalty, hooker Jean-Charles Orioli got the armchair ride at the back of another powerful maul. Pelissie made it 14-24 with just over 20 minutes remaining on the clock.
The penalties now started to mount against the Sharks at an alarming rate at the breakdown.
The fifth try for the Sharks was simplistic in its approach, but brilliant in execution, as a blindside move sent Lwazi Mvovo over. Pietersen hooked his conversion attempt past the left upright – 29-14.
Another powerful maul earned Toulon a penalty try in the 74th minute, with the Delon Armitage conversion narrowing the gap to 21-29.
And with the penalty-count still piling up against the Sharks, Toulon soon had another attacking line-out just five metres out.
However, for the final five minutes the Sharks defence stood strong in the face of a series of determined, if somewhat naive, raids by the Toulon forwards.
The scorers:
For Toulon:
Tries: Menini, Orioli, Penalty try
Cons: Pelissie 2, Armitage
For the Sharks:
Tries: Reinach, Jordaan, D du Preez, J du Preez, Mvovo
Cons: Lambie, Pietersen
Yellow cards: Théo Belan (Toulon, 34 – professional foul, killing the ball), Etienne Oosthuizen (Sharks, 54 – repeated infringements, killing the ball at the breakdown)
Teams:
Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage , 14 James O'Connor, 13 Théo Belan, 12 Louis Rousset, 11 Bryan Habana (captain) , 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Jonathan Pélissié, 8 Charles Ollivon, 7 Gregory Annetta, 6 Samu Manoa, 5 Konstantin Mikautadze, 4 Thibault Lassalle, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Jean-Charles Orioli, 1 Alexandre Menini.
Replacements: 16 Badri Alkhazashvili, 17 Thomas Vernet, 18 Andrew Cramond, 19 George Stokes, 20 Kylian Jaminet, 21 UJ Seuteni, 22 Anthony Meric, 23 Manasa Saulo.
Sharks: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Lwazi Mvovo, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Odwa Ndungane, 10 Pat Lambie (captain), 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Francois Kleinhans, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements – from: Franco Marais, Juan Schoeman, Lourens Adriaanse, Lubabalo Mtyanda, Dave McDuling, Hyron Andrews, Stefan Ungerer, Michael Claassens, Garth April, Heimar Williams, Johan Deysel, Wandile Mjekevu, Sibusiso Sithole.
Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)
