Mission accomplished for Sharks
Sat, 10 May 2008 16:56
Frans Steyn tackles his Bok teammate Juan Smith
The Sharks kept their play-off aspirations alive in dramatic fashion when they beat the Cheetahs 33-14 in a Super 14 derby encounter in Durban on Saturday.
A brace of tries from Odwa Ndungane in the final two minutes ensured the Sharks bagged all five points.
An earlier hat-trick from flank Jacques Botes set the tone for the Sharks victory that could see the Super 14 going down to the final match of the round-robin stages when the Sharks host the Chiefs next Saturday.
The score and five tries to two makes it look like an easy win for the Sharks, keeping their dream of a semifinal going. But it was not easy. Fourteen of those points and two of those tries happened in the last two minutes and for a long time the Cheetahs dominated. It was then that the manful, well deployed Shark defence counted lots and lots.
The Sharks find it hard to score tries, and so it was again today. What made it harder than it should have been was a poor performance in the line-outs (six lost and one skew) and poor second-half discipline in which they gave away four penalties and four free kicks and had Albert van den Berg in the sin bin. They also had François Steyn's gross indiscretion, which some would have called a moment of madness, in the first half.
Time was virtually up in the half. Conrad Barnard dropped out with a long, long drop that rolled down into the Sharks' in-goal. Steyn was there to watch over the ball. Dot it down and it was a scrum on the Cheetahs' 22. Instead he picked it up, sauntered forward and kicked. The Cheetahs counterattacked with Heinrich Brussow and Juan Smith prominent and Jongi Nokwe crossed in the corner. Barnard converted and half-time happened at 14-7.
Both teams started off running but it was clear that the Sharks were tense bout their overall situation and made mistakes.
The Cheetahs were not immaculate either. When their handling broke down Ryan Kankowski footed through and chased. There was a clutch of Sharks just behind him and Nokwe just ahead. Kankowski gave Nokwe a shove just hard enough to get him off line and allow Odwa Ndungane over for a try. Try? The referee chatted to the TMO and instead of a try, Kankowski was penalised.
Rory Duncan of the Cheetahs was sent to the sin bin for a second high tackle and the Sharks kicked out for a five-metre line-out. They set a perfect maul and marched over the Cheetahs' line where Jacques Botes fell to ground for the first of his hat-trick of tries. Rory Kockott converted. 7-0 after 13 minutes.
When Barend Pieterse went into the side of a maul, the Sharks again set a five-metre line-out. The Cheetahs repelled them and they went wide. JP Pietersen was at the line and the referee playing advantage when Botes picked up, pumped his legs and scored. 14-0 after 27 minutes.
Things were going to plan for the Sharks - or so it seemed.
So it certainly seemed when from the kick-off Steyn produced the best break of the afternoon racing down the left with much interpassing with Pietersen and Adi Jacobs. They lost out near the line but went back for a penalty against the Cheetahs and again kicked out for a five-metre line-out. Again the Cheetahs repelled them and again they went wide but Nokwe made a great tackle on Ndungane and forced a turnover which enabled the Cheetahs to survive.
When Pieterse was penalised for collapsing a maul the Sharks again had an attacking line-out but Juan Smith robbed them on the throw..
Then came Steyn's blot to his copybook and half-time came at 14-7.
The Sharks started the second half attacking with great work by Tendai Mtawarira and Van den Berg. Handling let them down but back they came again - right, left, right and great pass by Steyn found Pietersen who slipped an inside pass to Botes who scored his third. 19-5 after 46 minutes.
One more try meant the bonus point. It took over half an hour in coming.
Lots of things happened, mainly in the Cheetahs' favour. In this match there were 12 penalties, six each. Neither side aimed a penalty kick at goal. As the Sharks had done so the Cheetahs used penalties to attack the Sharks, and the Shark defence was brave, repelling three five-metre line-outs. Eddie Fredericks got closest to scoring.
The Sharks had a promising burst down the right touch-line by Mtawarira but the Cheetahs scored next - in weird way,.
The Sharks won a tackle/ruck. The ball was clearly out. Tall Kankowski stood over it looking around for something to do with it when Meyer Bosman swooped on it and raced off for a try at the posts, Tewis de Bruyn converted. 19-14 with 15 minutes to play.
The match needed winning but clearly the Sharks wanted more. Victory was not enough. They wanted their first try bonus point of this year's Super 14.
They attacked. Stefan Terblanche, Pietersen and Mtawarira were prominent and they had a five-metre scrum. But the Cheetahs stood firm.
Bradley Barrit passed a brilliant pass to Kankowski in a half-gap and the tall forward strode down the field. The ball went wide to the right where Bevin Fortuin tackled Steyn into touch.
The Cheetahs overthrew the ensuing line-out but Keegan Daniel knocked on five metres from the beckoning line./
Then came the happy couple of minutes. Jean Deysel grabbed a knock-on by the Cheetahs and drove ahead. The ball went right where Nokwe seemed to have stopped it dead with a tackle on Steyn but the strong centre flicked the ball out to Ndungane who beat Fredericks and Fortuin as he raced to the posts for a try and bonus point.
The final siren had already gone when Kockott went scooting down the blind. He gave to Kankowski who sped away and fed inside to Ndungane who easily beat Fortuin to score under the posts again. Kockott converted and the final whistle went. Durban rejoiced.
Man of the Match: On the Cheetahs side Heinrich Brussow and Meyer Bosman had great games. On the Sharks side there were three-try Jacques Botes, probing François Steyn and lively Rory Kockott, but our Man of the Match, a player of great stature with many skills, is Juan Smith of the Cheetahs.
Moment of the Match: That bonus-point try by Odwa Ndungane and the relief and glee that it brought.
Villain of the Match: Rory Duncan and Albert van den Berg were silly rather than villainous.
The Scorers:
For the Sharks:
Tries: Botes 3, Ndungane 2
Cons: Kockott 4
For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Nokwe, Bosman
Cons: Barnard, De Bruyn
Teams:
Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Francois
Steyn, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 AJ Venter (captain), 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Johan Ackermann, 4 Albert van den Berg, 3 Brendon Botha, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Keegan Daniel, 21 Bradley Barritt, 22 Waylon Murray.
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Falie Oelschig, 8 Duanne Vermeulen, 7 Juan Smith (captain), 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Rory Duncan, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Bees Roux, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Hendro Scholtz, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Bevin Fortuin, 22 Hendrik Meyer.
Referee: Willie Roos (South Africa)
Touch judges: JC Fortuin (South Africa), Pro Legoete
(South Africa)
Television match official: Michael Cupido (South Africa)
