The Sharks won the South African Shield in the United Rugby Championship (URC) but they were forced to do it the hard way by a particularly toothy Lions in Durban yesterday.
The Sharks prevailed 25-22 but they were hugely relieved at the final whistle as they added the South African Shield to the Challenge Cup and the Currie Cup they’ve bagged over the last year.
For their effort, the Lions earned a bonus point, which crucially saw them slip into the top eight of the URC.
There were times they looked like the team in clear ascendancy but the Lions’ fighting spirit kept them in the hunt.
While the power of the Sharks in the collisions and the scrum in the first half gave them a platform, the Lions came roaring back. Much of their inspiration came from man of the match Morne van den Berg, who was absolutely gutted in a post-match interview. The scrumhalf orchestrated much of what was good about the Lions but in the end their errors caught up with them.
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The Sharks’ all Springbok front-row of Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Vincent Koch came into the game with reputations to uphold in the scrum. They posed a threat for much of the opening half hour, but in the 34th minute they cranked up the heat on the Lions from five metres out. Their first effort yielded a penalty and from an advantage off the second they hit into midfield through Francois Venter, before Siya Kolisi stormed onto the pass to crash over the left upright.
Venter was a workhorse in the midfield, while Kolisi and Phepsi Buthelezi toiled in the backrow. Kolisi was outstanding in setting up a try for scrumhalf Grant Williams. And it was Kolisi’s adroit offload after drawing a defender that put centre Jurenzo Julius into space. The centre scooted down the touchline, and when the ball was passed back inside, Williams was on hand to predictably sprint clear of the defence.
The Sharks might have been out of sight by the 50-minute mark had the Lions not thwarted them with their defensive breakdowns.
The Lions may have been without JC Pretorius, the tournament’s highest turnover exponent, but the man who took his spot, Jarod Cairns, made some timely interventions — taking the wind out of the Sharks’ sails, as did Marius Louw on the odd occasion.
This allowed the Lions to maintain a foothold in the game even after the Sharks shot into a 17-7 lead after 46 minutes.
Once the Sharks’ Springbok contingent upfront departed the scene, the Lions grew an arm and a leg. Twenty minutes later they had a 22-17 lead after tries by Richard Kriel and Franco Marais — but the Lions failed to make that lead stick.
The Lions’ error rate, especially when trying to clear their 22, proved costly, and on this occasion a knock-on from the kick-in presented the Sharks an attacking platform that they grabbed with both hands — or not quite. Though presented a straight-forward conversion, Jaden Hendrickse hit the upright to continue the woes experienced by his brother Jordan off the kicking tee.
That Nick Hatton try brought the scores level but more drama was to follow.
In the 75th minute, from an attempted penalty, Jaden Hendrikse again hit the upright but this time the ball went over the crossbar to decisively hand the Sharks the lead.
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