Sharks end losing run

Editor

The Sharks ended a five-game losing run on Friday after recording a hard-fought 23-13 victory over the Western Force at nib Stadium.

The Sharks ended a five-game losing run on Friday after recording a hard-fought 23-13 victory over the Western Force at nib Stadium in Perth.

It wasn't pretty but the side from Durban will not care about that as a tough period ended with four much-needed points to lift their confidence.

The Sharks' tries came from captain Keegan Daniel and full-back Riaan Viljoen either side of a well-taken score from Force centre Kyle Godwin.

While the Force dominated possession early on, they only had a Jayden Hayward penalty goal to show for their efforts at the end of the first quarter.

From that point on though the Sharks found their mojo and a try from Daniel, who got around Sias Ebersohn in defence, saw the visitors go 7-3 up.

The impressive Godwin then struck on the half-hour mark as he did well to ghost through the defence and hand his men a 7-10 half-time lead.

The Sharks were impressive in gaining the ascendancy in the second period though as Patrick Lambie began to turn the screw with two penalties before Viljoen motored around prop Kieran Longbottom, going in for a score that handed the Sharks a 20-13 advantage.

Lambie added another three points with seven minutes remaining and despite the Force going close through Brett Sheehan, the Sharks held on for a deserved first win on tour.

The scorers:

For Western Force:
Try: Godwin
Con: Hayward
Pen: Hayward 2

For Sharks:
Tries: Daniel, Viljoen
Con: Lambie 2
Pen: Lambie 3

Western Force: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Patrick Dellit, 13 Ben Jacobs, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Chris Alcock, 6 Matt Hodgson (c), 5 Sam Wykes, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Kieran Longbottom, 2 Heath Tessmann, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 James Hilterbrand, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Rory Walton, 19 Richard Brown, 20 Brett Sheehan, 21 Junior Rasolea, 22 Sam Norton-Knight.

Sharks: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel (c), 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 19 Derick Minnie, 20 Lubabalo Mtembu, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Piet Lindeque.

Referee: James Leckie (Australia)
Assistant referees: Ian Smith (Australia), Damien Mitchelmore (Australia)
Television match official: Steve Leszczynski (Australia)