Sharks get bonus despite Basson magic

Editor

Despite four tries to Griquas flyer Bjorn Basson, the Sharks continued their winning streak in the Currie Cup with a 48-30 bonus-point victory.

Despite four tries to Griquas flyer Bjorn Basson, the Sharks continued their winning streak in the Currie Cup with a 48-30 bonus-point victory in Durban.

Basson's fourth try late in the match brought the Kimberley side within eight points of the Sharks, but in the final movement Craig Burden went over for the fifth try for the coastal franchise.

Sharks fly-half had kicked his Pat Lambie kicked his fifth penalty just minutes earlier, while the conversion of Burden's try was his fourth of the night.

Earlier in the half, Sharks full-back Monty Dumond had gone over for the bonus-point fourth try, but it was really Basson who stole the show in the second half with three tries in the final 40 minutes.

The Sharks opened the scoring early on, with Lambie slotting an easy penalty in the third minute, and he then made the first try when he made a break and sent the pass to Stefan Terblanche, who cantered over for the first try. Lambie converted and it was 10-0.

Not long after, Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira was over after another superb build up, and the Sharks were up 17-0 at the quarter hour mark.

Bjorn Basson hit back for Griquas, though, with an opportunistic steal of the ball in a tackle and he broke away to score under the posts. The Sharks quickly cancelled that out as Odwa Ndungane was put away by Monty Dumond for the Sharks' third try on the half hour mark.

Riaan Viljoen and Lambie exchanged a penalty before half-time as the Sharks went into the break with a 25-10 advantage. After the break, Lambie added two more penalties as the Sharks looked to consolidate their lead, with Griquas fly-half Naas Olivier getting three back to make it 31-13.

It was then the Basson show, but his three second half tries were ultimately not enough.

The scorers

For the Sharks:
Tries: Terblanche, Mtawarira, Ndungane, Dumond, Burden
Cons: Lambie 4
Pens: Lambie 5

For the Griquas:
Tries: Basson 4
Cons: Olivier 2
Pens: Viljoen, Olivier

Sharks: 15 Monty Dumond, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Stefan Terblanche (c), 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:16 Craig Burden, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Anton Bresler, 19 Michael Rhodes, 20 Rory Kockott, 21 Andre Pretorius, 22Riaan Swanepoel.

Griquas 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Richard Lawson, 13 Wilmaure Louw, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Naas Olivier (c), 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Burger Schoeman, 7 Rohan Kitshoff, 6 Davon Raubenheimer, 5 Cecil-John Kemp, 4 Michael Passaportis, 3 Jean Botha, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements:16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Jacobie Adriaanse/Ivann Espag, 18 Johan van Deventer, 19 Gerhard Human, 20 Marnus Hugo, 21 Rocco Jansen, 22 Rudi Vogt.

Venue: The ABSA Stadium, Durban
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan