Sharks given slip by Stormers

Editor

The Stormers strengthened their footing at the conference summit on Saturday after sealing a 32-12 bonus-point win over the Sharks.

The Stormers took a stranglehold of the South African conference on Saturday after recording a 32-12 bonus-point victory over the Sharks.

A three-try blitz, coming within the first 33 minutes, had the Durbanites on the rack and then a fourth late on sees them go eight points clear.

It was their Bok contingent who stole the show as Jean de Villiers, Gio Aplon and Jaque Fourie got over the whitewash in that entertaining half-hour.

The remainder of the contest failed to keep to that standard though, as the derby bragging rights seemed to restrict this game as a spectacle.

John Plumtree's side rarely threatened the impressive Stormers defensive wall and were subsequently limited to just four penalty goals from pivot Patrick Lambie, who struggled to fire centres Meyer Bosman and Stefan Terblanche.

And it was Bosman who became the villain for the Sharks as his missed tackle on De Villiers opened the floodgates for the home side on sixteen minutes. He then turned provider as, from Sharks possession, the Bok midfield general flattened Bosman to allow Aplon to cruise in.

The Sharks seemed to disappear off the radar as they were restricted to a largely defensive role as the Stormers staged probing attacks at every chance.

One such probe, seven minutes ahead of the break left the Sharks' defence stranded once again, and this time centre Fourie streaked through for the home side's third try. Lionel Cronje failed to add the extras for that one as the Stormers went in 22-9 up at the break.

Early in the second half both sides spurned kickable penalty opportunities and the Sharks produced some of their best attacking efforts of the match.

A raft of replacements then upset the rhythm in Cape Town however there was some spice added between replacement Bismarck du Plessis and Schalk Burger.

Both sets of defences had held firm after 26 minutes of second-half play until Aplon sent over long-range drop to extend the lead back to thirteen points.

Seven minutes from the end the Sharks' challenge was ended as Stormers hooker Deon Fourie rounded off a driving maul with a bonus-point try. Substitute Kurt Coleman converted to sign off an emphatic display that moves them second in the overall standings.

The scorers:

For Stormers:
Tries: De Villiers, Aplon, J Fourie, D Fourie
Con: Cronje 2, Coleman
Pen: Cronje
Drop: Aplon

For Sharks:
Pen: Lambie 4

Stormers: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (c), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Ethienne Reynecke, 17 Brok Harris, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Nick Koster, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Juan de Jongh.

Sharks: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Stefan Terblanche, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 Adrian Jacobs, 22 Lwazi Mvovo.

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Christie du Preez (South Africa), Phillip Bosch (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)