Sharks labour to victory

Editor

A hat-trick of tries by Keegan Daniel handed the Sharks a 27-17 victory over the Pumas at Absa Stadium on Friday.

A hat-trick of tries by Keegan Daniel handed the Sharks a 27-17 victory over the Pumas at Absa Stadium on Friday.

The Pumas were once again a vast improvement from last week and led the Sharks 17-10 at the break but the Sharks dug in in the second half to eke out the win, helped significantly by the sending off of Puma Jaco Bouwer for his second yellow card ten minutes from the end.

The Sharks scored their fourth try shortly after, thereby also denying the visitors a bonus point.

The Pumas opened the scoring after 20 minutes with a thrilling breakout try finished off under the posts by number eight Christo le Roux and converted by Ricardo Croy.

Daniel scored his first try, with the effervescent Patrick Lambie converting to tie the scores, after half an hour from a driving maul.

Croy dropped a goal and Lambie landed a penalty, but soft ball lost at a ruck close to their own line cost the Sharks on the stroke of half-time when prop Ronnie Uys drove over, Croy again converting for the half-time lead.

Willem Alberts was introduced into the second half for the Sharks with significant effect, with his run culminating in a scrum from which Charl McLeod scored the try and Lambie converted to tie the scores at 17.

The momentum shifted irevocably to the home team and Daniel scored two more late scores, one from a driving line-out, the other from broken play – also breaking the Pumas' resolve.

The scorers:

For the Sharks:
Tries: Daniel 3, McLeod
Cons: Lambie 2
Pen: Lambie

For the Pumas:
Tries:
Le Roux, Uys
Cons: Croy 2
Drop goal: Croy

Yellow cards: Jaco Bouwer (Pumas, 51st min & 72nd min – repeated infringements, killing the ball)
Red card: Jaco Bouwer (72nd min – two yellow cards)

Sharks: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Stefan Terblanche (c), 12 Patrick Lambie, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Steve Meyer, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel, 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Patric Cilliers.
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Ross Skeate, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Rory Kockott, 21 Monty Dumond, 22 Andries Strauss.

Pumas: 15 Carl Bezuidenhout, 14 Ashwin Scott, 13 Shaun Venter, 12 Siviwe Magaba, 11 Allister Kettledas, 10 Ricardo Croy, 9 Jacques Coetzee, 8 Doppies le Roux, 7 Alwyn Bester, 6 Corné Steenkamp, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Eduan van der Walt, 3 Ashley Buys, 2 Hannes Franklin (c), 1 Ronnie Uys.
Replacements:16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Dawie Steyn, 18 Willem Serfontein, 19 Jaco Bouwer, 20 Tian Meyer, 21 Elgar Watts, 22 Tiaan Marx.

Referee:Jonathan Kaplan