Two tries: Ben Alexander
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For the second straight week it was a case of 'close but no cigar' for the Sharks as they tumbled to a 24-22 defeat to the Brumbies in Canberra on Saturday.
Brumbies prop Ben Alexander touched down twice as the team from the Aussie capital made it three wins in a row.
On paper, they're one of the best teams in the Super 14, but things just won't go right for the Sharks this year. It was never going to be easy on the road against Australia's 'dream team' and once too many unnecessary penalties and handling errors cost the Sharks.
A closer game you could ask for as the protagonists exchanged the lead every few minutes, but neither side will be overly happy with their performance as both backlines failed to fire.
In the end, it was the Brumbies pack that made the difference with two hard earned tries.
Andy Goode gave the Sharks the early lead thanks to two penalties, including one from 50m, but Matt Giteau slotted two easy shots at goal to level the scores after 25 minutes.
After the Sharks dominated possession in the opening quarter they could hardly get their hands on the ball in the next 20 minutes as the Brumbies pack got into their stride.
Alexander was first to get over the whitewash at the end of 26 phases to put the Brumbies ahead as the home side looked to take control of the match.
Some slack defending around the fringes of the rucks would cost the Brumbies however as Ruan Pienaar found a gap and made sniping run to touch down a few minutes later. Goode's conversion from the touchline leveled the scores once again.
The English fly-half would have the last laugh of the half, nailing another mammoth penalty attempt to put the visitors 16-13 up at the break.
The Brumbies pack earned another try to start the second half. The Sharks Springbok front row was made to look ordinary once again as the Brumbies plied the pressure from a 5m scrum. In the aftermath Alexander burrowed his way across for his second try.
Giteau's conversion sailed wide - this first miss from the kicking tee this season - but Goode had no such problems five minutes later with another penalty making to five-from-five and move the Sharks ahead by a single point.
The seesaw battle continued as Giteau and Goode exchanged three-pointers to leave the scores at 22-21 to the Sharks entering the last quarter.
With ten minutes to go, Ryan Kankowski was adjudged to have started his run for an attempted intercept too early. It was a marginal call, but it gave Giteau a chance to move the Brumbies back into the lead, which he duly did.
The Sharks never really threatened to steal the win as a couple a basic handling errors stifled each of their attacks at the death.
Man of the match: Two tries, a strong show in the scrums and in the tight stuff, Ben Alexander is the logical choice this week.
The scorers
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Alexander 2
Cons: Giteau
Pens: Giteau 4
For the Sharks:
Try: Pienaar
Con: Goode
Pens: Goode 5
Brumbies: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Pat McCabe, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Josh Valentine, 8 Stephen Hoiles, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Ben Hand, 3 Salesi Maafu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Guy Shepherdson, 18 Justin Harrison, 19 Mitchell Chapman, 20 Patrick Phibbs, 21 Matt Toomua, 22 Tyrone Smith.
Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Riaan Swanepoel, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Johann Muller, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Keegan Daniel, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Waylon Murray.
Venue: Canberra Stadium
Referee: Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Paul Marks (Australia), Simon Moore (Australia)
Television match official: Matt Goddard (Australia)
Comments
willems says...
People are surprised at the Sharks lack of form this year but I am not surprised in the least. In last year's Super 14 it seemed as if the Sharks were cruising to the semi-finals but they faded very bad in the last third of the competition and they looked got even worse towards the end.
In the currie cup they blew hot and cold and eventually lost a home semi-final to the cheetahs. I believe there is some serious politics going on behind the scenes in that camp and it needs to be addressed to turn all those close losses around.
They lost by only 1 point to the Chiefs,
4 points to the Cheetahs (in a game the referee Pro Legoto had no idea what was going on in the scrum),
4 points to the Warathas - on the road (where the ref was an absolute idiot),
2 points to the Brumbies - on the road (with some 50/50 decisions going against them)
The only game they were outplayed was against the Crusaders (35-6) and they were right in the game with only 15 min to go.
The sharks could easily have been sitting on 16 points with one overseas game left. I believe the Sharks will beat the Highlanders this weekend and it will turn their whole season around. Too late to make the semi's now but there is nothing wrong with the Sharks players.
Posted 13:19 15th March 2010
Indy says...
I welcome it. When a player (Scott Valentine - Brumbies no. 9) smacks another player (Steven Sykes - Sharks no. 4) in the face immediately in front of the referee, and no action is taken then you know that there's a problem. If the jerseys had been reversed it is without doubt that the South African player would have been yellow-carded at the very least. How long are we going to have to live with this sort of thing?
Posted 07:31 15th March 2010
brazilrugger says...
it will be nice when we in South America can maybe join this competition, for us, but also so that the Aus-NZ referreing bias can maybe be addressed as well
Posted 16:05 13th March 2010
Indy says...
Marginal call indeed, one of several...
The Oz-Kiwi axis of refereeing evil roadshow rolls on.
Moment of the match: (76mins) Paul Marks - great bit of judgement by whoever appointed the officials for this match - makes an pivotal touch call. Adam Ashley-Pooper takes a GRUBBER into touch and gets the line-out. Hello??? This must be a new law that hasn't yet been published in SA.
Yawn. These South African whingers mate - they just keep coming out of the woodwork. There's just no justification for their griping. As the Aussie commentators said today - "we did the analysis, it wasn't a penalty try". That's that then, as long as YOU did the analysis. Add Spiro Zavos to the panel and we couldn't hope for a more balanced view.
HAHAHAHA - if only the men in the white suits would fetch me before I hurt someone...
Posted 11:22 13th March 2010