Planet Rugby

Sharks weather Stormers

02nd March 2013 18:54

Sharks fly half Pat Lambie passing

Points man: Pat Lambie

The Sharks made it two wins from two in Super Rugby after claiming a 12-6 derby success over the Stormers in a dour contest in Durban on Saturday.

It was a dismal spectacle at Kings Park as no tries were scored in a fixture marred by errors. There was also a lack of imagination in attack.

Pat Lambie kicked all of the home side's points while Joe Pietersen did exactly the same for the Stormers, who have yet to win in the competition.

The scoreless first-half of the derby was a dismal affair, with both teams hesitant to run too much with ball in hand. They instead opted to constantly boot the ball upfield, although the visitors did manage to breach the home 22 on a few occasions.

Neither team broke the deadlock before the break, and things marginally improved after the restart with Springbok fly-half Lambie slotting four penalties in reply to two by Pietersen.

At the start, the visitors began the brighter of the two sides, but their handling in promising positions was poor early on, allowing the Sharks to turn over possession.

Bok winger Bryan Habana twice raced down the left after clever kicks ahead, but both times the ball beat him to touch as the hosts battled to find forward movement.

They did have the first attempt on goal, though, on the stroke of the first quarter when the Stormers were penalised for handling the ball on the ground at the scrum. Lambie's attempt from 40 metres drifted to the right.

The Sharks had another attempt, albeit an ambitious one, in the 31st minute when Deon Fourie was punished for not rolling away at the ruck, but Francois Steyn's shot from close to 55 metres out did not have the legs to carry over.

After the restart, an infringement from Pietersen gave the home team a third kickable penalty, and this time Lambie made no mistake.

But the Cape side were back on level terms within three minutes when the hosts were punished for not rolling away following a strong maul, with Pietersen making it 3-3.

Another ruck infringement, this time by the Stormers right in front of the posts, gifted the Sharks and Lambie three more points in the 53rd minute, before the number 10 immediately added another off-side penalty to extend the advantage.

Pietersen again replied, but some line-out interference by his teammates allowed last year's Super Rugby finalists to regain their six-point lead, which they held until the end.

The scorers:

For Sharks:
Pen: Lambie 4

For Stormers:
Pen: Pietersen 2

Sharks: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Francois Steyn (c), 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 19 Jacques Botes, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Odwa Ndungane.

Stormers: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jean de Villiers (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 De Kock Steenkamp, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Pat Cilliers, 18 Don Armand, 19 Nizaam Carr, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Peter Grant, 22 Gerhard van den Heever.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Comments

passtheball says...

daibok - think you are right - its a fear of losing rather than trying win. The Canes and the Crusaders are suffering a bit from that too presently. The commentators were saying the game showed what good heart SA rugby was in! We will see how the Chiefs get on in CT and the Bulls In Akl. Early days.

Posted 14:15 03rd March 2013

JayStarr says...

This was mind-numbing... and frankly, embarrassing. I think it would be better for my health to stop supporting the Stormers (who should perhaps change their name to the Bashers) and find another team...

Posted 12:45 03rd March 2013

ben7 says...

@TheGreatOne

Hmmmm must be why the Bulls won 3 titles in 4 years and the Boks have won 2 World cups out of a possible 5. You obviously don't watch rugby very often.

And to everyone else, this was ONE match (and a boring one at that). When Alberts, Daniel and Bismarck Du Plessis are back for the Sharks they will improve. Same when Burger, Etzebeth and De Jongh are back for the Stormers.

There have also been dull, try-less all NZ and Aussie games in the past which people seem to forget. And don't worry, the SA teams (apart from the Stormers) will begin to score a lot more tries against NZ and Aussie team as their defenses aren't as good as SA teams.

The fact is that the big 3 SA teams have amazing defenses with pretty average attacking abilities. The Kiwi team on the other hand are the opposite with amazing attack but have pretty average defenses.

Just thought that i'd point out that the Bulls were top try scorers in 2009, 2010 and 2nd top in 2012, with the Cheetahs being arguably the most exciting team to watch on attack last year and the Sharks being in the top 3 or 4 for tries scored last year.

My point is that you can't judge a whole country on one match.

Posted 11:07 03rd March 2013

ferdie says...

a total 266 forward run metres in the whole game is some kind of record low. Now i understand that head in the oven comment.

Comparison Bulls/Force 1070m, Waratahs/Rebels 1292m.

266? Sorry I missed this one.

Trinads- forgotten the Brumbies game already? where was that Reds try again?

Posted 10:47 03rd March 2013

flyman says...

That was worse than watching paint dry, I can only hope that they were playing to coach's instructions. So much talent wasted! Do coaches get a match fee?

Posted 10:44 03rd March 2013

nefari says...

Well sure the chiefs and blues scored many tries, but the defence wasn't something to write home abt. My arguement is simply that not all NZ teams play an "exciting" brand people are always getting overly excited about

Posted 10:00 03rd March 2013

kybone says...

Well England and Ireland play out a 12-6 game in some of the worst conditions i've seen for a game of rugby, and the SH brigade come out to slam the standard of NH rugby. Yet here we have a game played in massively better conditions with the same result!

nefari- You can't use the Crusaders to back up your argument. LOL. They lost, and the team that beat them did score tries. Plonker.

Posted 09:34 03rd March 2013

Ramage says...

I wonder how Martin Marais is feeling after this game. Sure the Crusaders never scored any tries Nefari but there was another side in that game and would you like to tell us how mant tries the Blues scored. seems to me you are only using the team that suits your argument to try and score a very weak point, Seems the only Saffa side to score tries this weekend was the Bulls. The way these teams set their defences these days its a wonder any team scores tries. Look at the way the Cheetahs sent wave after wave on attack against the chiefs but were repulsed on the one hand by a well set defence by the Chiefs and secondly a not too thoughtful attack plan by the Cheetahs. Never mind its early days yet.

Posted 08:42 03rd March 2013

nefari says...

How many tries did the crusaders and hurricanes score this weekend? 0 and I swear you new zealanders will keep overrating your teams. Just watch the games you want to watch, if you don't want to watch two sa sides then don't.

Posted 07:49 03rd March 2013

nefari says...

Stormers have relied on teams making mistakes this last two years and the sharks wouldn't budge. Maybe coetzee will change something now? Sharks will be happy with the win... Oh and yeah, how many tries did the crusaders score yesterday?

Posted 07:38 03rd March 2013

passtheball says...

6 penalties - no tries - wow that will bring the crowds in. Is the exodus of players from SA lowering the quality or is it the tactics employed?

Posted 01:08 03rd March 2013

noord_transvaal says...

yawn.... is it over yet ?

Posted 23:48 02nd March 2013

ben7 says...

Yes it was very boring but damn they defend well

Posted 23:39 02nd March 2013

firepower says...

GO SHARKS!!

Posted 23:16 02nd March 2013

Trinats2 says...

Very poor. Bring back the Lions, at least they could score a try !

Posted 21:41 02nd March 2013

kooper says...

That was an absolutely, dismally boring game to watch... I was looking for the exit at the local pub after minute 10, and that's saying something.

Posted 19:45 02nd March 2013

philipjfry says...

Shocking match, I don't understand why the commentators were so pleased. I considered putting my head in the oven at half-time.

Posted 19:39 02nd March 2013

TheGreatOne says...

South African rugby is a joke. About as exciting as watching Baobabs grow but with more errors

Posted 19:34 02nd March 2013

rugbyinheaven says...

I wonder where the Sharks and Stormers fans are now. They always crow about "one dimensional" Bulls rugby. This game was a kick fest with zero tries. Bulls scored four tries including a beauty from Morne Steyn. Steyn appears to have his mojo back.

Posted 19:32 02nd March 2013

daibok says...

It looked like both sides came out not to lose. Very disappointing considering the great attacking players on both sides. Still, a win is a win.

Posted 19:16 02nd March 2013

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