Sharks too good for Cheetahs

Patrick Lambie: Composed performance

The Sharks secured their spot in next week's Currie Cup Final after beating the Cheetahs 20-13 in in their semi-final Durban.

The Cheetahs raced into a 13-0 lead after 25 minutes through two early penalties by Johan Goosen and a try by Hennie Daniller.

While the first half belonged to the Bloemfontein-based side, the second half was dominated by the hosts, who quickly erased the 13-3 half-time deficit to lead 17-13 after just 15 minutes of the second stanza.

Daniller was first to cross the whitewash as the lanky full-back had an easy run-in for his try after Adriaan Strauss pounced on a knock on by Ross Skeate close to the Sharks tryline.

The Cheetahs skipper offloaded to Ashley Johnson, who drew in a Sharks defender before passing to Daniller to score.

The Sharks suffered a setback when fly-half and key playmaker Frederic Michalak was forced to leave the field with a leg injury on the half-hour mark.

Shortly after the break, prop Beast Mtawarira narrowed the gap when he burrowed his way over the tryline and right wing Odwa Ndungane put his team into the lead for the first time 10 minutes later when he rounded off a fine Sharks move, which saw his team-mates taking the ball through 12 phases before sending the ball out wide to the pacy Springbok.

Lambie, converted both tries and he was dictating play after taking over from Michalak at fly-half.

The hosts' forwards deserve credit for laying a solid platform for their backs to play from and Lambie in particular thrived on the possession he was receiving.

He sealed the win with an easy penalty five minutes from the end, which meant that the visitors had to score a converted try to force the match into extra-time, but the Sharks held on until the final whistle.

They will get a chance to defend their title against the Golden Lions or Western Province next Saturday.

Man of the match: The Sharks lost Frederic Michalak while they were trailing 13-0 in the first half. But full-back Patrick Lambie gave a composed performance after moving to fly-half as Michalak's replacement and contributed 10 points in their win.

Moment of the match: With the score at 17-13 to the Sharks, and five minutes left in the match, the Cheetahs were desperately trying to get back on to the scoreboard. However, their back-line was penalised for going offside and Lambie slotted an easy penalty to seal the win for the home side.

Villain of the match: The game was played in a good spirit and referee Marius Jonker did not need to use any of his cards for ill discipline.

The scorers:

For Sharks:
Tries: Mtawarira, Ndungane
Cons: Lambie 2
Pens: Lambie 2

For Cheetahs:
Try: Daniller
Pens: Goosen 2
Con: Goosen

Sharks: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Stefan Terblanche, 12 Marius Joubert, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Conrad Hoffmann, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Keegan Daniel (c), 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Jean Deysel, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Marcell Coetzee, 19 Jacques Botes, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Lwazi Mvovo.

Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Ryno Benjamin, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Cameron Jacobs, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Boom Prinsloo, 7 Ashley Johnson, 6 Pieter Labuschagne, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Philip van der Walt, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 19 Johan Wessels, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Nico Scheepers.

Referee: Marius Jonker