Sharks player ratings: Springbok stars shine while 18-year-old ‘revelation’ secures first try
Sharks player ratings: Esterhuizen and Kolisi
The Sharks signed off their URC season with an impressive 54-19 victory in Durban over Zebre Parma, in which the departing Siya Kolisi scored two tries.
Here are our Sharks player ratings:
Backs
15 Zekhethelo Siyaya: The young star has been a revelation for the Sharks since joining earlier this year. The 18-year-old showed seriously classy footwork and attacking prowess throughout, and was rewarded with his first-ever professional try. 7
14 Jaco Williams: Did well to touch down in the first half and showed some real pace on the wing. However, he was guilty of not looking after the ball at times, particularly after making a break. Not just was he turned over three times, but when also missing a couple of tackles. Against bottom-placed Zebre, it didn’t hurt too much but he would get punished against greater opposition. 4
13 Jurenzo Julius: The powerful outside centre was brilliant at straightening up and gliding through the Zebre defence. Zebre struggled to contain him, often needing multiple defenders to stop the centre. 6
12 Andre Esterhuizen: ‘Andre the Giant’ used all of his power to dent the Italian defence with a match-leading 17 carries. In this, he beat nine defenders for 86 metres, not to mention his brilliant turnover work in defence. His play of the day had to be an incredible offload out the back of his hand as he was hitting the deck for the final try. 8
11 Litelihle Bester: After an extremely nervous start, which included lots of handling errors, he grew into the game well, getting heavily involved and using his expressive talents to open the Zebre defence. Only real complaint was a really poor attempted tackle for Zebre’s opening try. 6
10 Moyo Simphiwe Vusi: Considering it was the 19-year-old’s debut, he looked incredibly confident. His kicking from the tee was pinpoint and he even got over the line to take his points haul to 15. 6
9 Bradley Davids: After a couple of loose early passes, his game settled down and he varied his options well. This included a brilliantly lofted pass to help set up the opener. He made one poor kick out on the full, but otherwise had a comfortable enough game. 6
Forwards
8 Nick Hatton: Made a good early charge-down to put Zebre under pressure and soon after made a great offload to set up Williams’ opening try. Whenever the Sharks made a break, Hatton was often there, providing the initial contact to force the defence on the back foot. 7
7 Emmanuel Tshituka: It was a very busy afternoon for the openside. He was often spotted running clever support lines off the shoulders of teammates, but he struggled at times with his handling, making impulsive flicks in the contact to try and keep the phase flowing. For all this lost possession, his tenacity paid off and he touched down near the end. 6
6 Siya Kolisi: Every touch was brilliant. He made a huge break in the first half, charging through the centre field, and was rewarded shortly afterwards with a try from the lineout. Was on for a hat-trick in the second half after crossing the line for a second time, but was removed on the 60-minute mark to sign off in his final game for the Sharks. 8
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5 Emile van Heerden: Incredibly effective in the carry, especially when primarily used as a battering ram in the first half, but his key impact on the game was his majestic performance in the lineout. He rose clear above the opposition jumpers and caused real problems on Zebre’s throw. 7
4 Deon Slabbert: Very quiet game. Didn’t really do much other than run a couple of dummy lines. 4
3 Vincent Koch: The powerful prop had an interesting role which didn’t require much handling of the ball, but rather provided a huge defensive effort. That involved clearing out at the ruck and causing carnage both as the first and second defender. It wasn’t a pretty role, but he did it more than efficiently. 6
2 Eduan Swart: The orchestrator of one of the most efficient lineouts in the league was once again perfect with his darts. 6
1 Ox Nche: The Springbok legend was penalised in an early scrum and turned over a couple of times in the opening half. Still, his overall performance will be remembered fondly after showing terrifically quick hands to set up Kolisi’s opening try. His attacking prowess was at its very best, displaying all the offloading skills that one would expect from a top-level fly-half rather than a prop. But to keep with his positional stereotype, he was powerful in the contact, often requiring multiple players to bring him down. 7
Replacements: The bench continued to mount the pressure set by those before them. As a result, Ross Braude and Le Roux Malan scored a try each while Jean Smith stuck the conversions. 7