Springboks shine as Sharks ease past Munster while Ospreys claim just second win of season

Aphelele Fassi of the Sharks during the 2024 United Rugby Championship.
The Sharks ran in five tries as they claimed a 41-24 victory over Munster in Durban on Saturday as their Springboks came to the fore in a dominant performance.
Crossings from Aphelele Fassi, Makazole Mapimpi, Grant Williams, Andre Esterhuizen and Vincent Tshituka saw the South African side to a fine bonus-point triumph.
Jordan Hendrikse kicked five conversions and two penalties as the hosts backed up last week’s win over United Rugby Championship holders Glasgow Warriors in style.
Tom Ahern, Mike Haley, Calvin Nash and Tadhg Beirne scored for Munster as they claimed a try bonus-point in the final play of the game to fly home with something.
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The South African side came flying out of the traps and scored two tries inside four minutes through Fassi and Mapimpi, both converted by Hendrikse.
Hendrikse landed a penalty to extend the Sharks‘ lead to 17-0 before Ahern responded for Munster, with Jack Crowley unable to add the extras.
The Sharks grabbed their third try when Williams went in under the posts, leaving Hendrikse a simple kick, with Haley then crossing for Munster’s second try, Crowley again missing from the tee.
Esterhuizen secured the bonus point for Sharks with a fourth score before half-time, Hendrikse making no mistake and then knocking over another penalty early in the second half.
After the Sharks had James Venter sin-binned, Hendrikse landed his fifth successive conversion when Tshituka charged down a clearance before scoring.
But Munster secured a bonus point by scoring two tries inside the final seven minutes through Nash and Beirne, with Billy Burns converting both.
Ospreys beat Edinburgh to claim second win of season
Elsewhere, Ospreys moved off the bottom of the United Rugby Championship table with a hard-fought 22-13 victory over Edinburgh in Bridgend.
A strong second-half performance from their pack proved decisive as they picked up three tries, all from front-rowers, Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas and Sam Parry. Owen Williams converted two and added a penalty.
Ben Vellacott replied with a try for Edinburgh with Ross Thompson kicking two penalties and a conversion.
Matt Scott led out Edinburgh on his 100th appearance for the region but they were soon behind when Lake finished off a driving line-out.
The visitors responded with a lively burst from Duhan van der Merwe before Thompson put them on the scoreboard with a penalty.
Owen Williams had the chance to nullify this with a long-range penalty but it was off-target and the score remained at 7-3 to the hosts at the end of a cagey and uninspiring first quarter.
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However the Scots soon enlivened proceedings when an alert Vellacott quickly took a tap-penalty to dart over the line.
There remained little between the teams in the opening period but Ospreys were not helped by a couple of loose kicks from Williams, which prevented them from gaining momentum so the second quarter finished scoreless.
Two minutes after the restart, Ospreys suffered a blow when scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams was sin-binned for a no-arms tackle but this was the precursor for the Welsh Region to have their best spell of the match.
An elusive run down the left flank from Keelan Giles resulted in a sustained period of pressure from them with Edinburgh’s Jamie Ritchie sin-binned for persistent team infringements as the visitors sought to keep their line intact.
This intensified the onslaught on the Scots’ line and eventually the defence cracked when Thomas finished off a succession of forward drives.
Both players returned from the sin-bin and in time to see Williams and Thompson exchange penalties.
Williams missed for the third time in the match but it mattered little as replacement hooker Sam Parry sealed victory with a close-range try five minutes from the end.
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