Sharks claim derby bragging rights to extend lead

Adam Kyriacou

The Sharks made it six victories out of seven matches in Super Rugby this year after they beat South African rivals the Stormers 24-14 in Durban.

Tries from Aphelele Fassi and Makazole Mapimpi as well as 14 points from the boot of fly-half Curwin Bosch saw the Conference leaders to a key win.

The Stormers crossed through Herschel Jantjies and Paul de Wet while Damian Willemse kicked four points as they remain second in South Africa.

The Stormers were incredibly fortunate to have not played the entire derby game with 14 players after flanker Johan du Toit took out Sharks scrum-half Louis Schreuder in the air just six seconds into the match. It was an incredibly dangerous act that, despite the Television Match Official Willie Vos advising was worthy of a red card, referee AJ Jacobs opted instead for yellow, much to the relief of the visiting side.

What followed was a physical opening spell in Durban as both sides looked to flex their muscles, which provided little in terms of clear-cut chances as the scoreline remained 0-0 going through the first quarter. Bosch did have a shot on 17 minutes but his long-range kick was wide.

Back from the sin-bin Du Toit was on the wrong side of the officials once again on 21 minutes when he was adjudged to have been offside from a clearing kick. That allowed the Sharks to take a scrum where the kick was made and Bosch’s subsequent well-timed pass out to Fassi saw the in-form full-back coast over for the opening points of the match. With Bosch slotting the conversion the Sharks had themselves a 7-0 buffer.

Their lead was shortlived, however, as an immediate response arrived for the Stormers when a break from number eight Juarno Augustus led to wing Dillyn Leyds finding scrum-half Jantjies for the levelling score after Willemse’s easy conversion. Suddenly the game had come to life.

It wasn’t the start of a deluge of tries though as only a late Bosch drop-goal on the cusp of half-time troubled the scorers at Kings Park.

Upon the resumption it was the Sharks continuing their dominance of possession and they had chances to extend their lead early on. However, handling errors foiled their attacks in the opening 10 minutes of the second half and they had to settle for a penalty from Bosch for 13-7.

Those mistakes unsurprisingly returned to haunt the Sharks too as the Stormers struck back in style on 62 minutes when Willemse’s pass to Augustus eventually found replacement scrum-half De Wet for the converted score. That moved the Capetonians 14-13 ahead in a see-saw game.

Bosch though restored the Sharks’ advantage with a massive kick from halfway for 16-14, this after his pack won a penalty at the breakdown.

That would become 19-14 with five minutes to play when the Sharks’ scrum won a penalty that Bosch duly slotted as his points haul increased before a late breakout from the hosts saw Mapimpi race over on the left to put the seal on a vital triumph that sends them top of the table.

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