Sharks go top after thrashing Cheetahs
The Sharks moved into first place in the standings after beating the Free State Cheetahs 45-15 in their top-of-the-table clash in Durban on Saturday.
Despite heading into this fixture as the leading side in the competition, the Cheetahs were always going to battle as most of their leading players were in action in their historical PRO14 encounter with Ulster in Belfast on Friday.
And the loss of those stalwarts was keenly felt as the Sharks dominated for large periods and eventually outscored their hapless visitors seven tries to two.
The home side held a comfortable 24-3 lead at half-time thanks to tries from Lukhanyo Am, John-Hubert Meyer, Inny Radebe and Louis Schreuder with Ryno Eksteen slotting a penalty for the Cheetahs during this period.
Am opened the scoring in the ninth minute when he swivelled through a tackle before crashing over in the right-hand corner but the Cheetahs struck back when Eksteen landed his penalty five minutes later.
The home side were gradually taking control of proceedings and in the 23rd minute Meyer got over the try-line after running onto a pass from Schreuder close to the Cheetahs try-line.
And on the hour-mark Radebe pounced on a loose ball inside the visitors’ 22 before beating a defender and crossing the whitewash.
Just before half-time, Sibusiso Nkosi set off on a barnstorming run down the left-hand touchline before offloading to Schreuder who dotted down in the corner.
The Sharks continued to dominate after the break and in the 48th minute Marius Louw stepped past several defenders and dotted down shortly after coming on as a replacement.
And on the hour-mark it was more of the same as Garth April, Franco Marais and Jeremy Ward all handled the ball before Lubabalo Mtembu offloaded to Nkosi who cantered in for his second try.
To their credit, the Cheetahs did not surrender and in the 66th minute Marco Mason crossed for their opening try after a 30 metre sprint.
The Sharks struck back shortly afterwards when Nkosi crossed for his second try – after April and Mtembu combined brilliantly in the build-up – although a late Luther Obi try added some respectabilty to the final score for the visitors.
The scorers:
For Sharks:
Tries: Am, Meyer, Radebe, Schreuder, Louw, Nkosi 2
Cons: Radebe 3, April 2
For Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Mason, Obi
Con: Mason
Pen: Eksteen
Sharks: 15 Inny-Christian Radebe, 14 Tythan Adams, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Sibusiso Nkosi, 10 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Lubabalo Mtembu, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Ruan Botha (c), 4 Tyler Paul, 3 John-Hubert Meyer, 2 Armand van der Merwe, 1 Thomas du Toit
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 Jean Droste, 19 Wian Vosloo, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Marius Louw, 22 Garth April
Free State Cheetahs:15 Reinhardt Erwee, 14 Carel-Jan Coetzee, 13 Jacobus Jonker, 12 Stephan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Ryno Eksteen, 9 Juan-Philip Smith, 8 Japer Wiese, 7 Chris Dry (c), 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Dennis Visser, 4 Nicolaas Immelman, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Reinach Venter, 1 Gert Kotze
Replacements: 16 Elandre Huggett, 17 Andrew Kuhn, 18 Sibabalo Qoma, 19 Ntokoza Vidima, 20 Daniel Maartens, 21 Dian Badenhorst, 22 Marco Mason
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen