Sharks pip Pumas

The Sharks consolidated their position at the top of the Currie Cup standings with a 27-25 victory over the Pumas at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Friday.

The Pumas were looking to return to winning ways after being pipped by one point last week but it was not to be.

The Sharks have now won the last four meetings between the sides and consolidate first position after having leapfrogged the Cheetahs to the top of the standings last weekend.

With just three minutes on the clock, a good breakaway by Willie Engelbrecht from the back of a Pumas 10-metre lineout got the home side close to the line. The ball was recycled quickly out on the left wing where Ruwellyn Isbell was waiting to finish clinically bashing straight through Garth April.

Soon after, a Kobus Marais' penalty extended the hosts' lead to 8-0 with eight minutes gone. Two minutes later, Curwin Bosch responded with a penalty for the visitors to cut the deficit to five after the Pumas were penalised for illegal scrummaging.

And the Sharks continued to get the better of the Pumas' scrum. This time, they had a scrum on the Pumas' five-metre line and capitalised as Sibusiso Nkosi grabbed his seventh try of the season in the 21st minute after an excellent skip pass by Bosch stretched the opposition defence and found Nkosi on the overlap to dot down. Unfortunately, Bosch's conversion struck the upright and stayed out.

The away side grabbed their second of the match when Ruan Botha showed good running angles for a lock before releasing Jeremy Ward on his inside to cross the whitewash. Bosch converted as the Sharks had a 15-8 lead after 30 minutes.

However, five minutes before the interval, the Sharks were temporarily reduced to fourteen men when Akker van der Merwe was yellow-carded for a cynical offside on his own try-line.

And after the hooter, there was still time for the Sharks to lose another man to the sin-bin when Tyler Paul was yellow-carded for a no-arms tackle. But the Sharks did well not to concede any points despite persistent pressure from the Pumas late in the half and went in to the break 15-8 up with 13 men.

The Pumas scored the first try of the second half five minutes in, just reward for their sustained pressure. Justin van Staden's pass found the overlapping Lewis who finished easily on the right wing. Marais levelled the scores at 15-15 with his conversion.

Soon after, the Pumas had their third try and it was a beautiful team move. Great work from Chris Cloete as he showed good pace to outstrip Ward and get the offload away to Hennie Skorbinski who had a clear run to the line. Marais converted as the home side took a 22-15 lead after 50 minutes.

From the five-metre lineout, they set up the driving maul and charged over as Wian Vosloo emerged from the melee with the ball. April added the extras to bring the deficit back to three. with 12 minutes to go.

But the Pumas were to be denied as the Sharks completed a thrilling comeback. April was the creator-in-chief as he broke the line before producing an excellent offload flick out of the back of hand to find the pacy Rhyno Smith who capped off a great try and a remarkable comeback.

The scorers:

For Pumas:
Tries: Isbell, Lewis, Skorbinski
Cons: Marais 2
Pens: Marais 2

For Sharks:
Tries: Nkosi, Ward, Vosloo, Smith
Cons: Bosch, April
Pen: Bosch
Yellow Cards: Van der Merwe, Paul

Pumas: 15 Justin van Staden, 14 Jean-Paul Lewis, 13 Jerome Pretorius, 12 Hennie Skorbinski (c), 11 Ruwellyn Isbell, 10 Kobus Marais, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 Cameron Lindsay, 4 Stefan Willemse, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Mark Pretorius, 1 De-Jay Terblanche
Replacements: 16 Frank Herne, 17 Khwezi Mona, 18 Hugo Kloppers, 19 Brian Shabangu, 20 Theo Maré, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Devon Williams

Sharks: 15 Garth April, 14 Tythan Adams, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Sibusiso Nkosi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Lubabalo Mtembu, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Ruan Botha (c), 4 Tyler Paul, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Armand van der Merwe, 1 Thomas du Toit
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Jean Droste, 19 Wian Vosloo, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Marius Louw, 22 Rhyno Smith

Referee: Jaco van Heerden
Assistant Referees: Pieter Maritz, Stephan van Dyk
TMO: Johan Greeff