Africa-Press – South-Africa. Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell was effusive in his praise with regards to how his charges toughed it out for a crucial 22-19 win against Edinburgh in their United Rugby Championship clash on Saturday.
The Sharks had taken an early 14-0 lead through tries from Grant Williams and Marnus Potgieter, but the hosts fought back through an Adam McBurney brace and a try from Henry Immelman to take a 19-14 half-time lead.
The Sharks then kept the hosts scoreless in the second half through a mighty defensive effort that was put into perspective by the 10-minute loss of prop Carlu Sadie for an illegal cleanout in the 66th minute.
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in action They scored through Kerron van Vuuren and a Curwin Bosch penalty, from where they withstood everything their hosts threw at them in the last five
minutes of the game. Powell felt they allowed their opponents to stay in the game, but also lauded his team’s composure despite conceding three late penalties.
“We’re proud of the boys for the character, effort, and fight they showed in this game,” Powell said.
“It was tough in that last few minutes, but for the whole
80, they showed the fight. We asked them to be physical and dominant and they did exactly that in this game. “We defended well, we stayed in structure, and we
played the game in the right areas of the field, but in the last 10-15 minutes, they fed off our mistakes. “We made the game unstructured, and it suited their way of playing and that allowed them to come back into the game.”
priceless away win The Sharks’ win was South Africa’s only success of the weekend, with the Bulls, Stormers, and Lions all dropping points against the Scarlets,
Ulster, and Connacht respectively. The win moved the Sharks to eighth on the log after 11 games with 33 points, two ahead of the team they beat on Saturday.
The Sharks will be engaged in the lone URC game this weekend when they host the Stormers in Durban, a game that presents them a chance to stretch away from Edinburgh.
Powell rued the opportunities they didn’t take in the Scottish capital, but was happy with the momentum gleaned from what was their seventh win of the season.
“We still had a few opportunities to take the game away from them,” Powell said. “Overall, it was a very good win for us and if you look at how the other South African teams played, it’s a massive success for us.
“We will definitely take confidence, momentum, and flow
out of this game. The commitment was shown in this game. “This should be the standard of the Sharks in terms of how we play and how we pitch up for every game.”
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