Africa-Press – South-Africa. A tentative first step towards bridging the gulf between a Bok-studded first team and the backup resources?
That’s the intriguing question to emerge from the Sharks’ imperfect but important 19-12 Currie Cup victory over the Pumas at Kings Park on Friday night.
The issue has dominated the Durbanites’ patchy season, where they look like one of the best sides in the business when Siya Kolisi and co are at the forefront of their assault while looking decidedly lacklustre when those stars are rotated.
Yet a triumph over the Currie Cup’s table-toppers, previously unbeaten and boasting a positive points differential of 110, is no mean feat by any stretch of the imagination and, if they hadn’t been so careless in wasting a substantial lead in Kimberley two weeks ago, might’ve sat closer to their opponents on the overall log.
Nonetheless, there are some green sprouts emerging under the tutelage of Joey Mongalo.
While totally dominating the first half with a nice combination of power and initiative, which led to a maul try for scrumhalf Tiaan Fourie and his halfback partner Fred Zeilinga’s unerring boot punishing the Pumas’ inability to get out of their own half, the real triumph lay in a gutsy last 40 minutes, where they had to play with 14 men for 32 minutes and 13 for another ten.
In the 49th minute, the Pumas had finally found some attacking impetus as they drove towards the hosts’ line for a second time in quick succession.
Sharks loosehead Dian Bleuler had clumsily collapsed the set move on his line, prompting referee Paul Mente to award a penalty try and show the former Matie a yellow card.
However, the maul also delivered a skirmish between Sharks flanker Corne Rahl and his compatriot Andre Fouche.
The two men had been in each other faces on the ground already before getting up and Rahl innocuously touching Fouche’s forehead with his own.
Mente rightly referred the incident to TMO Quintin Immelman, but was of the initial opinion that Rahl, at worst, deserved to be shown a yellow card because the contact had been so soft.
Bafflingly, Immelman very easily convinced him to overturn that opinion and upgrade the sanction to a red card for what initially seemed like Rahl was going to kiss Fouche on the cheek.
Rahl was justifiably bemused at the call.
To their eternal credit, the setback didn’t fundamentally perturb the Sharks, who, in fact, ate up precious minutes by hitting right back in entering the Pumas 22m area and staying there, even forcing a penalty that was popped over easily by Zeilinga.
For the rest of the time, the Sharks played like a team who have a defence specialist – Mongalo had the portfolio at the Lions and Bulls previously – as their head coach, seldom losing their shape yet also scrambling well when they were put under pressure.
As the Pumas became more desperate to break down the wall, so did the errors mount and the hosts were able to resist relatively comfortably.
Jimmy Stonehouse and his troops, without needing to in any way panic, will need to do some introspection this week.
For all their breathtaking attacking play over the past month, this game exposed their lack of adaptability if there’s no parity up front or ample counterattacking opportunities.
They seemed to have no idea how to exit their own half in the first 40 minutes – perhaps they lack a really solid tactical kicker except for pivot Tinus de Beer – and, while making some headway in the second half by speeding things up, lacked composure and a calm voice to make promising incursions count.
Point scorers:
Sharks 19 (16)
Try: Tiaan Fourie
Conversion: Fred Zeilinga
Penalties: Zeilinga (4)
Pumas 12 (0)
Tries: Penalty try, Llewellyn Classen
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
