The Sharks hosted the Platinum Leopards in round 2 of the Currie Cup. The Sharks won 34 / 20, scoring 5 tries in the first half.

The match progressed much as I predicted, Sharks hit hard early and often with tries from Vulindlu, Mvovo and Andries Strauss.. and then again Andries Strauss… and was ahead 22 / 0 after barely 30 minutes, also having missed 3 conversions already but having bagged their bonus point for tries.

A converted intercept try from R W Kember as well as a penalty by Jean Tiedt made the Leopards’ score more respectable after early wayward kicking at goal by Clayton Durand.

Before halftime though the Sharks scored again, making the halftime score 27 / 10

After halftime the Sharks started bringing on replacement after replacement and one could see that their intensity levels had dropped and that they were playing a game to ensure minimum injuries.

The Sharks had cleared their replacement bench about 15 minutes before full time.

The Sharks kept attacking but could not penetrate the Leoppards sudden good defence and the Leopards actually “won” the 2nd half 10 / 7 after scoring yet another intercept try through Jovan Bowles and converting another Jean Tiedt penalty, compared to the Sharks solitary converted try by Albert van den Berg.

All in all a scrappy game, but mission accomplished for the Sharks who now jump to 45 Log points and straight into the semi-finals.

To say much more about this dour game would do injustice to rugby… this was a game of going through the motions for a champion team against a team which should not even be allowed to compete in the same competition.

Harsh words… very harsh… but true !

 

Points:

Sharks: 1 Conversion Juan Hernandez, 1 Conversion Monty Dumond, Tries Luzuko Vulindlu & Lwazi Mvovo & Andries Strauss (2) & Jaques Botes & Albert van den Berg

Leopards: 1 Conversion Clayton Durand, 2 Penalties & 1 Conversion Jean Tiedt, Try R W Kember & Jovan Bowles

Fri Sep 25 2009 at 19:10 (local timeABSA Stadium - Durban
Venue: ABSA Stadium, Durban, South Africa
Altitude: 12m / Capacity: 55,000

 

 

 

Teams:

Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanché (captain), 14 Luzuko Vulindlu, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Juan Hernández, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Albert van den Berg, 4 Alistair Hargreaves, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Skipper Badenhorst, 1 Patric Cilliers.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Deon Carstens, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Rory Kockott, 21 Monty Dumond, 22 Adrian Jacobs.

Leopards: 15 Danie Dames, 14 Jovan Bowles, 13 Deon van Rensburg, 12 Berndt Theissinger, 11 Jan van Zyl, 10 Clayton Durand, 9 Jean Tiedt, 8 RW Kember, 7 Thabo Mamojele, 6 André Swanepoel (captain), 5 Draad Linde, 4 Ligtoring Landman, 3 Os van der Walt, 2 Gavin Williamson, 1 Divan Kotzé.
Replacements: 16 Pellow van der Westhuizen, 17 Nardus Lombard, 18 Bennie Adams, 19 Riaan Swanepoel, 20 Chris Erasmus, 21 Neil Jacobs, 22 Bom Samaai

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Luke Burger, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Shaun Veldsman

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