The Sharks met the Vodacom Free State Cheetahs in Durban today in their second round Currie Cup match. The Sharks won 24 / 13 and go Top of the Currie Cup table again.

We bring you the match summary from the Sharks official web site, with their permission:

The Sharks were forced to dig deep in the face of a strong Free State Cheetahs effort in a tense Absa Currie Cup match at The Absa Stadium Durban on Saturday before running out worthy 24-13 victors.

It was a very nervous start from The Sharks who looked uncharacteristically rusty in the initial stages but were soon able to close out a strong attack, continue in that vein before the visitors managed to find their own way onto the scoreboard later in the first half.

The Sharks struck first with a Juan Hernandez penalty and then came an absolute gem of a try with Ryan Kankowski starting it, Waylon Murray ending it and Odwa Ndungane and Stefan Terblanche featuring strongly.

The Sharks didn’t have to wait very long for their next try, two minutes in fact as Craig Burden showed his explosive pace to beat the defence to the bobbling ball after excellent counter-shoving work at the breakdown after the Free Staters had earlier dispossessed The Sharks of their ball but then under pressure failing to protect it and Albert van den Berg starting off the counter that led to the try.

At 15-nil up after less that 20 minutes The Sharks were well in command – on the scoreboard at the very least – but a lull over the next 10 minutes was followed by a period when Free State had their tails up, scoring a try and penalty to reduce the deficit to seven points as the teams went into the halftime break with The Sharks leading 15-8.

Again The Sharks were first to score, only for Free State to score another try and put major pressure on the home side. However, a pair of difficult but successfully slotted penalties from Hernandez took The Sharks into an 11 point lead with 10 minutes remaining on the clock and appearing to be on top, but still not assured of the victory.

However, they continued to dominate the final moments of the game and although Free State could sense the game running away from them, they did search for the bonus point but finding it elusive thanks to the outstanding defence from The Sharks.

With the knowledge that the game was in the bag, The Sharks held out strongly as they tended to dominate the closing stages of this tense match. The win took them back to the top of the log with three games remaining, the next two at home against the Leopards and then the Lions before a potentially tricky final pool match against Griquas in Kimberley.

Free State Cheetahs captain Adriaan Strauss admitted afterwards that, “ It was a very tough, physical game but they have quality players. In the first half we gave away too many turnovers and they played off our mistakes to punish us.”

A delighted captain Stefan Terblanche said, “One thing about Free State, they never go away. They put us under pressure and came back at us after we had scored early on. The score just before half time was a big blow, a psychological one, but we came back in the second half and well down to my guys. It’s nice to be top but that counts for nothing if you don’t follow through.”

Note: Keegan Daniel came on to earn his 50th Absa Currie Cup cap for The Sharks today.

Crowd – 22883

Points:

Sharks: 3 Penalties Juan Hernandez & 1 Conversion, Drop Goal Stefan Terblanche, Try Waylon Murray & Craig Burden

Cheetahs: 1 Penalty Jaques-Louis Potgieter, Tries Ashley Johnson & J W Jonker

Teams:

The Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche (captain), 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Juan Hernandez, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Albert van den Berg, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Deon Carstens,
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 John Smit, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Monty Dumond, 22 Adrian Jacobs.

Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Lionel Mapoe, 13 Corné Uys, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 JP Joubert, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Frans Viljoen, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 David de Villiers, 4 Nico Breedt, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Izak van der Westhuizen, 19 Hendro Scholtz, 20 Tertius Carse, 21 Louis Strydom, 22 JW Jonker.

Referee: Mark Lawrence
Assistant referees: Matt Kemp, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Johann Meuwesen