Durban – The is a reason why the Sharks have won just once at Loftus since 2011 and it was evident once more yesterday when the Bulls’ forwards came out on top to allow their backs to deliver a 40-27 United Rugby Championship victory.
It was the same old script — plenty of effort by the visitors, but too many mistakes under pressure, and then after the slow poison from the Bulls’ forwards took its toll, the Sharks were put away in the final quarter.
It took 14 minutes of jousting between the teams before Chris Smith kicked the first points of the game and five minutes later, a chicken-wing pass from him to fullback Johan Goosen resulted in what seemed to be a try, but the pass was (correctly) ruled forward.
Smith kicked his second penalty on 20 minutes for a 6-0 lead, but it could have been considerably more and you had the feeling that the Sharks were holding on.
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And they would have been delighted to close the gap to 6-3 through the boot of Boeta Chamberlain, but then new centre Francois Venter conceded a silly penalty for being in front of the kicker and the Sharks were lucky when the Bulls’ drive over their tryline was ruled to be illegal.
But shortly after, the Bulls did go further ahead when Smith punished the Sharks for a penalty against them for a collapsed scrum and then they exploded ahead when wing David Kriel, who had been threatening all day, cut the Shark’s defence open and passed to Marcell Coetzee for a try.
Suddenly, it was 16-3 just before halftime and the Sharks looked down and out only for centre Marnus Potgieter to prove a point to his former employers at the Bulls. He pounced on a loose ball outside the Bulls’ 22 and powered through a host of defenders for a fine try and at 16-10, his team entered the change-rooms with a timely boost.
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And they indeed came out charging and 10 minutes into the half Aphelele Fassi found himself on a sweet pass from Chamberlain to cruise to the posts, and the conversion put them ahead by a point.
As the game hit the three-quarter mark, Smith put the Bulls back in front but from the restart replacement Sharks hooker Dan Jooste forced a penalty at the breakdown and his team was ahead 20-19.
It was short-lived as scrumhalf Embrose Papier finished off neatly after a break by Cornal Hendricks and then, bizarrely, the TMO ruled a forward offload by Goosen to Stravino Jacobs as legal, and the home side was over the hills and far away at 33-20.
That sucker punch try took the fight out of the Sharks and as the game ground to a halt, the Bulls nailed the bonus-point try for good measure, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels going over on the back of a maul.
There was a magnificent individual try at the death by the ever-industrious Sharks No 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, but it was the proverbial consolation.
Scorers
Bulls – Tries: Marcell Coetzee, Embrose Papier, Stravino Jacobs, Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Conversions: Chris Smith (4). Penalties: Chris Smith (4).
Sharks – Tries: Marnus Potgieter, Aphelele Fassi, Phepsi Buthelezi. Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (3). Chamberlain (3).
IOL Sport
