Yaw Penxe. (Photo by Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images)
The Sharks moved to the the summit of the Currie Cup log with a bonus point 35-9 victory over the Griffons in Welkom on Friday afternoon, but will be acutely aware that the relatively emphatic scoreline was deceiving.
Armed with several URC enforcements in the form of Springboks Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Sikhumbuzo Notshe as well as a settled core of domestic tournament stalwarts, the Durbanites largely failed to capitalise on their superior firepower with a spluttering performance despite dominating the second half.
In fact, they were under pressure several times in the first 40 as an enthusiastic and well-organised home side exploited the Sharks’ initially conservative approach of playing a percentage game, generally exiting well and then patiently working themselves into good field positions as their opponents suddenly found themselves defending far more than they would’ve anticipated.
Scrumhalf Jaywinn Juries’ unerring boot – he remains this season’s leading points scorer to date – gave the Griffons a deserved 6-0 buffer yet, despite the initiative of their underrated captain Duan Pretorius, didn’t quite have the attacking nous to outfox a resolute defence.
Ironically, the one occasion late in the first half when the hosts did opt to set up an attacking line-out, they lost possession and ultimately conceded an embarrassingly clumsy try, when wing Domenic Smit – good as tactical kicker up to that point – had his desperate hoof in his red zone charged down by Sharks lock Ockie Barnard before midfielder Carel-Jan Coetzee, a former Blitzbok, threw a no-look backward pass to no-one.
Durbanite pivot Lionel Cronje was on hand to dot down.
Juries’ third penalty though gave the hosts a 9-7 lead at half-time, which was never going to be substantial enough against the Sharks’ bench.
A botched first kick-off in the second half saw Sharks prop Dian Bleuler rampage towards the line, leading to the attacking scrum where the prone and classy Yax Penxe rounded off down the blindside.
That was quickly followed up by Mpilo Gumede’s score, where the No 8 fed off a superb pass from the energetic Dylan Richardson on the openside.
Buoyed by that good start, the Sharks threatened to open the floodgates but the gush of points never came as a combination of their own poor passing and dogged scrambling defence continued to frustrate them.
Ntuthuko Mchunu’s introduction at loosehead gave the Sharks a notable attacking presence and the rookie Springbok twice went over though only the first counted as the second was chalked off due to obstruction.
Fullback Nevaldo Fleurs finally gave the scoreboard a more comfortable look for the visitors, but that won’t provide much comfort to coach Joey Mongalo, who is a man of exacting standards.
For the Griffons, this was another illustration of how wise the decision to give them two years in the premier division is.
A bit more experience will surely equip this brave group of men with the tools to stay longer in matches in future.
Point scorers:
Griffons – 9 (9)
Penalties: Jaywinn Juries (3)
Sharks – 35 (7)
Tries: Lionel Cronje, Yaw Penxe, Mpilo Gumede, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Nevaldo Fleurs
Conversions: Cronje (5)
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