Massive defensive effort wins it for the Sharks

The Cell C Sharks have their forwards to thank for much of what has gone right for them this season, but it was their defensive effort that stepped forward to secure them a crucial 22-19 Vodacom United Rugby Championship victory over Edinburgh at the DAM Health Stadium on Saturday.

The Sharks started well and then nearly let it slip when their defence went walkabout towards the end of the second quarter and the hosts came back to score three unanswered tries to turn what had been a 14-0 deficit into a 19-14 half-time lead. There was also some aimless or misdirected kicking from the Sharks that helped Edinburgh before the break.

However, in the second half, the Sharks’ defence just never gave Edinburgh any opportunities while they took the one opportunity that came their way when Kerron van Vuuren went over for a try that the home supporters would have considered controversial to put the Sharks back into the lead.



Momentum robbed

Edinburgh camped on the Sharks’ line in the last 10 minutes, and that was when the visitors really showed their mettle, throwing everything they had into a tigerish defensive effort. They had been good at stopping mauls all night, with but one exception, and they had to do that several times in the final minutes as Edinburgh piled on the pressure in search of a win.

In fairness to Edinburgh, they had a couple of penalties they could have kicked for posts to secure the draw, but they wanted the four points; actually, it would have been five as winning would have required a fourth try rather than the two you get for a draw.

Apart from the defence, the Sharks also did themselves a huge favour with their line-out work, with several Edinburgh throws being poached and Gerbrandt Grobler in particular doing yeoman work and proving a thorn to the Edinburgh line-out plans. The Sharks’ line-out work succeeded in robbing Edinburgh of momentum just when they were looking to build it.



Making a difference

On the defensive front, no one was better than James Venter, the openside flank, who also made a massive difference to the area where the Sharks fell down in their Heineken Champions Cup clash with the Harlequins in London last week. Whereas at the Stoop the home team were able to get the ball back quickly from the recycles, which helped them get the better of the Sharks' defence, this time the Sharks were really effective at slowing down the opposition's ball.

Venter was responsible for a couple of turnovers that could be described as potential match-winning moments for the Sharks. But so too was fullback Aphelele Fassi. He did miss one tackle towards the end, but otherwise his work in what is considered his Achilles heel was outstanding, with several potential Edinburgh try-scoring opportunities being thwarted by the No 15s efforts.

The Sharks’ kicking game was better directed when Cameron Wright came on at half-time but Grant Williams was good with his attacking game in the first half, and it was his intercept that got the scoreboard going as he ended an even first five minutes by scoring the first try of the match.

Curwin Bosch converted and then added another conversion to wing Marnus Potgieter’s 18-minute try to make it 14-0.

Fassi featured in that try when he went to ground, but somehow managed to get his pass away after the Sharks had opted to scrum an attacking penalty, and with former Hurricanes wing Wes Goosen in the bin for Edinburgh, the Durbanites cleverly exploited the extra man advantage.



Dynamic work

Talking of wings, Sharks prop Ox Nche put in a sublime run down the left flank to put the Sharks in position to strike for the try. The mention of the wing position is because, for that brief moment in time, he looked like he could play there.

Actually, Nche was supreme in all areas of his game, even putting in a relieving kick at one point, and on another night he might have walked away with the man of the match award.

Some of the Edinburgh tries also had a dynamic skill level from a prop forward, in this case Boan Venter, to thank for. It was Venter’s offload that enabled the home team to break the excellent Sharks defence for hooker Adam McBurnley to score his team’s first try. He also featured in the good try scored by Edinburgh fullback Henry Immelman on the stroke of halftime.

In between those scores, it was an Immelman 50/22, profiting from a very poor clearance kick from the Sharks, that set up a second McBurnley try from a driving maul.

The Sharks got in quickly after half-time to break the Edinburgh momentum, with Bosch kicking a penalty to cut the deficit to two points two minutes into the half. The Sharks try scored by Van Vuuren was called an on-field try by the referee but the Edinburgh faithful were right to have their doubts as on the televised evidence it looked as though Edinburgh might have got their hands in under the ball.