South Africa’s Coastal Sharks all but secured their place in the Super 14 semifinals with a thrilling 41-25 win over the Western Force of Australia at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Friday night.
The victory moved them up into fourth spot ahead of Australia’s ACT Brumbies.
The South African team were given a lifeline earlier in the day when the Brumbies, who had occupied fourth spot, suffered a 33-3 defeat to the Canterbury Crusaders.
It meant the Sharks had to beat the Force by 10 points or more and score the four tries needed for a bonus point to snatch the last semifinal spot.
They just managed that even though they battled to keep up their momentum in a second period which saw the visitors strike some telling blows. The Brumbies, however, are now out of the competition.
The Northern Bulls can still leapfrog into fourth place and overtake the Sharks should they beat the Western Stormers by an improbable 32 points and score the four tries needed for a bonus point.
The fired-up Sharks could not have asked for a better start when in the third minute winger Odwa Ndungane benefited after his forwards had driven the ball up to the line before the Australians’ defence opened up like a can of worms. Percy Montgomery converted the score to give the home side their first seven-pointer.
Playing with an intensity not seen this year, the Sharks continued to heap pressure on the Force, who were coming off their first win of the competition, and at almost every opportunity sent the ball down the line as they went in search of as many tries as possible.
Visiting fullback Cameron Shepherd reduced the deficit to just four with a well-struck penalty in the eighth minutes, but from then on the home team dominated.
Montgomery quickly restored the seven point gap before Ndungane crossed for his second after flanker Jacques Botes had made the initial break up field to set the ball up for the flying winger.
The home team, who started the game without two of their biggest stars, prop BJ Botha and scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar, suffered further blows when Springboks Johan Ackermann and AJ Venter were forced to leave the field with injuries. But they never let those setbacks affect them.
On the 20-minute mark it was the turn of Botes, who has been the thorn in the side of many teams this year, to score a five-pointer. A counter-attack from deep in their own half allowed the dynamic Brent Russell to run all of 40 metres to break the first line of defence before he passed inside to a charging Botes, who stepped two Force players to score under the uprights.
The Force, who saw very little of the ball, eventually found their way through the solid Sharks defence when winger Digby Ioane went over in the corner. It was a rare attack by the visitors in a half dominated by the home side.
Montgomery closed the first stanza with his second penalty goal for a commanding lead, but the visitors started the second half the stronger outfit and they were rewarded with a second try nine minutes into the period when number eight Scott Fava drove over after his side had won good line-out ball.
The Sharks replied almost immediately, scoring their fourth, and bonus-point, try after flanker Warren Britz scored an almost identical try to Fava’s after a drive from the line-out.
Shortly afterwards, replacement wing JP Pietersen kicked ahead after his team had won a turnover, collected it after one bounce and ran in untouched to stretch his team’s lead to 26 points.
The visitors though, after a period of sustained attack, added two quick tries by Shepherd to win a bonus point and set up a thrilling final few minutes.
The Sharks held on for fourth spot but will have to wait until after the Bulls’ match at Newlands to know whether they will face the Crusaders in the semifinal next weekend. — AFP
