Ten minutes into the second half of the Currie Cup match between the Sharks and Valke at Absa Stadium on Friday night, the sprinklers around the Sharks goal line comically came on, but in the end their spirit could not be dampened as they managed to secure a bonus-point 28-10 win with a late try.
A fortnight ago against Boland, the Sharks left it to the last minute to grab the full five points. This was the case once again as man-of-the-match flanker Jaques Botes scored in the final minute to end proceedings with a resounding bang.
In a first half characterised by glimpses of good and equal amounts of bad, it was undoubtedly the try in the 21st minute that was the highlight.
After a fairly innocuous opening quarter, marked only by a solitary penalty to flyhalf Monty Dumond, the Sharks eventually got their act together and did so in style.
A series of passes saw wing Chris Jordaan latch on to the ball in midfield. He subsequently sent it to centre Brad Barritt who swiftly passed it on to debutant wing Wesley Bodmer, who charged for the left-hand corner before making the final inside pass to Botes who dotted down next to the posts.
It was a beautifully orchestrated try that took the Sharks into a much-needed 10-0 lead.
However, with 30 minutes on the clock the Sharks were beset with injury as both flank Nic Strauss and courageous Barritt came hobbling off.
Barritt, who only came through a fitness test on Thursday, seemed to have a recurrence of a troublesome groin injury while Strauss immediately strapped an ice pack to his left knee.
The injuries saw Andries Strauss come on at inside centre while up-and-coming Skholiwe Ndlovu replaced Nic Strauss.
Ndlovu was on hand in the dying minutes of the half, burrowing over in the right-hand corner after the Sharks had launched one last attack after the hooter had sounded. The late try gave the Sharks a 15-3 lead.
The Valke continued to make life tough for the Sharks in the second half, and were rewarded for their efforts when scrumhalf Gerrie Odendaal scored the first try of the second stanza, barging over from close quarters.
Moments later, though, Dumond gave the Sharks an eight-point cushion, slotting another penalty to edge the score line up to 18-10.
After a rather bland third quarter, it was the appearance of French international Frederic Michalak in the 62nd minute that got the 10 000-strong crowd most excited and their vociferous greeting was a sure indication that a large portion of them had come to see the mercurial flyhalf in action for the first time since injuring his knee in April.
His impact was immediately apparent as he started a tryline-to-tryline movement that saw number eight Keegan Daniel eventually score the Sharks’ third try in the 65th minute.
Moments later, Michalak was in action again, coming oh-so-close to executing an intercept that would have undoubtedly seen him in for the Sharks’ bonus-point try, though in the end it mattered not as Botes did the business.
Thankfully, the use of the TMO was kept to a minimum on Friday evening — the Sharks last match against the Bulls overran normal time by about 30 minutes, but referee Jonathan Kaplan was mercifully less quick to head upstairs.
In many ways this match was similar to the Sharks’ stop-start win over the less-fancied Boland Cavaliers; in fairness they were better this time round, but just how much better will be a bone of contention for a while to come.
Surprised
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs scored a huge surprise in Witbank on Friday night when they beat the Pumas 27-23 in their backyard to secure their first points in the first division.
Bulldogs inside centre John Taljaardt shut the home crowd up with the winning try on a cold Witbank night.
The Pumas undoubtedly underestimated the visitors and didn’t field all their first-choice players, and it boomeranged seriously.
Inside centre John Taljaardt scored all Border’s tries with a hat-trick he will cherish for long after, with flyhalf Stuart Hudson adding 10 punts with the boot. Taljaardt converted one of his own tries.
The Pumas only managed two tries, one by fullback Jiffy Lamprecht and another by lock Johann van Heerden. — Sapa