It was not the prettiest rugby match you might ever wish to see but it was never lacking in excitement at the Absa Stadium on Saturday as a below-par Sharks side, notably in the first half, came back to take the honours 42-28 against northern rivals the Cats in a Vodacom Super 12 derby game. Both sides secured a bonus point for scoring four tries.
At half-time the Cats were 16-7 to the good — and full value for that advantage at that stage.
Then, as the Sharks regained their passion and desire for success in their first home game, the Cats were undone by a couple of errors that let in wing Henno Mentz and pocket rocket fullback Brent Russell for tries they would wish to forget.
How Russell, with very little space left to move, managed to sidestep and swerve his way through at least four tackles and score a decisive winning try 13 minutes from time will be a source of worry to new coach Chester Williams for some time to come as the Cats remain rooted at the foot of the Super 12 log.
Mentz got a favourable bounce for his second try and his first was gift wrapped for him by way of a faulty clearance by fullback Conrad Jantjies when he was hounded down behind his own goal line. His second from a favourable bounce gave him the Man of the Match award.
The 36 000-strong crowd had been stunned into near silence during the inept first half but were ecstatic in the second as they finally engaged in a lap of honour. To their credit the Cats had responded in the best possible manner by making the Sharks work every inch of the way for the five points that lifts them to 19 with their fourth triumph so far this season.
Exchanges were ferocious from the very first minutes with robust tackling. Fortunately for the Sharks flyhalf Andre Pretorius was off his goalkicking form and vital misses with conversion attempts gave the Sharks the chance to get their game back to basics. The result card shows five tries to the Sharks, four converted and three penalty goals and a goal, three tries and two penalties to a game side from Ellis Park.
Rather obviously there was nothing to lose for Cats as they disrupted the best-laid plans of Kevin Putt. Fluency was missing from the Sharks in the first 40 minutes and they were smothered in midfield as the Cats appeared hell-bent on disrupting their game plan.
But the Cats were really caught on wrong foot at the start of the second half when centre Trevor Halstead was injured and Scottish flyhalf Gregor Townsend came on with James moving to inside centre. Townsend’s first tactical kick and break within minutes changed the whole game.
Earlier the Sharks were rocked back on their heels in the middle of the first half as the Cats scored twice in a space of four minutes.
But, fortunately for John Smit’s men, flyhalf Andre Pretorious missed the conversion attempts. Both were the result of fleet of foot breaks — one by wing Anton Pitout who with a Muhammad Ali shuffle left the defenders line in tatters. A line movement that followed had Cats skipper and flank forward Wickus van Heerden crash over and then in another unexpected break the Sharks line was breeched again and this time centre Wayne Julies was on hand to punish the home side.
Initially a forward charge launched after hooker Smit had come close to taking a gap — as had centre Trevor Halstead earlier — only to be hauled in close to the line set up another close-range attack with the Sharks pack in command and AJ Venter was accredited with the score with James adding the conversion points.
With flyhalf Butch James slotting a penalty against two successful earlier attempts by Pretorius the Cats held the half-time whiphand at 16-10.
The Cats surrendered their lead rather unexpectedly immediately on the resumption when fullback Conrad Jantjies was hunted down as he tried to get in a clearance kick from behind his goalline. All he succeeded in doing was to lob the ball into the safe hands of speedy wing Henno Mentz, who easily beat Ashwin Willemse with his outside break and brisk run to the line from 30m out. James converted.
The Sharks appeared to get a wake-up call at half-time because their early second-half forays showed much greater purpose in style and execution — more so when Halstead was replaced by Scottish international flyhalf Gregor Townsend, who made his presence felt in no uncertain terms. First an educated sent the Cats back deep into their own territory and then he made a decisive break to set up centre Adrian Jacobs for the Sharks’ third try with immaculate precision.
The Cats secured a fortunate try — if the crowd on the far touchline was to be believed — as Jantjies was nailed into touch by Brent Russell but his inside pass was allowed to stand as Nico Breedt was in the clear. Again the conversion flew wide before James, with his third penalty, made it a nine-point lead again with a quarter of the match left to run.
Breedt was not finished yet. He again capitalised on a Sharks midfield error to break through for his second score and the conversion cut the lead to just two points as the Cats secured their bonus point for four tries.
But Russell and Mentz then had the last laugh that saw them score five tries to four in the end. — Sapa