The Cats and Sharks drew 20-20 in a scrappy, bottom-of-the-table Vodacom Super 12 clash at Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein on Saturday evening that consigned the Durban-based outfit to the wooden spoon. The Cats led 10-7 at half-time.
A late try by Sharks right wing Cedric Mkhize — he scored a brace — pulled the scores level and Brent Russell failed with the conversion to leave the two worst teams in the Super 12 on a par on the night. The Sharks though ended the league phase with 11 points to prop up the log, just behind the Cats (13 points).
The teams fought out a ding-dong battle in the opening 40 minutes as they tried to throw caution to the wind in a bid to entertain the meagre crowd, but failed miserably.
The Sharks, with a revamped starting line-up, began well, but Brent Russell, playing at flyhalf and entrusted with the kicking duties missed two relatively easy attempts in the first 15 minutes.
That did not seem to matter though as lively flanker Solly Tybilika scooted over after 19 minutes and this time Russell made no mistake to give his team a 7-0 lead.
Cats hooker Schalk Brits seemed to make yards every time he touched the ball and he was involved in a move along with several others six minutes later that ended with Jorrie Muller ducking inside Cedrick Mkhize — who otherwise had a superb game — to score out wide.
And four minutes later Hendro Scholtz also got his name on the scorers sheet when he smashed through three defenders and over the line. Russell’s earlier kicking malaise seemed to be transferred to Andre Pretorius, who missed both conversions.
The Cats, however, still led by three points at the break.
The opening exchanges of the second half were riddled with poor option-taking and countless errors from both teams. It was, however, the Sharks who seemed to emerge from that quagmire first and started stringing a few useful phases together.
They were rewarded in the 58th minute when Mkhize finished off a flowing move for the lead. Pretorius and Russell then traded penalties to leave the Sharks still leading (15-13) with 15 minutes on the clock.
The lead changed hands for the fifth time in the match when Juan Smith scored a well-worked try that looked to have sealed a rare win, but Mkhize had the last say and the teams had to share the spoils. – Sapa