The Waratahs kept their Vodacom Super 14 play-off dreams alive but essentially destroyed the Sharks’ as they defeated the coastal franchise 16-12 at a wet Absa Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
This match was always billed to be a tough, hard grind with both sides being defensively-minded, and the opening exchanges certainly proved that to be true.
Eventually, after a real arm wrestle, Waratahs flyhalf Daniel Halangahu opened the scoring with a penalty in the 18th minute.
However, that was quickly nullified with a penalty to Sharks flyhalf Ruan Pienaar, who slotted a penalty in what was his first game starting in the number 10 jersey since week five.
The Tahs slowly built up pressure, though, and a move within the Sharks’ 22 that went through several phases eventually saw the ball end up in the hands of centre Timana Tahu, who squeezed over in the right-hand corner.
Just before half-time, with the rain starting to have its say, Pienaar slotted his second penalty to reduce the deficit to two.
Soon after the break, Pienaar put the Sharks into the lead with another penalty giving them a narrow one-point advantage. It was short-lived however as the Sharks conceded a penalty soon after, which was easily slotted by Halangahu.
The next 15 minutes belonged entirely to the Sharks as they built up some magnificent pressure, during which time both hooker Bismarck du Plessis and winger JP Pietersen came close to scoring.
Eventually the Sharks got their reward with a penalty that gave them a one-point lead but they couldn’t hang on to it as the Waratahs hit back with a second try, this time from Peter Playford, which took their lead to 16-12.
As the clock ticked down, down came the rain and snuffed out the Sharks’ flicker of hope of making the Super 14 semifinals. – Sapa