By Gavin Rich.
The Cell C Sharks recovered from a poor start to hit their target of five log points as they scored a 43-33 victory over Benetton in their penultimate Vodacom United Rugby Championship league clash at HollywoodBets Kings Park on Friday night.
There were too many errors and too many periods of sloppiness from the Sharks to justify too much euphoria from either them or their supporters but the win in an entertaining game and the try scoring bonus point will be like gold to them as it significantly eases their task of securing a place in the playoffs and in next season’s Heineken Champions Cup.
The Sharks were expected to win comfortably against the team that was challenging them for a top eight position but they fell back into their Jekyll and Hyde ways as the failed to produce the same kind of intensity at the start that they did in the Champions Cup quarterfinal against Toulouse the week before.
Benetton came out firing
Instead it was Benetton who came out firing, with flanker Sebastian Negri crossing for a try that was too easily put together by the visitors for the comfort of the Sharks after just one minute of play. If that was a setback for the Sharks, it became worse just six minutes later when centre Ignacio Brex went over as once again the Italian team took advantage of passive Sharks defending.
Benetton leading 14-0 after just seven minutes of play would not have been in any script, particularly not with Benetton playing into the face of a gusty wind. But they were impressive with their attacking game, particularly off lineout plays, and while the Sharks did come back to dominate territory for the rest of the first half and then took control after halftime, Benetton never gave up the ghost and managed to stay in the game right through to the final minutes.
Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell mentioned in the team announcement press conference that defence was one of the work-ons after last week’s loss to Toulouse and he probably wouldn’t have left Kings Park feeling that there had been much improvement. The Sharks conceded an early scrum penalty but then dominated that phase, and they had the major share of both possession and territory in the game.
Better off when forwrds went direct
Their attacking game when they tried to run wide in the first half was back to it’s more shapeless and discordant state of a few weeks ago, and they were better off when the forwards kept the ball and were more direct. It was that approach that netted them their first try to flanker Vincent Tshituka in the 15th minute as Benetton blocked a lineout drive but the Sharks kept the pressure on through the interplay of the forwards.
Their second try came late in the half after a series of dominant Sharks attacking scrums eventually paid off when scrumhalf Grant Williams went over for the score that drew the team’s level with Curwin Bosch’s conversion.
Given that they were down 14-0 early on, a 14-all halftime score was a good outcome for the Sharks, but they were playing with the strong wind behind them and should have felt they hadn’t made full use of their territorial advantage. So it needed the Sharks to be quickly out of the blocks after halftime and they were, with their best attacking play up to that point, with Ben Tapuai, Lukhanyo Am and Sikhumbuzo Notshe all featuring strongly with their passing game to create the space skipper Siya Kolisi needed to power over in the left corner in the 42nd minute.
Kept letting visitors back into the contest
That though was when the Sharks got sloppy again, with their failure to field a high up-and-under being exploited by Ryno Smith, who put in a well targeted grubber that centre Ignacio Reira ran onto to bring his team back to within two points.
That kind of scoring sequence was to be repeated a few times more before a Bosch penalty finally put the game to bed with a late penalty, and the Boeta Chamberlain grubber that Grant Williams ran onto for his second try was almost a copy of what Smith had done for his centre minutes earlier. The opportunity had been created by a turnover forced by a combination of Werner Kok and Kolisi, with the latter again in excellent form.
That was also the bonus point try and the Sharks were leading 28-19 and surely that was that as far as the Benetton chances of winning was concerned. But think again, the Sharks persisted with their sloppiness and running from deep they conceded an intercept try completed by Italy’s try grabbing wing Edoardo Padovani that made it a two point game again.
Attacking game worked after halftime
The Sharks’ attacking game was working though and Makazole Mapimpi rounded the defence for his first of two tries, with the two World Cup winners Mapimpi and Am combining superbly on attack. Bosch couldn’t kick the conversion so it was a seven point game and Benetton were still in it. A second Mapimpi try took the Sharks clear, only for their woeful defence to let them down again as Benetton’s outstanding flyhalf Tomas Albornoz scored a brilliant solo try. At 40-33, there was still a chance the Sharks might be held to a draw but Bosch kicked the three pointer that made it safe and the Durban fans could heave a huge sigh of relief.
SCORES
Cell C Sharks 43 – Tries: Vincent Tshituka, Grant Williams 2, Siya Kolisi and Makazole Mapimpi; Conversions: Curwin Bosch 5; Penalty: Curwin Bosch.
Benetton 33 – Tries: Sebastian Negri, Ignacio Brex, Joaquin Reira, Edoardo Padovani and Tomas Albornoz; Conversions: Tomas Albornoz 4.