Staff Reporter.
@GalloImages.
The Sharks clinched a place in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship playoffs with a bonus-point win over Connacht at Kings Park on Saturday.
Trailing by 11 points at the interval, the Durbanites produced a monsterous second-half performance to score 31 unanswered points for a convincing 41-21 victory.
The Sharks climb – albeit temporarily – up to third place on the log, with four teams in the top eight still to play.
Bongi Mbonambi and Marius Louw dotted down after the half-time restart, with Curwin Bosch successfully converting both, to give the Sharks the lead for the second time in the match.
Gerbrandt Grobler barged over off the back of the ruck for his second of the match, before Bosch added another three points from the tee.
Le Roux Roets capped a fine all-round display with the home side’s fifth try, and the triumph for Sean Everitt’s men.
Conor Fitzgerald connected from in front of the sticks for the opening score, but Bosch restored parity with his second penalty attempt of the half.
Fitzgerald drilled his next shot down the middle, only for Connacht wing John Porch to earn 10 minutes in the sin bin for a high tackle.
The Sharks made the one-man advantage count as Grobler scored from a successful lineout and maul. Bosch added the extras.
Connacht pulled back to within one point after Gavin Thornbury charged down a clearance kick from Jaden Hendrikse. Fitzgerald struck another three before Caolin Blade finished a breakaway try.
Too many occasions where we have had multiple scores in quick succession against us, and that is something we have to address,” says Connacht coach Andy Friend.
“The message at half-time was ‘we are very much in it, but to have to up the physicality’, but when you produce loose kicks and give them access to the game, that is what happens.”
Meanwhile the Lions gave skipper Burger Odendaal the perfect send-off with a rousing victory over Benetton on Saturday afternoon at Ellis Park.
It was Odendaal’s final match at Ellis Park for the Lions before joining Wasps in the English Premiership, and the Joburgers fought back from a first-half deficit to cap their home Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign in style.
Trailing by only a converted try at half time, the Lions made the perfect start to the second half when Edwill van der Merwe scored from the restart. Jordan Hendrikse added the extras to level the score at 22-22.
Stean Pienaar added his name to the scoresheet after Manuel Zuliani saw yellow for Benetton, and Hendrikse scored and converted to stretch the hosts’ lead.
The Lions flyhalf nailed his second penalty of the match, before Lorenzo Cannone bagged a late consolation for the visitors, but Ivan van Rooyen’s men hung on for the 37-29 win.