Sharks sneak past brave Kings

The home side found themselves trailing by four points early in the second half before a Paul Jordaan try and the reliable boot of Joe Pietersen, who contributed 13 points on the night, saw the Durban side over the line.

The Kings could have had the led early in the contest, only for Scott van Breda to miss his penalty attempt, however, Pietersen had his radar locked in the seventh minute when he slotted a penalty to hand the home side the lead.

The Sharks were being pinned inside their 22 and the pressure paid off for the Kings when George Whitehead showed some individual brilliance to grab the opening try of the match in the 12th minute.

The Sharks hit back with two tries of their own in the space of two minutes when first, Cronje placed a well-judged cross kick that saw Andre Esterhuizen leap above van Breda to grab the ball and dot down before Cronje went from provider to scorer. The flyhalf rounded off a well-planned backline move.

Pietersen managed to slot one of the conversions as the home side led 15-5 after 18 minutes.

The Sharks began to stamp their authority on the match and extended their lead to 13 points when Pietersen slotted his second penalty in the 25th minute. However, some ill-discipline in the dying second cost the home side dearly.

Philip van der Walt was sent to the sin bin for intentionally slowing down the ball two metres from his try line. The Kings opted for a scrum and Tim Agaba made the extra man count after he broke off the back of the scrum to reduce the deficit to just eight points at the half-time interval.

It was one way traffic in the opening minutes of the second half as the Kings grabbed two quick tries through Steven Sykes in the 44th minute and Enrico Acker in the 47th minute, respectively – the latter securing a four-try bonus point for the visitors. Whitehead added one conversion to hand the Kings a 22-18 lead after 48 minutes.

The lead changed hands on numerous occasions from that point as the Sharks hit back through when Daniel du Preez bagged a try after a dominant maul from a five metre line-out in the 55th minute.

Whitehead regained the lead for the Kings in the 58th minute when he slotted a penalty but those points were cancelled out by Pietersen in the 62nd minute when he slotted a penalty of his own to hand the home side a slender one point lead.

The Sharks extended their lead to eight points with 14 minutes remaining in the encounter after Jordaan swerved his way through the Kings defence to grab the bonus point try before Pietersen added the extra points.

The home side survived a late Kings surge to walk away with a fairly unconvincing victory.

Man of the Match: For the Kings, Tim Agaba was a menace all over the park and gave the Sharks all sorts of headaches while George Whitehead kept his side in the contest after taking over the kicking duties. Andre Esterhuizen made some good metres with every carry while Paul Jordaan made a massive impact off the bench to grab the winning try. However, our award goes to Daniel du Preez, whose excellent work-rate saw him stand head and shoulders above the rest.

The scorers:

For the Sharks:

Tries: Esterhuizen, Cronje, du Preez, Jordaan

Cons: Pietersen 2

Pens: Pietersen 3

For EP Kings:

Tries: Whitehead, Agaba, Sykes, Acker

Cons: Whitehead

Pens: Whitehead

Yellow cards: Philip van der Walt (Sharks, 40 – professional foul, slowing down the ball), Odwa Ndungane (Sharks, – dangerous tackle, taking the player out in the air)

Teams:

Sharks: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Wandile Mjekevu, 12 Heimar Williams, 11 Andre Esterhuizen, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Daniel du Preez, 6 Jean Deysel, 5 Marco Wentzel (captain), 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Monde Hadebe, 1 Juan Schoeman.

Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Gerhard Engelbrecht, 18 David McDuling, 19 Francois Kleinhans, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Paul Jordaan, 22 SP Marais.

Eastern Province Kings: 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Siyanda Grey, 13 Phillipus du Plessis, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Luther Obi, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Enrico Acker, 8 Tim Agaba, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Luke Watson (captain), 5 Cornell Hess, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Schalk Ferreira.

Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Thembelani Bholi, 20 Jacques Engelbrecht, 21 Kevin Luiters, 22 Karlo Aspeling.

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen

Assistant referees: Cwengile Jadezweni,  Tahla Ntshakaza

TMO: Christie du Preez