Sharks beat Lions in KP splash

The Sharks got their Super Rugby campaign back on track with an impressive 29-12 win over the Lions at a very wet Kings Park stadium on Saturday.

The Round Two match was put in doubt by the monsoon-like downpour that hit Durban on Saturday.

However, as they did so famously at a World Cup semifinal in 1995, the stadium staff managed to get the pitch in playable condition in time for kick-off.

The Sharks' defence and set-piece work were the big differences – not that the conditions helped the Lions, who were not as effective playing the kicking game as the Sharks were.

However, as Lions captain Warren Whiteley admitted, the visitors were simply not good and the home side produced a quality performance – which is reflected in the scoreline.

The hosts were stunned by the Cheetahs on the same field seven days earlier, but did not make the same mistake twice despite the difficult conditions.

Odwa Ndungane and Cobus Reinach crossed for first-half scores, before flank Marcell Coetzee's double added to nine points from the boot of Patrick Lambie giving new Director of Rugby Gary Gold his first win.

The Lions made the stronger start in the driving rain and were rewarded with an early penalty when Coetzee was caught offside – the resulting penalty well-converted by Marnitz Boshoff, whose four goal kicks kept his side in the contest for most of the game.

The Sharks hit back by winning a scrum penalty in the eighth minute, which was slotted over by Lambie.

It was 3-all by the end of an error-strewn opening quarter, but things improved on the scoreboard thereafter, although Lambie did miss what looked an easier second kick on goal that fell well short after Jacques van Rooyen was penalised for an infringement.

But the Sharks' flyhalf made amends for the miss by setting up the opening try with his pin-point cross-field kick met by the onrushing Ndungane, who took the ball in his stride and slid over on a weakly guarded right flank.

Lambie missed with his conversion, but the Sharks would soon claim a second try after good initial work from Renaldo Bothma through the middle was followed by a clever dummy from Reinach, before he stretched over.

A second Boshoff penalty when Bismarck du Plessis was penalised at the scrum helped the Lions cut the gap to nine points at the break when it was still raining.

After the restart, they had a chance to further eat into that lead when Tera Mtembu erred during a maul, but Ruan Combrinck's kick from wide on the right struck the upright.

However, Boshoff did reduce the gap with his kick from right in front of goal after an illegal challenge by Bothma.

Lambie uncharacteristically blew a third kick on goal, this one for penalty scrum, before the hour mark, giving the Lions further belief, and they moved to within three of the Sharks when Boshoff landed his fourth penalty following a ruck infringement.

But the Sharks punished them when they opted for a penalty line-out on 63 minutes, with the resulting drive leading to a Coetzee drive over – and Lambie finally hit the target for a vital conversion.

The Lions did have a chance to come back, but Lionel Mapoe failed to release a key pass on attack and the subsequent danger was cleared.

With five minutes to play the visitors lost captain Warren Whiteley to a yellow card and the Sharks made the most of their advantage with a driving maul for a bonus-point score courtesy of Coetzee to close out the win.

Man of the match: Franco Mostert produced his usual bruising display, Derick Minnie and Warren Whiteley produced amazing workrates, Andries Coetzee was a rock under the constant bombardment of high balls, while Warwick Tecklenburg was the Lions' most productive forward. Jannie du Plessis and Bismarck du Plessis were instrumental in the early set-piece dominance, when the Lions had their second-string front row on the park and also looked solid – albeit not as dominant – against the first-choice front row in the second half. Renaldo Bothma did a lot of physical damage. Cobus Reinach may have made a few errors, but he was critical in keeping the ball in front of his forwards. Patrick Lambie was the conductor in an orchestra operating in testing conditions. And he wins our award.

The scorers:

For the Sharks:

Tries: Ndungane, Reinach, Coetzee 2

Cons: Lambie 3

Pen: Lambie

For the Lions:

Pens: Boshoff 4

Yellow card: Warren Whiteley (Sharks, 75 – repeated infringements at the breakdown)

Teams:

Sharks: 15 SP Marais, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Heimar Williams, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Lubabalo Mtembu, 7 Renaldo Bothma, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Lubabalo Mtyanda, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis (captain), 1 Dale Chadwick.

Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 Marco Wentzel, 20 Jean Deysel, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Fred Zeilinga, 23 Andre Esterhuizen.

Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9  Ross Cronje, 8  Warren Whiteley (captain), 7  Warwick Tecklenburg, 6  Derick Minnie, 5  Franco Mostert, 4  Martin Muller, 3  Ruan Dreyer, 2  Malcolm Marx, 1  Jacques van Rooyen.

Replacements: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Schalk van der Merwe, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Ruaan Lerm, 21 Francois de Klerk, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Harold Vorster.

Referee: Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)

Assistant referees: Andrew Lees (Australia), Stuart Berry (South Africa)

TMO: Deon van Blommestein (South Africa)