Sharks fight off bucking Brumbies
The Sharks showed great character to secure a valuable 29-26 bonus-point victory over a determined Brumbies outfit in their hard-fought clash in Canberra on Saturday.
The Durban side continued their frustrating trend this season of mixing some breathtaking passages of play with some downright ordinary rugby, which made for a tight contest against the Brumbies who rely on their consistency to grind teams down.
Both teams made a cagey start to the game, kicking the ball often as they searched for field position, and thanks to the fairly high error rate neither side were able to build any serious momentum.
The sides exchanged early penalties thanks to breakdown infringements on either side before the Sharks showed impressive continuity and control to sweep upfield for the opening try.
Captain Keegan Daniel managed to rip the ball away from the Brumbies who had won a line-out deep inside Sharks territory and the visitors launched an impressive series of attacks with the forwards and backs linking well to force the Canberra side back into their own half.
A quick tap from scrumhalf Charl McLeod exposed some space out to the right and a floating pass from French flyhalf Frederic Michalak saw Riaan Viljoen burst over in the corner for the opening try.
The Brumbies drew closer with a penalty from right in front before a brilliant individual effort from Jesse Mogg gave them the lead. Christian Lealiifano sent a long pass that looked suspiciously forward out to the young fullback, and he hit the ball at pace before putting boot to ball and chasing hard.
Odwa Ndungane came across in cover defence in the 22 but the bounce of the ball was cruel to him and it sat up perfectly for Mogg who collected gleefully to go over for the try which put the Brumbies ahead at 13-8.
With their confidence boosted the home side cracked on the pressure and had a massive numbers advantage out to the left which only needed the ball to be put down the hands to expose the overlap.
Matt Toomua chose to chuck a long cut-out pass and Ndungane read it perfectly, rising to claim the intercept before haring off into Brumbies territory. He drew the last defender expertly and released the flying Viljoen who cantered over for his second try.
Michalak’s conversion gave the Sharks the lead, but they found themselves behind again just minutes later when Lealiifano knocked over his third penalty to give the Brumbies the 16-15 advantage they took into the half-time break.
The Sharks made a rampaging start to the second half, forcing the Brumbies onto the back foot with some powerful running before sending it wide.
Tim Whitehead found some space in midfield and burst into the 22, his attempt at an offload was knocked back by a Brumbies player but they dithered in trying to control the ball and big Willem Alberts toed the loose ball forward before crashing over for a try that was both fortuitous and deserved considering the hard work the Sharks had put in to get there in the first place.
The Brumbies tightened things up after that and used their forward pack to edge into the Sharks 22 with an impressive rolling maul and some powerful driving phase-play.
Lealiifano turned that pressure into three points when Jannie du Plessis failed to roll away in the tackle, and they charged straight back into attacking position as the Sharks’ defensive resolve underwent a tough examination.
The visitors showed great character to hold them off after a number of phases on the tryline and when the ball was knocked loose in a tackle Sharks captain Keegan Daniel was there to get a slick offload away to Lwazi Mvovo who raced up the left touchline from a standing start on his own tryline.
The Springbok wing found big Steven Sykes who stretched his legs and held the ball up well before giving it back to Mvovo who turned on the pace to race away for the bonus-point try which started when he got the ball on his own tryline.
Michalak’s conversion stretched the lead to 29-19 and the home side had it all to do in the last 15 minutes. However, despite the desperate efforts of the Brumbies the Sharks managed to thwart them by turning the ball over regularly to relieve the pressure.
The Brumbies threw everything at them and it eventually paid dividends when replacement scrumhalf Nic White skipped over for a late try under the poles to reduce the deficit to just three points.
That cued a frantic ending to the match as the Brumbies stormed forward with the Sharks forced to defend with the match on the line, but the ball was eventually lost forward in the tackle, giving McLeod the opportunity to hoof it into touch and bring an end to a gripping contest.
Man of the match: There were impressive displays from Bismarck du Plessis and Keegan Daniel who swung the match in the Sharks’ favour in the big moments, but our award goes to fullback Riaan Viljoen who showed great composure at the back and showed his deadly finishing ability to corss for a try-double.
The scorers:
For the Brumbies:
Try: Mogg, White
Con: Lealiifano 2
Pens: Lealiifano 4
For the Sharks:
Try: Viljoen 2, Alberts, Mvovo
Con: Michalak 3
Pen: Michalak
Teams:
Brumbies: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Pat McCabe, 13 Andrew Smith, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Ian Prior, 8 Ben Mowen (captain), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Leon Power, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ruaidhri Murphy.
Replacements: 16 Anthony Hegarty, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Scott Fardy, 19 Ita Vaea, 20 Nic White, 21 Zack Holmes, 22 Joe Tomane.
Sharks: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel (captain), 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Jandré Marais, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Dale Chadwick.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Anton Bresler, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Jacques Botes, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Louis Ludik.
Referee: Keith Brown (New Zealand)
