Sharks' second-half surge floors Connacht
MATCH REPORT: The Sharks booked their spot in the Final Eight with an incredible second-half surge which saw them topple Connacht 41-21 at Kings Park on Saturday.
The Sharks outscored the Irish side five tries to two for a great comeback victory.
*To recap all the action CLICK HERE!!!
The visitors were unbeaten against southern hemisphere opposition this season coming into the fixture but could not build on a 21-10 half-time lead earned through tries from Gavin Thornbury and Caolin Blade and 11 points from the boot of Conor Fitzgerald.
The Sharks looked re-energised after the break and racked up touchdowns from Marius Louw, Bongi Mbonambi, a second for Gerbrandt Grobler and one for Le Roux Roets while keeping their visitors pointless, earning a valuable bonus point in the race for a home play-off.
The result makes absolutely certain of a place in the quarter-finals for Sean Everitt’s men, for whom Curwin Bosch kicked 16 points, while Connacht were already out of the play-off picture.
Fitzgerald kicked Connacht into a 6-3 lead in the first quarter, with Bosch missing one of his two attempts, but they were dealt a blow when John Porch was yellow-carded for head contact.
The Sharks quickly made their man advantage count, with Grobler barging over from close range and Bosch adding the extras.
The visitors regained the lead three minutes later, however, when Thornbury charged down Jaden Hendrikse’s clearing kick and chased the ball down himself to score.
Fitzgerald could not add the conversion but split the posts with a subsequent penalty and there was soon daylight between the sides.
On his 150th appearance for the Westerners, Blade sent Finlay Bealham into battle before taking the return pass to run in under the posts, with Fitzgerald’s kick making it 21-10.
The Sharks sent on Grant Williams at half-time and he made an instant impact, breaching the Connacht defence before feeding Louw to go over next to the posts – a try converted by Bosch.
The hosts had their tails up and Bosch chalked up another conversion after Mbonambi muscled his way over following a sustained period of Sharks pressure.
Connacht were struggling to stem the tide and Grobler burrowed over before Roets added a fifth, with Bosch converting both.
Man of the match: It was an incredible comeback victory for the Sharks and there were a couple of brilliant individual performances. Aphelele Fassi, Marius Louw, Mbongeni Mbonambi and replacement Grant Williams deserve a mention. However, for his brace of tries and incredible workrate our nod goes to Sharks lock Gerbrandt Grobler
The scorers:
For Sharks:
Tries: Grobler 2, Louw, Mbonambi, Roets
Cons: Bosch 5
Pen: Bosch
For Connacht:
Tries: Thornbury, Blade
Con: Fitzgerald
Pens: Fitzgerald 3
Yellow card: John Porch (Connacht, 23 – dangerous tackle, contact to the head)
Teams:
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Ben Tapuai, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phendulani Buthelezi, 7 Henco Venter, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Le Roux Roets, 3 Thomas du Toit (captain), 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nche.
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Reniel Hugo, 20 Jeandré Labuschagne, 21 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Henry Chamberlain.
Connacht: 15 Mack Hansen, 14 John Porch, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Tom Daly, 11 Alex Wootton, 10 Conor Fitzgerald, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Jarrad Butler (captain), 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Leva Fifita, 4 Gavin Thornbury, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Niall Murray, 20 Oisín Dowling, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Tiernan O’Halloran
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa) & Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Source: @URCOfficial
