Sharks outplay Stormers in Cape Town
MATCH REPORT: The Stormers’ unbeaten run in this season’s United Rugby Championship came to an end after the Sharks outplayed them in a Round 10 match in Cape Town on Saturday.
JP Pietersen’s side outscored the Capetonians by four tries to three on their way to a 30-19 bonus-point win.
It’s a huge result in the tournament after the Stormers entered the match with eight wins from eight matches, while the Sharks only had two wins before kick-off.
To make things more interesting, the sides will meet again in Durban in Round 11.
The Stormers will have a lot of work to do, especially the line-outs, which turned out to be a horror show.
Meanwhile, the Sharks overcame a late blow when Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi was ruled out with an injury before kick-off.
The Durbanites looked dangerous from the start, and they opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Jason Jenkins was driven over the Stormers’ tryline from a line-out maul.
However, moments later, the home side punished the visitors for not securing possession from the restart. The ball went through the hands, and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was put into space before giving the final pass to Damian Willemse, who ran in for five points.
The home fans were silenced in the 12th minute when Junior Springbok Jaco Williams announced himself by scoring a try after he gathered the ball from a perfectly weighted cross-kick by Jordan Hendrikse.
After nailing his two conversions, Jordan increased the Sharks’ lead to 12 points with an easy penalty goal in the 17th minute.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu wasn’t as successful. After missing his conversion attempt earlier in the game, he then missed his penalty goal attempt in the 23rd minute.
However, he made up for it when he caught the Sharks’ defence napping with a quick-tap penalty before feeding the ball to Willemse, who scored his second try.
It got a bit frenetic for the rest of the half with the Sharks eventually going into the break with a 17-12 scoreline in their favour.
After sustained pressure in the Stormers’ 22, Salmaan Moerat was yellow-carded in the 46th minute for his team’s repeated infringements moments after he came onto the field as a replacement.
The Sharks took full advantage with Phepsi Buthelezi breaking away from a maul to score his team’s third try.
The Stormers had plenty of opportunities in the strike zone, but their line-out kept on failing when it really mattered.
Instead, Jordan Hendrikse made it a 13-point ball game in the 68th minute with a penalty goal.
Things got worse for the Stormers in the 70th minute when Sazi Sandi was yellow-carded for taking out Andre Esterhuizen in the air.
There would be no miraculous comeback for the Capetonians after Esterhuizen scored his team’s bonus-point try after a powerful driving maul.
The Stormers were awarded a penalty try late in the game for a collapsed maul, but that was a small consolation.
Man of the match: Phepsi Buthelezi and Aphelele Fassi produced great performances, especially with ball in hand. However, we gave the award to their captain Andre Esterhuizen, who was a colossus on defence and attack. His leadership was there for all to see, and he scored the bonus-point try
The scorers:
For Stormers:
Tries: Willemse 2, Penalty Try
Con: Feinberg-Mngomezulu
For Sharks:
Tries: Jenkins, Williams, Buthelezi, Esterhuizen
Cons: Jordan Hendrikse 2
Pens: Jordan Hendrikse 2
Yellow cards: Salmaan Moerat (Stormers, 46′ – repeated infringements); Sazi Sandi (Stormers, 70′ – dangerous play, tackling a player in the air); Vincent Tshituka (Sharks, 78′ – cynically collapsing the maul.
Teams:
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (captain), 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Connor Evans, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotzé, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Ruben van Heerden, 21 Louw Nel, 22 Imad Khan, 23 Jurie Matthee.
Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Ethan Hooker, 12 Andre Esterhuizen (captain), 11 Jaco Williams, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Nick Hatton, 7 Manu Tshituka, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Phatu Ganyane.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Bester, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Vincent Tshituka, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Siya Masuku, 23 Jurenzo Julius.
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa), Jonathan Lottering (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
