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| Lwazi Mvovo scores again |
It was most certainly a game of two halves as The Sharks hammered the home side in the first half, physically dominating and creating all kinds of pandemonium, but the Bulls pulled some magic out of the hat in the second half – mostly in the third quarter of the game – to wrestle a win that had looked elusive at half-time.
Following losses against Western Province and surprisingly, the Pumas last week, the Bulls have had a difficult period of late, and given their log position (sixth as opposed to The Sharks' first), were under severe pressure coming into this game. The match represented the opportunity to push their win rate in this year's tournament to over 50% and try to improve their record against The Sharks in which they had only won twice in the last 11 fixtures in this tournament.
The game was played at helter-skelter pace, at a rate of around a point a minute, sometimes more, but the action and excitement never abated. The Sharks played with intent and intensity and were well-rewarded for their efforts in the first half.
They showed their superiority in a number of aspects of the game, but it was at scrum-time where they really asserted their dominance, causing all kinds of problems in the setpiece for the home side who conceded penalties and free-kicks with alarming regularity.
Their willingness to slow the ball down on the ground also caused some concern for referee Jonathan Kaplan who penalised the Bulls consistently throughout the first half allowing The Sharks the opportunity to build a nice lead.
The first half was real on-the-edge-of-your-seat stuff with The Sharks outscoring the Bulls by two tries to one as well as twice as many penalties to open up a 24-13 lead at half-time, one that was well-deserved.
However, the third quarter belonged entirely to the Bulls who managed to cling their way back from what had appeared to be looming disaster at the break. The Sharks, so clinical in the first half, disappointingly conceded a number of promising opportunities to allow the home side back in the game, something that captain Stefan Terblanche alluded to after the game would ultimately cost them the match.
The 11 point buffer was overhauled and then a sizable lead was developed by the home side who found renewed energy on attack to contrive a win out of nothing.
Terblanche said afterwards that he was, “Bitterly disappointed with the result, we just didn't respect the ball enough and we conceded too many turnovers. We almost came back at the end but turnovers cost us. It's getting pretty competitive on the log, the teams are hungry because it's getting to the business end of the tournament and the way the game being played is good for SA Rugby and the Absa Currie Cup as well.”
The Sharks took a log point out of the game and remain on top of the log, clear of second-placed Province by eight points with a second successive away game looming – against the Pumas in Witbank next Friday night.
As an interesting aside, Jonathan Kaplan's handling of the scrums took on a slightly different hue, with a long pause called “pauuuuuuuuuuse” to allow the front rows time to settle, and scrum well. He was also able to see who engaged early - it worked a treat and kudos for this application.
The Sharks: 34 (24)
Tries: Lwazi Mvovo, Stefan Terblanche, Alistair Hargreaves
Conversions: Patrick Lambie (2)
Penalties: Patrick Lambie (5)
Blue Bulls: 40 (13)
Tries: Juandré Kruger, Ruan Snyman, Jaco Engels, Wynand Olivier
Conversions: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (3), Zane Kirchner (1)
Penalties: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (4)
