The disruption of last week’s bye hampered the Cell C Sharks momentum as they had to settle for a 9-all draw with the visiting Melbourne Rebels in their Vodacom Super Rugby clash at Growthpoint KINGS PARK on Saturday evening.
This match was a complete arm-wrestle between the sides with neither side able to enjoy the fruits of their various advantages in a game filled with drama.
Although we retained our unbeaten record over the Rebels, the draw wasn’t good enough, given the goals inherent in the match.
The Rebels had the first opportunity for points, with fullback Reece Hodge converting a 50m effort in the opening 10 minutes.
Disappointingly, those were the only points scored while the Rebels had a man in the sin bin, but it was an indication that the visitors were not here to just make up the numbers, but to play. They showed that they can’t be taken for granted, having defeated the Brumbies last week, and clearly the morale gained from that result lifted them in Durban.
However, just as they were restored back to 15, they had nervous moments to negotiate as a TMO decision on a possible Beast Mtawarira try couldn’t prove conclusively, but there was penalty advantage. Unfortunately, that would come to nothing as Andre Esterhuizen was red carded for foul play and all advantage lost.
But coupled with the Rebels’ failure to hold on to the ball on attack and our scrum dominance, Curwin Bosch got us onto the scoreboard in the 25th minute with his first successful penalty to level matters.
On the half hour, the Rebels retook the lead with their second penalty which would be the last score of a disjointed half, a massive contribution being the late withdrawal of wing Kobus van Wyk before kick-off and necessitating a rejig of the backline.
At 6-3 to the visitors, the second half held promise of another tight 40 minutes with both sides really playing competitive, in-your-face rugby.
10 minutes in, the complexion of the game changed as the Rebels had a second player carded and it was 14 against 14.
Neither side could break through and the scoreboard remained unchanged until the game headed for the final 15 minutes, when a penalty was sent through the posts rather than to touch to level matters at 6-all.
There was further drama as Rebels scrumhalf Nic Sterzaker committed an identical offence of knocking the ball down while we were on attack and the referee suggested it was cynical. It was his second yellow which was automatically turned into a red card and the teams would contest the final 10 minutes of the game on equal footing.
There were scoring opportunities for the Cell C Sharks, but the tryline continued to elude our team as they pushed the Rebels hard. There was drama at both ends as a Rebels break-out took a try-saving tackle from Curwin Bosch to save us, then Bosch struck his third penalty with two minutes remaining as the visitors’ indiscipline nearly cost them the game.
But the drama wasn’t over as we conceded a penalty in trying to play out the game and the penalty, from in front, gave the Rebels the draw.
Captain Tera Mtembu said afterwards, “That felt like a loss, we set goals which we didn’t achieve. We let our fans down, this wasn’t a performance we’re proud of, it wasn’t good enough.”
Head Coach, Robert du Preez, was in no mood to hide his disappoint with a performance which he labeled as “sub-standard”.
The Cell C Sharks travel to Buenos Aires on Tuesday, for their return match against the Jaguares.
The post A Disappointing Draw appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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