The Cell C Sharks delivered a magnificent physical effort against the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday for a pulsating 23-15 Vodacom Super Rugby victory.
The Waratahs, missing Israel Folau in controversial circumstances, were physically manhandled and outmuscled in a tough clash against a team where successes in Sydney have been rare.
Before the match, a moment’s silence was held as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the tragic KZN flooding, while there was a return of the Beast 144 jersey.
It was fitting that the last time the team wore the jerseys was against the Lions, while further suggestion that things might be in our favour was the fact that Beast was captaining against the very side he made his Vodacom Super Rugby debut against 12 years ago.
While there was some exciting attacking play, it must be said that defensively, this was a truly heroic effort.
The Waratahs put in a strong 12 phase attack early in the game but found the Cell C Sharks defence up to the task as we defended our 22 manfully and ultimately successfully.
Waratahs’ flyhalf Bernard Foley struck the first points of the game, a penalty to get the scoreboard ticking over.
Daniel du Preez found himself in the perfect position to receive the final pass to score under the posts following a lovely break from Lukhanyo Am, back in action after a break last week and from the resulting momentum, the pressure was on. Curwin Bosch, selected at flyhalf for the match, converted for a 7-3 lead inside the opening quarter hour.
We continued to exert the pressure in search of another try but the Waratahs managed to hold out before exploiting space out wide for a first phase try off a lineout maul on the halfway line to score their first try to retake the lead 10-7 after 25 minutes.
The Waratahs battled to exit their 22 under pressure from the kick-off and from a lineout in a good position, penalty advantage for a high tackle on Sbu Nkosi failed to accrue on attack before Bosch levelled matters on the half hour.
The closing 10 minutes in the first half were characterised by both sides unable to break through some excellent defence with the Cell C Sharks on the attack in the final action of the game but failing to make it count as the teams went into the break with the scores level on 10 points apiece.
It had been a real arm wrestle and while there had been some exciting opportunities created, the second half would require that the creativity was rewarded to earn a rare win in Sydney.
There was high drama early in the second half when Thomas du Toit received an elbow blow to the face after binding onto a player during a maul, but he also received a card, albeit a yellow.
The Waratahs found themselves down to 13 men when they lost another forward, this time after Sbu Nkosi was upended dangerously in a tackle, his legs lifted above the horizontal and driven to the ground.
With half an hour’s play remaining, it was time to strike. Head coach Robert du Preez then brought on Akker van der Merwe and Louis Schreuder. Van der Merwe had a powerful carry before Andre Esterhuizen went over. The TMO was called to rule on the grounding and the try was good.
When the Waratahs were restored to 14 men, they still showed an inability to penetrate our defence and the pressure was starting to force more and more mistakes. One of those was a knock-on in midfield and then the home side conceded a penalty. Although it was inside the Cell C Sharks’ half, Curwin Bosch stepped up and slotted it from over 50m to push the margin to beyond a converted try with 10 minutes remaining.
Not even a handful of minutes later, the Waratahs conceded another scrum penalty, this time from 30m out and Bosch was on target again to extend the lead to 23-10.
The defensive heroics were never more evident than in the final 10 minutes when the hosts enjoyed territorial possession in our 22 and hammered away at our line. Outmuscled in the collisions, the Waratahs tried and it took until almost five minutes of extra time before they scored again in the final act of play.
Captain Beast Mtawarira said afterwards, “I’m really proud of the boys, it was a great effort. Our defence was outstanding tonight and everyone did their job really well. We focused on our processes and detail this week and did that well in the game. We put a big effort in tonight.”
The post Cell C Sharks Heroics appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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