Cell C Sharks Remain Unbeaten – Featured Durban Blog

Taking on the Bulls at Loftus is no easy task and positive results in Pretoria are rare, and for a few agonising minutes, it appeared that the forray into enemy lands would prove fruitful, but in the end, the Cell C Sharks had to accept a 16-all draw.

The Bulls might have had to contend with the possibility of a loss in continuity forced by a bye last weekend, but they started the game showing their freshness and intent to keep their home crowd happy.

It took more than half an hour for the first try to be scored in a tense, physical match. There was never any doubt about how tough it would be, how hard the collisions, and the game lived up to the prematch hype.

The try that took the Bulls into a 10 point lead came off a retreating scrum, but attacking the blindside, they took advantage of numbers and managed to send Warrick Gelant over to extend their lead beyond a solitary penalty, with Brummer converting.

Earlier, Joe Pietersen had struck a penalty to nullify Brummer’s own earlier effort, but the Bulls’ flyhalf kicked a drop-goal to give his team the narrow lead before the blow of their try.

Joe Pietersen managed a 50m penalty on the stroke of half time to reduce the deficit to just seven points, the Bulls taking a 13-6 lead into the break, with plenty for the Cell C Sharks to do in the second half.
It was the Bulls of old, looking to dominate amongst the forwards, with the backs kicking high balls to chase with regular monotony and mixed success.

Although neither side could initially add to their tally on the scoreboard, there were some enterprising and exciting passages of play, before the Bulls won a scrum penalty, but Brummer missed his third penalty of the game and the opportunity to really put pressure on the visitors.

With half an hour remaining, the game exploded into life as Lwazi Mvovo followed up a chip and chase, managed to get a boot to the ball and grubber it into the goal area, Willie le Roux managing to dive over and score the all important try. Pietersen converted, it was even-stevens and it was game on.

With a spring in their step, the Cell C Sharks had found their groove and asserting some form of dominance, and with another Pietersen penalty, the visitors were ahead, having scored 10 unanswered points in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

The Bulls bashed away, but could not break through some resolute Cell C Sharks defence, something that has been worthy of praise this season.

And then it was a welcome return for a fan favourite, Keegan Daniel, making his first appearance of the year with 15 minutes of a tense game remaining.

With the game winding down, the pressure heightened. A three point lead was important in the context of the match, but would it be enough? It was evident that this was a Cell C Sharks team playing with an element of self-belief, secure in the knowledge that they could close out the contest.

With just over a minute to play, replacement flyhalf Tian Schoeman equalised with a penalty from the halfway line, but with time on the clock and the hooter having sounded, Marcell Coetzee’s stealing skills earned a potential match-winning penalty, but Joe Pietersen couldn’t convert and the spoils were shared.