Emphatic Performance Secures Victory – Featured Durban Blog

A fantastic crowd came out in support of the Cell C Sharks in our first home game of the season and cheered us on to a thrilling 37-14 Vodacom Super Rugby victory over the visiting Waratahs on Saturday evening.

Super Rugby’s return to Growthpoint KINGS PARK for the first time in 2016 following the opening two matches played in Australia, was a wonderful spectacle of rugby, played under a cloudless, beautiful Durban sky.

It was the perfect start as the under-pressure Waratahs could not exit from the Cell C Sharks’ kick-off, possession was regained and a strong build-up led to Tera Mtembu cantering over with the visitors’ defence in short numbers out wide. Not two minutes had registered on the clock before the first strike had been delivered.

Sadly, captain Pat Lambie left the field after taking a knock to the leg which necessitated a new face , the very exciting Curwin Bosch taking over at flyhalf. His first act was to knock over a penalty after the Waratahs had infringed at a defensive lineout as we took an 8-0 lead.

A few minutes later, the Waratahs finding the going tough, upended Andre Esterhuizen in a spear-like tackle and were down to 14 men. The ball was kicked to touch and we came agonisingly close to scoring before earning a penalty in front, which Bosch had no trouble converting.

11-0 up and we were looking to be in complete control of the game.

The Waratahs did come back at us and looked imposing as they strung the phases together, but a good five minutes spent in our 22 yielded nothing more than heartache as they finally succumbed to the defensive pressure and suffered a turnover then penalty.

In fact it was from that penalty in our 22 that the next score originated, Curwin Bosch receiving the ball following the lineout and eluding the defence with some powerful running to score (and convert) under the posts.

With a quarter of the game played and an 18 lead, things were looking great. It wasn’t that the Waratahs were being starved of ball possession either, but they simply could not penetrate our outstanding defence. They would attack, but any holes they may have hoped to exploit, simply weren’t there.

Defence is all about attitude, and we showed bagfuls of it.

But the Waratahs were finally able to get on the scoreboard, a chip ahead eluded the defence as the ball bounced awkwardly, Israel Folau following up to score his team’s try with the game approaching half an hour’s play.

But regaining the ball from the kick-off resulted in a kickable penalty right in front and Bosch added further daylight between the teams as we took a handy 21-7 lead with eight minutes of the half remaining.

Sensing the dominance, a kickable penalty was sent to touch rather than at posts. We attacked before earning another penalty, again right in front as the Waratahs’ discipline was failing them. Bosch was again on target, the two quick-fire penalties all but cancelling out the earlier try.

With three minutes to half-time, we held a strong24-7 lead and it would be a fair assumption to say we had controlled the half. There was enough time for a late counter from the Waratahs, but they failed to hold the ball under pressure and Kobus van Wyk snatched it up on the halfway line and sprinted 50m to score our third try, hammering home our dominance. Bosch converted to end the half, 31-7 in our favour.

The Waratahs may have suffered a psychological blow, but they weren’t going to go down without a fight and struck back early in the second half following a chargedown of a kick ahead, Folau going over for his second try.

But another Bosch penalty took us 20 points ahead, and another gave us a 23 point lead, as both sides were finding points hard to come by in a much tighter second half.

This was a performance our team can be rightfully proud of. Well done to the fantastic crowd that came out in support. They witnessed one heck of a game.