The Cell C Sharks will take a lot of confidence out of their 18-5 Currie Cup victory over a competitive Blue Bulls side at Growthpoint KINGS PARK on Saturday afternoon in very difficult conditions.
Wet weather greeted the two teams in their return leg match and rain poured unabated throughout as the sides battled not only each other but the weather too in a tough, uncompromising match won by the home team who displayed huge determination to hold the visitors to just a solitary try after being scoreless for the first 50 minutes of the clash.
Before the game, head coach Robert du Preez identified the wet ball as a challenge for both sides and his team’s need to look after the ball. That they did – better than the Blue Bulls – laid the foundation for victory. That and an unrelenting effort from our outstanding forwards.
Chasing a ninth straight victory, the Cell C Sharks and a fifth victory over the Blue Bulls in the last six outings, it was the perfect start as Sbu Nkosi showed why he has found favour with the Springboks, scoring the opening try in less than three minutes, the tournament’s leading try-scorer running onto the perfect cross kick from Curwin Bosch.
The try had come off a Bulls mistake and there would be plenty more – from both sides – as the wet ball played havoc with the players.
The second try went the way of Keegan Daniel who barged his way over the tryline through two defenders, this after the Blue Bulls had been penalised for a dangerous neck roll clean-out, and from the resultant penalty kicked to touch, the ball was recycled through the phases with good continuity setting up the try. Bosch’s conversion took us into a 12-nil lead as the game hit the end of the first quarter.
We showed a real sense of urgency and the high energy levels put real pressure on a Blue Bulls side who tried to play a lot of rugby but battled to handle the pressure they were under. While we dominated possession and territory, the visitors certainly had chances but simply couldn’t put enough phases together on attack. Our swift, committed and deadly defence made sure of that.
After dominating in the opening quarter, we had to counter the Blue Bulls who tried hard in the second quarter, but they simply could not break through and the sides went into the half-time break with the Cell C Sharks still leading 12-nil.
Given the weather conditions, rain falling for much of the game, it was always going to be a match won with skill as much as the right game plan, and our forwards need to be commended for laying the platform. With Curwin Bosch’s educated and highly-skilled boot keeping the Bulls pinned back in their half, the visitors always found themselves on the back foot.
With half an hour of play remaining, the Blue Bulls sent on a rash of replacements and immediately gained a return with a try following a scrum at which they were dominated but managed to get the ball out and a somewhat fortuitous score after the ball shot out the maul but was re-gathered and taken over. Handre Pollard failed to convert and the Bulls were seven points behind.
Moments later, Curwin Bosch scored the first penalty of the game to stretch the lead to 10 points and having not always earned the rewards at scrum-time where the pack put in huge work, a scrum penalty on the 60th minute had the distance from 45m, but passed agonisingly wide. But it was a show of force from the forwards who deserve a big mention in this game.
So too the territorial game we played, with Bosch in particular making sure the Bulls spent lots of the game retreating back into their own territory, making it difficult to launch any meaningful attacks. To their credit, they held out well on defence as we pushed hard for a third try which would, in all probability, put the game out of question. A 10 point lead gave us some breathing space, but certainly not enough to feel comfortable that the result was ours.
But out of nothing, Bosch kicked a lovely drop-goal to extend the lead to 13 points and with eight minutes later, the Bulls had a big ask if they were to chase the game. Two attacking lineouts were thwarted by Keegan Daniel’s heroics in the air.
It was something of a comedy of errors in the dying minutes of the game as both sides found that the ball had magically transformed itself into a bar of slippery soap and it wasn’t keen on playing rugby.
Ultimately, the game was won by the team not only with the superior game plan but superior execution of the game plan.
Curwin Bosch was a worthy Man of the Match, who said afterwards, “We knew the Bulls were going to be coming our firing. In a tough game like this, you have to take the points on offer and the Bulls kept us out for long periods, but we did score.”
Ruan Botha was a smiling Cell C Sharks captain who added, “The Bulls came out at us, it wasn’t perfect conditions but I’m proud of the boys, they really stuck to the task. It was a really good team effort.”
The post Nine in a Row appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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