The educated boot of experienced Cell C Sharks XV flyhalf Fred Zeilinga controlled the Vodacom Cup match between the Durban team and the Border Bulldogs at Buffalo City Stadium in East London on Friday night.
Zeilinga put over two penalties and converted five of the six Sharks tries for a personal tally of 16 points in a satisfying 46-24 win for the visitors.
The relatively inexperienced Bulldogs were 17-10 up at the interval, but some strong and determined running by the Sharks saw them run in five tries in the second half to a solitary converted try by the home side.
The Sharks were the first to get the scoreboard moving when their tall scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer, spotting a gap, left a trail of Border defenders in his wake and dotted over for Zeilinga to convert .
Both teams were guilty of handling errors, understandable so early in the season, and the Sharks fullback, Hans Graaf, put in some telling runs as each side looked for openings.
A grubber kick by Border scrumhalf Skhangele Mateza well within the Sharks half resulted in an assault by the Border forwards and lock Wandile Putuma crashed over next to the left upright for centre Jeffrey Taljard to convert and level the score after 24 minutes.
Taljard and Zeilinga exchanged penalties just before the break.
Against the run of play Border were off the mark early in the second half when centre Makazole Mapimpi intercepted and dived over in the fifth minute, but thereafter the game was taken away from the Bulldogs with the Sharks running in a further five tries.
All were converted by Zeilinga bar one, and he also added another penalty as the game wound down.
Scorers:
- Cell C Sharks XV (46): Tries: Scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer, lock Edwin Hewitt, centre Neil Maritz, replacement Thomas du Toit, prop Wiehan Herbst and centre Andre Esterhuizen Conversions: Flyhalf Fred Zeilinga (5). Penalties: Zeilinga (2).
- Border Bulldogs (24): Tries: Lock Wandile Putuma, wing Lolo Waka, centre Makazole Mapimpi. Conversions: Jeffrey Taljard (3). Penalty: Taljard.
Author: Peter Martin
