The Cell C Sharks first knock-out in the Heineken Champions Cup proved a successful outing at Hollywoodbets Kings Park and showed that this is a team with huge potential.
Speaking after the match, Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Neil Powell was proud of the response from his team, for the way the stood up and performed against Munster.
“Credit must go to the team for the way they turned it around after the disappointment of the Scarlets game,” he said.
“It was a great performance from an attacking point of view, but we do set high standards of ourselves on defence, so conceding that number of tries in that last 20 minutes was disappointing and that’s something we will need to fix if we want to go further in this competition.”
The game was evenly-poised at half-time, but the Cell C Sharks really came out and blew their Irish opponents away in a dominant third quarter.
“Everyone was really positive after the first half, we had some good chats at the half-time break about the things we wanted to do a bit better and the guys really responded,” he explained.
“The energy in the first 20 minutes of the game was really good and we got dominance in all the contact areas; we asked them for the same in the second half. We also wanted to be more clinical in our individual roles, missing one or two tackles or aerial balls we could have taken, and the guys really reacted well to what was said at half-time and came out with really good energy levels.”
Powell acknowledged that Munster came back well at times, particularly in the first half. “They kept us pinned in our own half after we scored that second try and we couldn’t get out, and with that pressure we then conceded a second try. It was a period when we lost a bit of energy too.
“Munster are a good team, they will punish you, especially if you’re not clinical enough in your own half, that was something we knew going into the game.”
Defensive errors are sometimes a consequence of the kind of pressure defence the Cell C Sharks exerted on Munster – to good effect. Two intercept tries came about because Munster were under pressure and trying to move the ball away too quickly from the contact areas, but the risk sometimes took its toll when there was space out wide.
“That’s something we have to get right,” Powell admitted. “To put pressure on the ball but also to be better on our defensive width and how we defend out wide. I don’t think we were good enough, we do have high standards and set the bar high.
“Obviously we will celebrate this win, but we do need to look at our defence and be better if we want to get through the next one.”
Stade Toulousain’s 33-9 victory over the Vodacom Bulls means the Cell C Sharks travel to Toulouse for Saturday’s quarter-final clash.
“It won’t be easy and we all know that when you get to the knock-out stages, you have to be a lot more accurate, there is little room for mistakes and if you do make any, the opposition will punish you for that.
“With this being our first year in the competition, we’ve tried to create some hype and excitement around being in the European Championship. The vibe, energy and culture around this tournament is exciting but we know the further we progress, the tougher it’s going to get and how much more clinical and disciplined we will need to be.”
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The Cell C Sharks were in sublime form as they dominated Munster in their Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 knock-out clash, their 50-35 victory sending them into the tournament’s quarter-finals.
Munster proved their worth in the first half and there was little to separate the two teams on the scoreboard at half time, but a three try blitz in the third quarter wrestled all advantage and momentum the Cell C Sharks way and completely turned the game on its head..
Early pressure on the visitors kept them in their half before they conceded a lineout penalty which, given the nature of a knock-out game, there was no hesitating in opting for the three pointer, well-converted by Curwin Bosch.
But Munster struck back almost immediately with the first try of the game, a kick-chase they managed to control and from there the ball was sent wide, the conversion taking them into a 7-3 lead inside the opening 10 minutes.
Three dominant Cell C Sharks scrums later, Munster found themselves forced to defend and when Werner Kok went on a mesmerising run and then fed Makazole Mapimpi who bust his way through the defence, when he fed Jaden Hendrikse, the scrumhalf pinned his ears back but still had to contend with two defenders who simply couldn’t stop his momentum, with Bosch adding the two for a repeat three-point lead as the game approached the 20 minute mark.
Excellent competing on the ground led to a turnover that resulted in the second Cell C Sharks’ try, scored by Eben Etzebeth but initially referred to the TMO for confirmation following a series of highly effective pick and drives from the forwards. Bosch converted in the 25th minute for a 17-7 lead.
Again, Munster were propelled into action and they scored a similar forward-oriented try to cut the lead just after the half hour mark, the conversion once more leaving just three points separating the two teams.
There was an element of uncertainty about the closing minutes of the half with neither side willing to make too many mistakes and there was no further score as the Cell C Sharks took a 17-14 lead into the half-time break.
The second half started off perfectly for the Cell C Sharks, the lineout maul option earning them successive penalties and penalty advantage as they worked their way closer and closer to the tryline with each subsequent transgression from Munster, before Bongi Mbonambi was at the back of a powerful push and went over for his team’s third try, converted from out wide to restore the 10 point lead.
Not five minutes later the Cell C Sharks scored a carbon-copy try after Munster’s discipline continued to plagued them against a rampant Cell C Sharks who had lost Jaden Hendrikse, Eben Etzebeth and Emile van Heerden, the latter playing on bravely through injury until he could leave the field.
With half an hour of the absorbing contest remaining, the Cell C Sharks enjoyed a 29-14 lead and a few minutes later the result was completely out of question when Werner Kok took on the defence and won spectacularly as he scythed through the defence to score, with Bosch adding the conversion for a 36-14 lead.
In less than 10 minutes, Bosch scored the third of the brief period and his team’s sixth when a Munster attack broke down in midfield and the Cell C Sharks’ flyhalf snapped up the loose ball and sprinted half the length of the field to score in the corner, and then had the audacity to convert from the touchline for a 43-14 lead going into the final quarter of the game.
The high pace of the game continued and Munster went over for their third try soon afterwards with a strong driving maul but their joy was short-lived when Makazole Mapimpi read the perfect intercept on the halfway line and no-one was going to stop him in his 50m run to the tryline as the Cell C Sharks hit 50 points with Bosch’s conversion.
Although the result was out of question, to their credit Munster never quit and scored again with a well-engineered move off an attacking lineout for a 50-28 scoreline with 10 minutes left to play and then scored again with a similar effort as the game headed for the final whistle.
This was a quality, highly entertaining match befitting the tournament’s status.
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Quick Durban KwaZulu-Natal Fact: While many associate Durban with sharks, not many people make the connection between Durban and whales. In fact, Durban was once a busy centre of the whaling industry, with many thousands of whales processed in the whaling stations on the Bluff. Thankfully, whaling was outlawed in South Africa when whale numbers plummeted, and the Durban whaling stations were closed in 1975. Since then, whale numbers have recovered and whale watching is now a major Durban tourist attraction.
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