Sharks stun Bulls as Leopards shine
The fancied Eastern Province sides disappointed while Namibia and the Leopards put in big performances in the Craven Week at St Stithians College in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The Sharks made a huge statement, beating the Blue Bulls 53-33 and will look at Wednesday’s game between Western Province and the Lions with keen interest as they are likely to play the winners in Saturday’s main game.
The Sharks, who had a man sent off, went into the break leading 38-7 with scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba‚ No 8 Phendulani Buthelezi and wing Cham Zondeki showing their class. When flank Dylan Kruger was sent off for a shoulder charge‚ the Bulls roared back with three tries to reduce the score to 38-28, but the Sharks pulled away with two more tries.
Griquas thumped fancied Eastern Province Country Districts 42-20. The Northern Cape side dominated the exchanges and were better conditioned.
Districts battled to live with Griquas’ tempo. Leading 25-8 at the break‚ Griquas turned the
●
screws early in the second half despite District’s Clyde Jacobs scoring one of the tries of the day from a jinxing 75m run.
Unheralded South-Western Districts put themselves in line for a shot at Saturday’s main game with a hard-fought 27-22 win, outscoring Eastern Province by four tries to three.
The Eagles’ defence saw them through the second half when Eastern Province were better structured. They conceded two tries in the second period but did enough to hang in despite a late try by Eastern Province’s Juandre Sabbat.
●
Gershwin Mouton’s hat-trick of tries was at the heart of Namibia’s 56-32 win over the Falcons. The big outside centre was a handful for the Falcons who conceded eight tries in all.
The Falcons fought back with five of their own but tries by Gilad Plaatjies‚ Denna Bruwer‚ Le Roux Booysen and Justin Muir ensured the Namibians got off to a sound start while Bruwer put over six conversions. Thabo Ndimande and Ruben Beytell shared braces, with Wesley Noeth contributing the other try.
●
Leopards 72 Zimbabwe 17