Sharks get Mojo back against Cheetahs
SHARKS .................... (15) 38 CHEETAHS ................ (20) 30 CURWIN BOSCH continues to show that that there is life after Patrick Lambie at the Sharks after he yesterday made the most of a solid forward platform to kick 18 points to secure his team a vital away Super rugby win over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
The Sharks, sadly, have grown used to losing Lambie early in Super Rugby campaigns, and yesterday he could well have done the same job as the 20-year-old Bosch, but the point is that life goes on when your talisman player is cut down, as has been the case with Lambie in the last four Super Rugby seasons.
Bosch had to step at 10 when Lambie suffered a back injury early in the game against the Waratahs two weeks ago, and 75 minutes later had scored 27 points.
This was a match the Cheetahs would have expected to win at home and a fixture the Sharks entered with shaky confidence after having played poorly against the Kings the week before.
Their forwards had been poor and this had given a weak platform for unfortunate debutant flyhalf flyhalf Benhard Janse van Rensburg, who struggled and was dropped for this match.
With Clement Poitrenaud passed fit to start at fullback, it allowed coach Robert du Preez to start with Bosch at flyhalf, and while questions remain about his ability in front-line defence, there is plenty of time to work on this problem in this game. The Cheetahs did score a try through this frailty in Bosch’s game but for the main part, the Sharks tactically worked around the issue.
The Cheetahs had the better of the first half although an early Fred Zeilinga penalty was offset by a well-worked Sharks try, with centre André Esterhuizen making the running for bind side wing Lwazi Mvovo.
The Cheetahs were under pressure when one of their better players, flank Oupa Mohoje, was pinned for a professional foul and after a succession of kicks to the corner, the Sharks forwards created the overlap for Sharks wing Kobus van Wyk to score in the corner from close range.
The Sharks were lazy in defence from the kick-off to allow Cheetahs centre and captain Francois Venter in for a score and when Sharks prop Coenie Oosthuizen was sinbinned, it allowed Zeilgina to narrow the core to 13-15.
On half time, a belter of a second half was on the cards when JW Jonker scored after the always dangerous Raymond Rhule had created the space, and the teams entered the change rooms at two tries apiece. At half time Poitrenaud was replaced by Garth April and he was excellent in his jinking running to set up Van Wyk for his second.
There was a try off the back of a line-out for Daniel du Preez, who was making his comeback from a long-term groin injury and with Bosch’s conversion from the touchline putting his side 32-23 in front with 15 minutes to go, the Cheetahs were under pressure.
Timely penalties from Bosch settled the affair. SCORERS: Cheetahs – Tries: Francois Venter, JW Jonker, Raymond Rhule. Conversions: Zeilinga (3). Penalties: Ceiling (3). Sharks – Tries: Lwazi Mvovo, Kobus van Wyk (2), Dan du Preez. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (3). Penalties: Bosch (4). Fred