Rampant Sharks send warning with Craven Week trouncing
THE Sharks will be the team to watch in tomorrow’s main game at the Craven Week after the rugby lesson they administered to South-Western Districts.
The Bulls were also on the receiving end of an unexpected and brutal hammering by Eastern Province.
The Sharks were expected to take the Eagles apart and did so emphatically – 65-26.
Their display of pace‚ power‚ precision and cohesion was too much for South-Western Districts.
With above-par game management displayed by Jaden Hendrickse and Sanele Nohamba‚ Sharks created gaps where there were not any.
JJ van der Mescht‚ Phendulani Buthelezi and Celimpilo Gumede blasted holes which the backs easily exploited.
Namibia’s dream Craven Week run was brutally cut short by a ruthless Leopards side, who won 57-30.
The North West side scored eight of the 13 tries, with Hanru van Rooyen and Betru Jones snatching braces.
To their credit‚ Namibia notched up five tries, with daytwo star Gershwin Mouton again among the try scorers.
In what was expected to be one of the more competitive encounters‚ Eastern Province made up for their disappointing day-two showing with a right-royal 37-0 hammering of the Bulls in the midday encounter.
Eastern Province ran incisive lines and punished the Bulls’ defensive profligacy.
The Bulls never looked like scoring as Bevan Prinsloo’s work on the ground denied them clean ball.
The hardworking openside flanker was rewarded with a brace, while Ayabonga Matroos‚ Rodwill Baatjies‚ Juandre Sabbat and Le Kleu Stokes were the other try scorers.
With 112 points scored in this 60-52 game‚ the eight points that separated the Griquas from the Falcons summed up the defensively lax but exciting game.
The 17 tries were equally split, with the Griquas scoring nine and eight by the Valke.
Edrich Brand‚ Craig Okhuis‚ Charles Williams‚ Wium Becker‚ Timothy Harding and Ramon Sauls shared the tries for Griquas, while Ruben Beytell’s hat-trick alongside Leshley October’s brace underpinned the Valke’s brave effort.
Eastern Province Country Districts finally righted their tournament with a hard-fought 34-14 win over Zimbabwe.
The six tries were well spread, with centre Jack Allanson securing a brace. Claude Jacobs‚ Johann Lombard‚ Matt Robertson and Jason Brown were the other try scorers as the Eastern Province backs prospered from the platform laid by their powerful forwards.
Zimbabwe were much better in this encounter, with Matsvaishe Nyamarebvu adding a brace‚ improving from his daytwo performance when he was Zimbabwe’s best performer in a miserable showing against the Leopards.