Elephants win over Sharks neat fillip
Beating a strong Sharks team was a massive confidence booster for the Multisure EP Elephants ahead of their Currie Cup First Division campaign, EP coach Chumani Booi said.
A fired-up Elephants side trampled the Sharks 27-7 in a bone-crunching SuperSport Rugby Challenge to maintain their unbeaten record at Wolfson Stadium on Sunday.
When referee Paul Mente blew the final whistle, EP had outscored the Sharks by three tries to one in front of an ecstatic crowd in KwaZakhele.
“Looking at the other games we’d played we had good first half performances, but we just couldn’t finish off in the second half. I think we’ve progressed from that and this game showed how hard we’ve worked to play for 80 minutes,” said Booi.
“We also spoke about how we’ve competed without dominating, and said it was time we did. If you look at the performance we stood up in defence and didn’t let them in. Obviously they scored that one try [by Springbok winger Lwazi Mvovo], but it was a performance we could say we dominated in a lot of facets of the game.”
The Kings’ tries were scored by Tristan Fourie, Mihlali Mpafi and Martin du Toit.
Booi thanked the crowd who came out to support the Elephants at the all-day festival.
“This is something that has not been done in a long time,” the coach said.
Sharks coach Sean Everitt gave credit to the Kings.
“Prior to the red card at the end of the first half we had a lot of opportunities which we didn’t finish. I counted seven in the first half, then the red card made it even more difficult for us,” said Everitt.
“But all credit must go to EP anyway. Their pack outplayed us and managed to get the physical ascendancy, which made it difficult for us to get front foot ball. EP dominated us in the physical confrontations, in the tackle, in defence and, obviously, got a lot of momentum in attack.
“We had a difficult campaign as far as preparations are concerned. We’ve used youngsters and some club players, which is good for them as individuals playing at a higher level.
“But if we look back at it our first game, against the Cheetahs, is probably the first game we should have won. We spilt a lead of 28 points and lost by nine. So if we look back that’s the game that cost us. We can’t complain about Western Province because they outplayed us and are still unbeaten.
“I know these chaps will fight back and put up a better performance against the South Western Districts [Eagles].”
The Elephants’ last game of the season is against the winless Zimbabwe Academy on Saturday.