Sharks go top of log
WHILE most eyes were watching Blue Bulls protege Handre Pollard make his senior debut, his opposite number Fred Zeilinga stole the show with a commanding performance that led the Sharks to a bonus-point win last night.
The Sharks jumped to the top of the Currie Cup log with the 34-18 victory — their third on the trot.
After a wobbly start to the competition, it appears the players have adapted well to new boss Brendan Venter’s scientific methods.
The contest between the young flyhalves was the stand-out feature of the game — Zeilinga with his superb territorial kicks and Pollard with his swift service and veteran’s decision-making.
The Sharks pivot continuously put his team on the front foot with searching punts, while his counterpart Pollard was, in contrast, more eager to run the ball. Both were decent with their goalkicking and took responsibility of their respective teams’ direction, despite their inexperience.
Bulls fullback Jurgen Visser, as industrious as he was, was prone to basic, unforced errors that put his team under immense pressure. And Zeilinga had him working overtime with pinpoint kicks aimed at the corner.
The Bulls sprang in front in the fifth minute with a try that was largely the profit of a bulldozing lineout drive, which started around halfway but gained more than 15m.
That maul gave the Bulls licence to go wide. Pollard quickly spread the ball and the outside backs co-operated with their silky handling, putting Akona Ndungane through untouched. The Sharks responded immediately. SP Marais scored his second try for the Sharks since arriving from the Southern Kings, charging down an attempted Visser clearance after Zeilinga planted yet another well-placed bomb.
With the scores tied at 13-13 with less than half-an-hour to go, one of the pivots needed to step it up a gear and lead his team to victory.
In the 55th minute, Zeilinga put his hand up as that man when he sparked a counter-attack, choosing to run through a gap instead of kicking, which led to Heimar Williams scoring the Sharks’ second try.
Substitute scrumhalf Charl McLeod scored the Sharks’ third try after a wellworked attacking scrum and suddenly the Sharks had a meaty 14-point lead with a quarter of the game to go.
The Bulls needed to quash fears of last week’s second-half collapse reoccurring — when they conceded 42 points in a humiliating 62-23 defeat to the Lions.
A clinical performance was made sweeter when the Sharks broke again in the 68th minute, spreading the ball swiftly through the hands for lock Marco Wentzel to grab the bonus-point try.