Sharks pack mauls Tahs
IT was back to business as usual for the Super Rugby combined log leaders when they beat the Waratahs here last night.
The wounds of the defeat to the Bulls last weekend were healed by the blood of the Australians.
But Jake White’s team is developing a reputation as the home turf bully. They pushed the Waratahs aside up front and their two try-scorers, Ryan Kankowski and Keegan Daniel, confirmed their forward dominance.
With a pack so strong, it is little wonder White was able to gamble with his backline by picking winger Lwazi Mvovo at fullback.
There was a sense of inevitability about the source of the first try. The Sharks gathered together to maul from an attacking lineout deep inside the Waratahs 22m area five minutes into the second half.
By the time Kankowski dotted the ball on the line, the picture was one of a pile of bodies shoving another pile of bodies.
It was messy but the Sharks would have taken any type of score to pull clear on the scoreboard, especially as they enjoyed a man advantage after Dave Dennis was yellow-carded following a scuffle.
Features of both teams were pace in their backlines and agile loose forwards. But attacks in open play were spoiled by bad handling.
It was as if they were playing at the Ice Rink instead of the dry and warm Kings Park pitch.
The Waratahs suffered the most for it, though. Without lynchpin Israel Folau and the muscular pack boasted by the Sharks, they needed to hold onto every bit of ball they could get.
Bernard Foley’s 78th-minute try, after a Pat McCutcheon break, showed what could have been had they held onto the ball. But, by then the game was beyond them.
They didn’t test the Sharks as much as they could have but to the home side’s credit, they tackled the spirit out of the Australians.
It was odd, considering the Waratahs, at the start, were the most threatening team on attack.
But the Sharks weathered the early pressure and then exerted some of their own.
Their scrum earned them two kickable penalties, which Fred Zeilinga gobbled up, plus another for Waratahs ill-discipline at the breakdown and they made the battle on the floor miserable for the visitors. Marcell Coetzee, who has been turned into somewhat of an oversized fetcher, was the chief ball thief for the Sharks and Jean Deysel, too, went at the breakdown hungrily.
The first-half score suggested a tight contest free of try-scoring chances, but they were there.
In one instance, in the 26th minute, Sibusiso Sithole sped away from his own 22m area with the Waratahs spread thin on defence. Lock Stephan Lewies was up in support but threw a shocking pass to Odwa Ndungane and the chance, once again, was lost.
The Waratahs also had chances to break the deadlock with their eye-pleasing first-phase backline manoeuvres but Deysel, Steyn and Alberts’ bone-jarring tackles led to good possession getting spilled.
Daniel, in his first game since White took over, tapped quickly from a penalty to put the match beyond the Waratahs reach with just seven minutes left.