Game Griquas leave it too late to catch Sharks
THE Sharks provided a pleasing touch when they embroidered the names of their special women onto their jerseys yesterday.
It may have been Women’s Day, but there was nothing polite about the exchanges on what was an irregularly soft GWK Park surface watered by unseasonal heavy rain.
Griquas were robbed of the hard field advantage that often scares visiting teams, and their task was made even tougher when Jonathan Francke was red-carded in the seventh minute for a tip-tackle on SP Marais.
Nico Scheepers was fortunate not to have followed Francke for at least a yellow card as he was also heavily culpable in the dangerous landing endured by the Sharks fullback.
It was the culmination of a tempestuous early period where Willem Serfontein and Lourens
What the Kimberley side lacked in numbers, they made up for in tenacity
Adriaanse did not need a reason to rub an opponent’s face into the turf. It left Craig Joubert having to micromanage the game rather than blow to the letter of the law, exacerbating the stop-start nature of the first half where Griquas dominated without reward.
When the Sharks finally realised they had a one-man advantage, Sibusiso Sithole and Paul Jordaan rammed it home with telling effect. The former was at the heart of the opening try, scored by Fred Zeilinga in the 32nd minute.
With a rejigged defence that often saw Griquas’ loose forwards filling the gap at centre, Sithole’s pace and power saw him execute the hand-off of the match, reducing Hilton Lobberts to a Morne Steyn-like turnstile.
Tonderai Chavhanga was on hand to collect the well-floated pass, which he capped with an excellent offload to Zeilinga.
It was the confidence tonic the Sharks needed and it filtered through to their scrum, which had a tough time at the hands of Maks van Dyk, Steph Roberts and Ryno Barnes. Thomas du Toit and company turned on their customary squeeze to great effect.
It came as no surprise when the Sharks’ second try, scored by Paul Jordaan on the stroke of half time, originated from a tighthead.
What Griquas lacked in numbers, they made up for in tenacity and attitude. While they could not make the most of Thomas du Toit’s 44th-minute yellow card, the hard-working Marnus Schoeman, probably Griquas’ player of the day and the deserved man of the match, wormed his way over in the 56th minute.
Sithole, the go-to man when the Sharks needed to punch holes in Griquas, again capitalised on the gap left by Francke, coasting through two minutes later.
No 8 Carel Greef responded for the home side five minutes later but could not mount significant pressure in the next nine minutes to reduce the deficit to one converted try. As is their custom, they finished the stronger side, but the 12point turnaround the Sharks accrued in the 10 minutes before half time proved to be the difference, despite an excellent Ederies Arendse try in the 79th minute from a Nico Scheepers cross kick, ripping the ball from Marais in the process.