Saders claim all points against fearless Sharks

at Kings Park THE Sharks were not the Easter gift of 2015 that kept on giving but a well-drilled Crusaders side was difficult to keep out.

In the end, the five-point difference between the sides highlighted who was better on the night but the Sharks gave a good account of themselves.

However, their highly coveted unbeaten streak has been broken as the Crusaders continued their dominance over the Sharks. They have won 17 of their 22 encounters since 1996, when the Sharks won 58-26.

Kieran Read’s side was so keen on getting on with the business, they trotted into the field 10 minutes early, seemingly accustomed to the 5.05pm kickoff instead of the 10-minute extension. For the better part of the first half, they showed why.

If it wasn’t for Richie Mo’un- ga’s wayward kicking, Read’s side would have had a deserved lead. The rookie pivot missed two reasonably easy penalties from roughly the same point on the Sharks’ 10m line in the fifth and 40th minute. He also missed another one early in the second half along with the conversion from Nemani Nadolo’s try.

However, they were deserved try-scorers in the 25th minute when David Havili latched onto a Nadolo offload on the 5m line.

The big Fijian looked for work and caused countless problems and his sleight of hand caught the defence by surprise. He still took two defenders with him to create the space for Havili.

The Crusaders’ dominance stretched from their accurate kicking game to their powerful scrum. It earned them four penalties as Joe Moody feasted on the hapless Coenie Oosthuizen.

It almost seemed like the penalties were a reprieve as Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira also had his hands full with Owen Franks.

When Lourens Adriaanse came on in the second half, the scrum stabilised immediately and earned penalties.

That wonky scrum had the Sharks on the defensive but this wasn’t the absent-minded class of 2015 that gave the Crusaders the freedom of Kings Park.

They out-Crusadered the visitors in terms of flooding the breakdown and the shift defence often saw Nadolo and Johnny McNicholl with little or no space to work with.

It was that shift defence that earned the Sharks their first try in the 35th minute when Lwazi Mvovo snaffled Ryan Crotty’s errant pass on their 10m line and just managed to beat McNicholl to the line. Mvovo was on hand to punish some inexplicably bad Crusaders passing in the 45th minute when he picked up another Crotty pass and just had the visitors’ 22m line to clear for his try.

The Sharks should have taken advantage of Havili’s 48th minute yellow card for making contact with Andre Esterhuizen’s face but somehow contrived to let the visitors back in the game through Willie le Roux in the 52nd minute.

The Springbok fullback had a faultless game in terms of dealing with the Crusaders’ aerial bombardment but his stray kick gifted the Saders their second try. Mo’unga collected the ball and his offload to Matt Todd saw the Sharks defence struggling to catch up. Nadolo was on hand to dot down in the corner despite JP Pietersen’s defence.

The Sharks had a scare a minute later when McNicholl looked to have scored after initiating a movement from a quick lineout on his 10m line. In the build-up to the try, Kieran Fonotia’s heel made contact with the touchline after a desperate tackle from Phillip van der Walt.

While Jaco Peyper initially gave the try, the crowd let him know he should have referred the decision when the try was replayed on the big screen.

Van der Walt was stretchered off in the 57th minute after putting in a good shift alongside Jean-Luc du Plessis and the irrepressible Marcell Coetzee.

The Sharks themselves also had a 66th minute Le Roux try disallowed when the replays showed he was in front of Cobus Reinach’s kick.

Read’s 72nd-minute try decided the game as the Sharks were spent from their titanic defensive effort. However, this was redemption for last year’s forgettable showing.

The Crusaders’ dominance was from their exact kicking game to powerful scrum

TOUGH: Joe Pietersen (10) of the Sharks takes on Nemani Nadolo of the Crusaders during yesterday’s matchPicture: