Kings can’t say which Sharks bit them

Such was the feeble nature of the Kings’ performance. The Sharks XV unit that was unceremoniously crushed 53-16 by the Golden Lions in their Currie Cup qualifier on Friday evening at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu would have been equal, if not better opponents.

It would be easy to say the Sharks outclassed the Kings but that term is normally reserved for teams that die with their boots on.

That could not be said of the Kings, who were in Durban in body, but not in mind and spirit. A few of the Sharks’ six first-half tries could have been prevented if the Kings allowed their grey matter to function.

Andre Esterhuizen’s 33rd-minute try and Paul Jordaan’s first one in the 19th minute were examples of undernine-level rugby playing itself out.

Louis Fouche inexplicably tried to chip out of his 22m line with the Kings’ scrum melting like hot cheese, in the process gifting a loose ball expert in Willie le Roux. He had acres of space to dance and offload to the burly Esterhuizen.

Ntando Kebe somehow thought it was wise to spin a bullet pass to No 2 Martin Ferreira, with Pat Lambie collecting the loose ball and haring downfield with Jordaan in support.

The other tries were trainingground exhibitions with the Sharks showing their nearly fossilised ability of scoring from first phase. They had it so easy, they ran 764m from 117 carries even though they put in more tackles (94) than the Kings (73).

The Sharks had the luxury of taking the foot off the pedal in the second half even though there was the worry of Daniel du Preez, who limped off early with a suspected leg injury.

Garth April and Lambie also had the opportunity to run as a 10-12 combination, much to the delight of the Sharks faithful.

More importantly, their first threetry bonus point since the openinground win in Port Elizabeth allows the Sharks to rest easy during their bye, knowing that the Bulls will have hard work to remove them from third spot in the South African group.

Not at any point would the Sharks have dreamed of a better way to ease themselves into their deserved break after seven consecutive matches.