Sharks find their mojo to give Auckland a deep case of the Blues
Blues .... (7) 40
Sharks .... (26) 63
THIS was always going to be a tough game to call given the Sharks’ extraordinarily good record against the Blues over the 22 years of Super Rugby, but mostly because both these teams were bereft of confidence going into the math at Eden Park yesterday.
The Sharks had only one win under the belt, against the Sunwolves in Durban, while the only team the Blues had beaten this year was the Lions, the Johannesburg team that beat the Sharks in the first round of the competition.
Blues coach Tana Umaga said last week that his team was poised to click and this was the game that would see his team ot their straps.
Sharks coach Robert du Preez said precisely the same thing.
Du Preez said midweek his team needed “just a couple of things to go our way early on and we will click into gear – we are so close.”
This game was a bookies’ nightmare, and while many pundits went for the home team, there were many others who believed the Sharks could knock over the Blues, by far the worst of the New Zealand teams.
The Sharks, after two defeats on tour in Australia, were pumped for this one. It was make or break for the tour especially given that the Hurricanes are next up, on Friday. If the Sharks had not beaten the Blues, the chances were almost certain they would return home winless in four tour games.
Now they will take optimism into the tour finale in Wellington.
The sceptics will point out that this is a horribly poor Blues team, and it is, but for a South African team to score 63 points against a Kiwi team at Eden Park has to be applauded. Let us give credit where it is due.
The Sharks proved that they have the priceless commodity of character and team spirit, and that is more important than the 63 points they scored.
While in sport history is an unreliable predictor of the future, the portents were good for the Sharks, who are now a bogey team of epic proportions for the Aucklanders. The Blues have now won just one of their last 12 against the Sharks, and one of their last six against the Durbanites in Auckland.
That is an incredible record for a South African team at Eden Park.
Be that as it may, the Sharks had to do it all over again to stretch their great record in Auckland, and they did just that by at last living up to their pedigree when they put an astonishing 63 points past the Blues, although the home side played their part in an entertaining Super Rugby spectacle by scoring 40 points of their own to take the game total to 103.
Each side scored six tries but the big difference on the scoreboard was that Sharks flyhalf Robert du Preez went for posts each time his side was awarded a penalty and he nailed seven penalty goals plus six conversions for a staggering total of 38 points (he also scored a try).
He never missed a kick at posts and ran the game superbly for his team while his brother, flank Jean-luc, had a stormer up front and was surely the Man of the Match.
The two teams went into the match having had just one win each in the competition and with confidence low, but the Sharks quickly found their mojo after a flurry of early scoring.
They never looked back even though they had a bad patch after half time when the Blues overturned a 19-point deficit to take a two-point lead at 28-26.
The Blues’ dramatic comeback had coincided with the Sharks being down to 14 men after wing Sbu Nkosi had been yellow carded for a dangerous tackle.
But the Blues’ lead was short-lived and the last half an hour was mostly one-way traffic in favour of the Sharks.
At the start of the game, the Sharks raced into a 13-0 lead via a try by captain Ruan Botha and the boot of Du Preez
The Blues scored the try of the match when most of their team handled the ball before fullback Michael Collins finished.
But Jean-luc scored after a fine break by centre Andre Esterhuizen and with his brother kicking another penalty, the Sharks were 26-7 ahead at half time.
Then came the Blues fightback, which was ended in the 56th minute when Sharks No 8 Tera Mtembu wrestled over following an excellent break by Kobus van Wyk.
Flyhalf du Preez then hit his straps, scoring a try and kicking a string of penalties.
The Sharks ended the game strongly through tries by Van Wyk and Curwin Bosch, plus more penalties by Du Preez, while there was a consolation try for the Blues from centre Rieko Ioane.
– Tries: Ruan Botha, Jeanluc du Preez,tera Mtembu, Rob du Preez, Kobus van Wyk, Curwin Bosch.
Conversions: Rob du Preez (6). Penalties: Du Preez (7).
– Tries: Michael Collins, Akira Ioane, Patrick Tuipulotu, Stephen Perofeta, Rieko Ioane, George Moala.
Conversions: Stephen Perofeta (4), Bryn Gatland.