The Sharks were without a number of Springbok players, who were resting or perhaps attending the wedding of team-mate Eben Etzebeth, and it showed in their 19-46 loss to the Stormers in a postponed round one United Rugby Championship match in Durban. it’s saturday
The Stormers were also missing a number of key men but had too much firepower for the hosts, who were beaten in several areas and heavily penalized by referee Jaco Peyper.
Defending URC champion John Dobson has now stepped up to challenge for the title again. They are second in the points table, while the Sharks are eighth and in the fight to make the playoffs.
The home side were on the back foot from the start when Herschel Jantjies finished off a quality counter-attack by the Stormers, which was started by Clayton Blommetjies and taken further by Manie Libbok, before the Springbok No 9 crossed the tryline.
From then on, the Durban visitors dominated the process, winning all contests, but especially scrums, while the Sharks also gave away some penalties.
Midway through the half it was the turn of new recruit Ruben van Heerden to score; The big lock ends after winning the lineout and the teammates take the ball through several phases.
In control
A penalty by Libbok made it 17-0 for the Stormers and they should have scored a third try shortly after, but Libbok lost control of the ball over the line, with Curwin Bosch hanging on to his flyhalf jersey for dear life, and did. enough to knock the ball out of 10’s grip.
But within minutes of the incident, the Stormers scored their third try, through Joseph Dweba, who went wide from five metres.
The Sharks though had something to cheer about at the break after Gerbrandt Grobler finished off after a long passage of play that marked the best of the home team a few minutes from the half.
The second half
And as they did by scoring an early try in the first half, the Stormers hit their fourth five-pointer almost from the restart; Seabelo Senatla scored in the corner after receiving a perfectly weighted long pass out of the corner by Libbok.
And Senatla, back after a long-term injury, was involved in the fifth attempt of the team when the ball was hacked loose ahead and collected and dead-loaded for Sulieman Hartzenberg to score; this after the Sharks had been on the attack but a poor pass allowed the Stormers’ Ruhan Nel to kick the ball loose ahead and turn the defense into attack.
And the afternoon of disappointment for the home team soon became worse when another loose loose in the backline allowed Libbok to catch the ball and run in the team’s six attempts with just over 20 minutes to play.
But the Sharks showed some late fight when Dan Jooste (after a smart move in front of the lineout) and Grobler (who benefited after missing the Stormers lineout) scored tries to give the scoreline some respectability.
Libbok though, who enjoyed a good outing, had the last say when he slotted a long-range penalty to put the team up 46-19.