Cape Town – The Sharks seemed to use a rope-a-dope strategy as they emerged from a strange first-half performance to produce a 35-9 bonus-point win over the Griffons in Welkom on Friday to move to the top of the Currie Cup log.
Coach Joey Mongalo will be celebrating the fact that his Sharks team were able to wake up after halftime to record a sixth victory in a row, which sees them lead the standings on 43 points after 12 matches – five ahead of the Cheetahs, who face Griquas in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Durbanites roared back from a 9-7 halftime deficit to score two tries in six minutes to knock the stuffing out of a highly competitive Griffons outfit.
But what counted in the home side’s favour in the opening 40 minutes was the incessant kicking from the Sharks, which were often poorly executed as well.
The likes of scrumhalf Bradley Davids, wing Yaw Penxe and fullback Nevaldo Fleurs kept on booting the ball downfield, which played into the hands of outstanding Griffons No 15 Duan Pretorius, who often launched dangerous counter-attacks.
Pretorius was also assisted by wing Domenic Smit in putting in lengthy touch-finders of their own, which drove the Sharks back into their half.
The Griffons were rewarded for their willingness to keep ball-in-hand and take on the defence with an attacking mindset via three penalties by scrumhalf Jaywinn Juries.
The Sharks’ only points came in a fortuitous manner, as a charge-down inside the Griffons 22 was exacerbated by outside centre Carel-Jan Coetzee throwing the ball away wildly, and Lionel Cronjé dotted down.
The Griffons were good value for their 9-7 halftime lead, but it became an almost entirely different game after the break, with the Sharks playing with greater urgency right from the kickoff, with Penxe winning the ball back in the air.
The visitors eventually got a lineout maul going after a series of strong carries, and Davids found an unmarked Penxe out wide.
A few minutes later, powerful No 8 Mpilo Gumede grabbed his five-pointer after good work by fellow loose forward James Venter and a fancy offload by Dylan Richardson, and suddenly it was 21-9 to the coastal side.
The Sharks nearly claimed their bonus point in the 49th minute when Richardson rounded off a flowing move, but it was cancelled after Sikhumbuzo Notshe was in front of kicker Aphelele Fassi in the build-up.
The Griffons tackled manfully as they had their hands full in trying to stop big centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg, lock Ockie Barnard and Notshe, but they were unable to put any meaningful phases together on attack in the second half.
Their fate was sealed when Springbok prop Ntuthuko Mchunu rumbled over to secure the four-try bonus point, and while he had a second touchdown ruled out for obstruction, the Sharks had done enough to record a valuable triumph in their quest for a home semi-final.
They ended proceedings in fine style in the final minute as replacement Vincent Tshituka and Richardson combined in open play, and Fleurs was able to claim a fifth try.
Point-scorers
Griffons 9 – Penalties: Jaywinn Juries (3).
Sharks 35 – Tries: Lionel Cronjé, Yaw Penxe, Mpilo Gumede, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Nevaldo Fleurs. Conversions: Cronjé (5).
IOL Sport