The Cell C Sharks ended a traumatic week by scoring a much needed 25-10 win over the Ospreys in a Vodacom United Rugby Championship match at HollywoodBets Kings Park but the performance wasn’t the response that was either hoped for or expected.
Certainly the expectations would have been for a comfortable win when it was learned before kick-off that an already depleted Ospreys team, already missing a minimum of nine Wales internationals who played against Australia last week, had been further weakened by a mystery virus.
They ended up having to call up every player on tour to cover for those ruled out by the illness, with skipper Rhys Webb being one of those who couldn’t play.
Given that disruption, the expectation should have been that the Sharks would get the bit between their teeth and produce the rousing performance that was demanded in response to last Sunday’s 35-0 annihilation at the hands of Cardiff.
But the new era did not get off to a rollicking start, far from it, and the 15 point winning margin was highly flattering to the hosts.
Indeed, with four minutes remaining there was just one point in the game, with the Sharks leading. But that was when Curwin Bosch, playing his first match of the season, capped his own good performance by scoring the try that with his conversion killed off the Ospreys challenge.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH ???#FearTheFin Vodacom #URC #SHAvOSP pic.twitter.com/gWvrNuRZzp
— The Sharks (@SharksRugby) December 2, 2022
Off the last move of the game replacement flank James Louw drove over to put even more daylight between the teams. It did put a different gloss on the end score on a night where the Sharks were nervy, laboured and disjointed.
It wasn’t a performance to erase the many question marks that have hovered over the team and the franchise over the past five days.
Of course, mention of the five days does bring in one mitigating factor. That is a very short turn-around, particularly after such a disappointing result.
And then there is also the not insignificant fact that it was a much changed team from the one that played last week due to the return of a clutch of Springboks. The Boks had only been back from overseas for four days.
The Sharks ended up scoring three tries to two, which means they didn’t get the four try bonus point that should have been expected against such a weakened team.
But after what has transpired this week, the ‘W’ was probably the most important thing, and not the overall performance.
GAME-BREAKING TRY
The Sharks got the better of the arm wrestle in the early parts of the game, but they were let down by first phase mistakes. The lineout never really functioned early on, and the experiment of playing Vincent Tshituka as a lock didn’t work.
What did work though was the return of Bosch, with probably the essential difference between Sunday and this game being that this time the Sharks did establish a territorial platform, something they can thank Bosch for.
The flyhalf delivered a calm and confident performance at pivot and did appear to bring a bit more direction than there was last week.
Bosch kicked two first half penalties to give his team a 6-0 lead at the end of an uninspiring opening 40 minutes.
The Ospreys had spent much of that half defending, but they came out of their shells straight after halftime, and an attack that started at a lineout deep in their own half ended with flyhalf Jack Walsh sending wing Luke Morgan in for a fine try.
Walsh wasn’t able to land the conversion, but cutting it to a one point game would have further emboldened the underdogs.
The Sharks did respond to that score fairly quickly, getting back into Ospreys territory from where Bongi Mbonambi broke off the side of a loose scrum and transferred to Sikhumbuzo Notshe to carry it over for the Sharks’ first try.
Bosch missed the conversion but the six point buffer had been restored.
Expectations that the score might unlock the Sharks and the game were unfounded though, and the next try was scored by the Ospreys, with the busy No 8 Morgan Morris going over after a strong drive from his pack off an attacking lineout.
That was in the 68th minute, which means it was late enough for Sharks fans to be holding their breath when Walsh lined up the angled conversion in a bid to put his team into the lead.
He narrowly missed and thereafter ensued several very nervous minutes for the Sharks’ coaching team and their supporters.
Just how nervous the Sharks were can be summed up by the decision to kick for posts from a penalty awarded well inside their own half.
Nothing wrong with that on the face of it, except that it was into the teeth of a swirling wind. Unsurprisingly, the kick was well short, but the Ospreys made a hash of their attempt to exit.
Another penalty was awarded, this time much closer to the Ospreys line, but this time the Sharks elected to set up the lineout, from where they launched the attack that led to Bosch’s game-breaking try.
Scores
Cell C Sharks 25 - Tries: Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Curwin Bosch and James Venter; Conversions: Curwin Bosch 2; Penalties: Curwin Bosch 2.
Ospreys 10 - Tries: Luke Morgan and Morgan Morris.