Makazole Mapimpi scored the winning try at the death but Andre Esterhuizen was the difference between the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Edinburgh as the Durbanites scored a crucial 18-17 win in their 15th round Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash at the DAM Health Stadium.
Masuku x Mapimpi 👏👏
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) April 18, 2025
The Hollywoodbets Sharks get it done in Scotland 🦈🔥#SSRugby | #VURC pic.twitter.com/UJklSIdoQB
The Sharks had been building for a while for this game, but they would not have got the result they wanted in this Friday night game was it not for the influence the giant sized Sharks inside centre had on proceedings.
To be frank, it was a game Edinburgh dominated, from start to finish.
But for all the ball that Edinburgh enjoyed, and all the territory advantage they enjoyed, they could not get over as winners, and that was because of the role that Esterhuizen played in thwarting their best efforts.
From the opening minutes the strongly built centre, who was strutting his stuff for English club Harlequins a year ago, was the buffer between the Sharks and a deficit of more than a score.
Edinburgh kept pressing, Esterhuizen with his impressive body strength kept them at bay, frequently forcing turnover penalties that got his team out of trouble and transferred pressure.
In a close game like this one was, you need to concentrate on the small details.
So the three points Jordan Hendrikse kicked from the first Esterhuizen penalty were significant.
They made the difference between winning and losing in the end, though we wouldn’t have predicted that in those opening three minutes.
MISSED KICKS COULD HAVE BEEN COSTLY
What could have counted against the Sharks was Jordan Hendrikse’s missed kicks.
A long-range penalty miss he could be forgiven for, but there were two crucial misses of easy kicks from the tee early in the second half that could well have made a huge difference to the angst the Sharks felt in the end, when a well targeted long pass put Makazole Mapimpi in for the winning score off the last play of the game.
That it came to that poses an interesting question.
There was no denying the greater efficiency of Edinburgh. They should have won though if you looked at the team sheets, with the Sharks being dominated by World Cup winners, you would not have said so.
They were the team that applied th most pressure for the bulk of the game.
However, that the Sharks withstood that pressure, and overcame their own ridiculously high error rate at a venue where most visiting teams struggle, was a massive statement.
They could have been more than a score behind several times in the first half given the pressure they were under.
But somehow they stood firm, and ultimately stood firm thanks to that last-gasp Mapimpi try.
AM BRILLIANCE
Certainly it looked like long odds on a Sharks win when Edinburgh exploited a defensive error by the Sharks by sending in outside centre James Lang for the first tty after 11 minutes.
That made it 5-3 and it could easily have been 10-3 soon after that but somehow, despite several creaks in the defensive system, the Sharks resisted.
Edinburgh did eventually get that score when Jamie Richie, and who else on a night when he and South African Scotland international Pierre Schoeman were the standouts for the hosts, crossed just short of the half hour mark.
But a Hendrikse penalty kick drew the Sharks back into it as halftime arrived with Edinburgh 10-6 ahead.
Then came moment of customary Lukhanyo Am brilliance to put his teammate Aphelele Fassi in for the try that reclaimed the lead.
The Am & Fassi link up just hits 👌@Vodacom #URC | #EDIvSHA pic.twitter.com/yU4xSn4GZ5
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) April 18, 2025
Only for Edinburgh to respond with a good pick and go try.
Edinburgh had their chances to put the Sharks away after that, but didn’t take them, not least during a period when both Eben Etzebeth, who in truth was not seen a lot of in this comeback game from a four month layoff, and Am were sinbinned.
The Sharks rode the storm and prevailed thanks to the pressure they exerted in the final minutes being capitalised on by Mapimpi.
Siya Masuku's epic match-winning moment 👏
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) April 18, 2025
Finished by 2x #RWC champion Makazole Mapimpi 🫳🎤@Vodacom #URC | #EDIvSHA pic.twitter.com/GjxVNUvEeZ
SCORES
HOLLYWOODBETS SHARKS 18 - Tries: Aphelele Fassi and Makazole Mapimpi; Conversion: Jordan Hendrikse,
Penalties: Jordan Hendrikse 2.
EDINBERG 17 - Tries: James Lang, Jamie Ritchie and Ewan Ashman;
Conversion: Ross Thompson.