Siya and scrum save Sharks' blushes

general22 March 2025 13:30| © SuperSport
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On a day where the widespread expectation was that the Hollywoodbets Sharks would win with something to spare the Durbanites had to rely on a late angled conversion from flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse for their 35-34 Vodacom United Rugby Championship win over Zebre.

While it was a game that indelibly underlined just how competitive the URC has become, with the second last placed team showcasing some quite sublime attacking and also some really determined defence, it was also one of those days that would have left the Sharks coach John Plumtree profoundly frustrated.

The strength in the Zebre team was their running ability from the back and the all-round skill of their captain and fullback Geronimo Prisciantelli.

The No 15 would have beaten home skipper Siya Kolisi, who also crossed for a brace of tries, to the man of the match awards had the visitors got home as winners.

Yet the Sharks helped him become even more of a threat by persisting in kicking the ball long onto him.

He gained an incredible amount of running metres and yet the Sharks, quite inexplicably, kept kicking long onto him.

In many ways, it was a game that was a microcosm of the Sharks’ season.

They were very good in patches, but also pretty woeful in patches, and played in fits and starts against a Zebre team that left Kings Park with a valuable two bonus points, one for scoring four tries and the other for losing by less than seven, and it was no less than they deserved.

MAYBE GOT DUPED INTO THINKING IT WAS EASY

“Rampant Sharks run riot” was the headline being prepared in the early minutes.

The Sharks started like they had a train to catch, and were over for tries in the fourth minute and again in the 11th minute to propel themselves into a 14-0 lead.

Their running and passing game was working, and they had all the momentum.

It did look like the Sharks were going to win by a big score.

Perhaps the Sharks thought so too, for no sooner had Jurenzo Julius crossed for the second try, which was wonderfully worked and included some great passing from several players, none the least of them Ox Nche, than the Sharks showed their first signs of sloppiness.

Loan player Henry Immelman was nowhere to be seen as the ball bounced for Zebre’s pacy wing Allesandro Gesi, who was also a constant thorn in the side of the Sharks, and Zebre were back in the game at 14-7 down.

After 22 minutes it was 14-all and then it became 17-14 to Zebre as flyhalf Giovanni Montemauri kicked a penalty.

It was a day where both place-kickers were on target, with the only miss at posts on the day being a drop goal attempt that was sliced just to the left of the posts by Prisciantelli in the second half.

Zebre taking the lead was the cue for the Sharks to go to the positive side of their Jekyll and Hyde personality, with Kolisi, who had dotted down the first try after four minutes, bursting through off the front of a lineout to run 40 metres to score a try that Hendrikse converted from touch to push his team back into the lead at 21-17.

And when a mixture of good handling and driving put prop Vincent Koch over for the bonus point try four minutes from halftime, it suddenly looked like being the game that it was building towards in the first 11 minutes - a one-sided win for the Sharks.

Which it probably would have been had they backed the dominance of their forwards more.

HOOKER AND HENDRIKE SEAL THE DEAL

They were massive in the scrums and in their mauls and Zebre were always in trouble when they backed those strengths, which they did when it applied to the scrums late in the game when they trailed thanks to a two-try burst from Prisciantelli in the second half coupled with some more accurate place-kicking from Montemauri.

The Sharks had a series of scrum penalties which eventually resulted in Zebre being reduced to 14 men and it was arguably that extra man that was exploited when a long pass eventually found Ethan Hooker, who was presented with space out wide metres from the line.

He is of course primarily a centre and that was the position he played this game in but when the replacements were made he found himself back on the wing where he looked the part more than he had earlier and got across the line for what ultimately, with the help of Hendrikse’s accurate boot, proved the winner.

Zebre will have been heartened for pushing the Sharks so close although disappointed that they fell just short of what would have been a momentous away win.

They are clearly pushovers no more.

What is also clear though that the Sharks continue to conspire against themselves, with their field kicking and all round aerial game all over the place and in desperate need of improvement before Leinster visit next week.

SCORES

Hollywoodbets Sharks 35 - Tries: Siya Kolisi 2, Jurenzo Julius, Vincent Koch and Ethan Hooker; Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse 5.

Zebre 34 - Tries: Geronimo Prisciantelli 2, Alessandro Gesi and Giacomo Ferrari; Conversions: Giovanni Montemauri 4; Penalties: Giovanni Montemauri 2.