Sharks fight back to put out Dragons’ fire

A try from Thaakir Abrahams with four minutes to play and conversion from Boeta Chamberlain enabled the Cell C Sharks to complete a thrilling come-from-behind 20-19 win over the Dragons in a tightly fought Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash in Newport on Saturday.

The Sharks were trailing by 13 points with 18 minutes to go and looked destined to slip to their first defeat of the new campaign and South Africa’s first to an overseas team in the 2022/2023 term.

But then came an intercept try completely against the run of play from scrumhalf Grant Williams that propelled them back into the contest.

That score infused them with the confidence they perhaps lacked before and were perceptibly gaining momentum heading into the last 10 minutes, and it wasn’t too much of a surprise when replacement No 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe put in an impressive surge out wide off a line movement before offloading to Marnus Potgieter.

The replacement backline player in turn found the pacy Abrahams, who made full use of the modicum of space afforded him down the left touchline to squeeze through for the score.

That left flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain with his most difficult kick of the night to put the Sharks into the lead, which he duly did as the Sharks went into a one point lead.

It was in fact the first time they had led in the game since an eighth minute penalty had been cancelled out by a Will Reed penalty a few minutes later.

For the most part it was a scrappy and fairly forgettable game, with the Sharks making too many mistakes but not that many less than their opponents.

DEBATABLE SCRUM CALLS

The Sharks managed to dominate possession and territory in the final few minutes which was the best way for them to hold onto their lead, with Chamberlain missing a penalty in the final minute that would have stretched the winning advantage to four points.

The Sharks struggled to come to terms with an abrasive and determined Dragons unit and some pretty inexplicable refereeing for most of the first hour.

Inspired by their win over Munster last weekend, the Dragons were up for it again, and might feel they let a golden opportunity to score a second successive win slip from their grasp.

Certainly, they would have made it a lot more difficult for the Sharks had Reed not missed for the first time on the night after five successful kicks with a penalty attempt that would have put them nine points ahead with 11 minutes to go.

Against a determined and committed Dragons defensive system, that might have been enough for the hosts to win.

It was really Williams’s intercept try that changed the game and gave the Sharks hope, but they showed good character to hang in the fight against a Dragons team that was much better than they were at holding onto possession. Indeed, there were times when the Dragons showed limpet like qualities in holding onto the ball, and for most of the way the Dragons appeared to have more direction.

The Sharks weren’t helped though by some rather debatable refereeing calls at the scrums, the one facet of the game where the Durbanites did appear to have an advantage. But there were also areas in the first half where they should have had more control but didn’t, such as the lineouts.

The first half was an arm wrestle, with the Sharks coming off second in the physical battle at the breakdowns, although Dylan Richardson did enough on the flank to win the official man of the match award.

After Chamberlain gave them the initial lead, Reed kicked two penalties to take the Dragons to a 9-3 lead by the 15th minute, and he added another to make it 9-3 after 27 minutes.

The Dragons were full value for that advantage, and two more penalties spread across both kickers saw the hosts take a 12-6 lead to halftime.

The Dragons looked like they were getting it together in the third quarter and an excellent try from hooker Elliot Dee, who crossed off a driving maul in the 48th minute, put some daylight between the teams once Reed had converted.

The Dragons had their chances to close the game out but should be kicking themselves for the decision to run the ball out from their own line rather than play for field position in the move that eventually led to the Williams intercept try.

SCORES:

Cell C Sharks 20 - Tries: Grant Williams and Thaakir Abrahams; Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain 2; Penalties: Boeta Chamberlain 2.

Dragons 19 - Try: Elliot Dee, Conversion: Will Reed; Penalties: Will Reed 4.