The slow poison of their power game was what set the Cell C Sharks on the road to a deserved 19-16 victory over Bordeaux Begles in their Heineken Champions Cup match at the Stade Chaban-Delmas on Friday night.
The Sharks started sloppily but it was obvious from around the 20 minute mark that they were growing into the game as their forwards started to gain the ascendancy, and sure enough it was pretty much all the Sharks after halftime as they flicked the switch and suffocated the home team’s ambition by just denying them the ball.
Bordeaux are noted to be really difficult to beat in front of their home fans, but the Sharks did what the Stormers failed to do at an even more formidable away venue in Clermont-Ferrand last week by preventing the hosts from coming into the game and thus lifting the decibels of the passionate Bordeaux support.
The win means the Sharks have banked nine points from their first two games, which puts them within touching distance of clinching their place in the round of 16, and they have a degree of comfort after two rounds of the competition that maybe their fellow South African teams don’t, though of course for the Stormers and Bulls the weekend matches are still to come.
There wasn’t much between the teams in terms of the statistics but Bordeaux were more efficient in their execution so they were full value for a 13-9 halftime lead to halftime.
It could have been more given how much more on point they were in comparison to a Sharks team that missed too many tackles and also made too many unforced errors with ball in hand. In that first half, it also looked like the Sharks had rediscovered their penchant for lining up deep to take the ball, which isn’t helpful to their attacking game.
Bordeaux applied most of the early pressure and it wasn’t a huge surprise when they scored their first try in the seventh minute, with Renato Giammarioli showing impressive leg drive off the back of a lineout and completing a try that the Sharks will feel they should have stopped.
Scrumhalf Jules Gimbert kicked the conversion to make it 7-0, with the Sharks’ kicker, Curwin Bosch, then choosing his moment to shine by kicking an impressive long-range penalty before snapping over a well taken drop-goal to cut the deficit to one point.
Bosch by name
— Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) December 16, 2022
BOSH by nature ??
An enormous nudge to score @SharksRugby's first points of the day ??#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/TBh6gd5l11
BRILLIANT TRY FOR THE SHARKS
Gimbert then kicked another penalty to make it 10-6 and then he and Bosch traded further penalties to account for the four point advantage enjoyed at the halfway mark by Bordeaux Begles.
The Sharks did look like they were getting the upper hand at forward, but the hosts were still in control at that point.
They continued to be in control in the first few minutes of the second half, but then came a slew of penalties against them as the Sharks began to take control with their power game and simply deny their opponents possession and opportunities.
It was the large presence of Thomas du Toit, who played well in his return to the Sharks jersey after a three-match suspension, that started the ball rolling for the Sharks as he forced a turn-over penalty.
Then two further penalties gave the Sharks further momentum as they set up camp in Bordeaux territory.
Just short of the 50 minute mark a brilliant offload from fullback Boeta Chamberlain and good direct running from Ben Tapuai saw the Sharks score a brilliant try where their handling was slick and sharp and it put them into the lead for the first time.
Werner Kok dots down for the Sharks as they fight back to take the lead ??
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) December 16, 2022
?? Stream #ChampionsCup live: https://t.co/0BMWdennut pic.twitter.com/BiBLxc70dE
Bosch kicked the conversion to put them three points clear and it was a lead they were never to relinquish.
The hosts gave away penalty after penalty and it was only a matter of time before they’d surrender a man to the bin. That did come, but perhaps later than expected given how often the French team was infringing.
Early in the game, the fourth minute to be precise, the Sharks had lost a man to the bin, with wing Kok dumping a player unceremoniously on his back. He was fortunate it was not on the neck, or he would certainly have seen red.
Werner Kok goes full WWE here.#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/Do8ei3nEAW
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) December 16, 2022
It was one of those games where it never looked like there would be a lot of scoring and when Bosch made it a six point lead with another penalty, the Sharks should have been feeling confident.
Gimbert did bring the Begles back into it with another three points garnered in one of the rare Bordeaux visits into Sharks territory but they just never looked like they had the bullets to hurt the Sharks once the Sharks forwards, with Du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi and Vincent Tshituka very much in the forefront, slipped into over-drive, with their dominant scrum being matched by an equally dominant maul.
Scores
Cell C Sharks 19 - Try: Werner Kok, Conversion: Curwin Bosch; Penalties:Curwin Bosch 3; Drop-goal:Curwin Bosch.
Bordeaux Begles 16 - Try:Renato Giammarioli, Conversion:Jules Gimbert; Penalties: Jules Gimbert 3.