The sight of Makazole Mapimpi getting ball and using his pace to bedazzle opposition is something that Cell C Sharks supporters have been yearning for and their wish was granted in their team’s impressive but eventful 39-31 win over Harlequins in their Heineken Champions Cup debut.
The eventful part was the appearance in the first Champions Cup game to be played on South African soil of the modern rugby idiocy of red cards being shown for what was effectively an accidental clash of heads.
Bok prop Ox Nche was the man banished just before the hour mark, when the Sharks were leading 29-14, and with Bongi Mbonambi off with a yellow at the same time, it led to a momentum shift.
For a while it looked like his former Sharks teammate Andre Esterhuizen might beat Mapimpi to the man of the match award as his brace of tries, and his role in creating a second for Josh Bassett, brought the London team firmly back into the game.
Indeed, had Will Edwards had his kicking boots on, Harlequins would have gone into the lead after Bassett’s second try minutes from the end.
Instead though it was the Sharks who put together a superb handling movement that sent in fullback Boeta Chamberlain in for the try to seal a deserved bonus-point victory. And so, cue Mapimpi, who effectively set it up or the Sharks in the first half.
It is hard to play ball in hand rugby at the Sharks’ home ground of HollwoodBets Kings Park in the summer months due to the humidity, and it was some of the Springboks in the Sharks pack that were responsible for the platform that Mapimpi was able to exploit at the back.
Eben Etzebeth, playing his second game for his new team, made life difficult for Harlequins in the lineout and was prominent in the tight loose, while Nche and Mbonambi were prominent in a dominant scrumming performance.
Not that the role of a player who has yet to be capped for the Boks, Carlu Sadie, in that scrum dominance should go without mention either. He subjected experienced England front-row forward to a torrid afternoon.
But it was Mapimpi who put his name in lights with two first half tries that gave his team the initiative after they had fallen behind in the sixth minute after a series of penalties and Harlequins forward drives near the Sharks’ line eventually saw the ball spun wide courtesy of a long pass for left wing Josh Bassett to go over.
Jayden Hendrikse to Makazole Mapimpi ?? Poetry in Motion ??
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) December 10, 2022
?? The Cell C Sharks lead by 1??5??
?? Stream the #HeinekenChampionsCup live: https://t.co/0BMWdennut pic.twitter.com/A9AGur560g
Italy flyhalf Tommasso Allan, the nephew of former Bok and Scotland hooker John Allan, kicked the angled conversion, but for most of the next 30 minutes it was all the Sharks when it came to scoring.
ENTERTAINING AND TENSE GAME
Mbonambi was the first to dot down as the Sharks got their driving maul going in the 12th minute, with Bosch’s conversion making it 7-all and then the flyhalf kicked a penalty to put his team three points ahead.
The Sharks looked incisive when they ran the ball and a deft sweep to the left sent Mapimpi free down the left flank.
When he was tackled the ball was transferred back infield and it was Mapimpi who popped up again to swerve his way through the Quins defenders to reach out and dot down next to the post after a Quins tackle attempt couldn’t quite stop his momentum.
The Sharks by then were winning a series of scrum penalties, and it was when they were on penalty advantage near the Quins line that a brilliant backwards pop pass from scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse sent Mapimpi over untouched in the left corner to propel the Sharks into a 22-7 lead.
Let it be said that the Sharks field position for that scrum came about because of Mapimpi’s chase of a rolling ball down the left touchline that saw him force the error from Quins beyond their own tryline.
It was that kind of prominence on attack from Mapimpi that caught the eye, it wasn’t just about him scoring.
Our first ever #HeinekenChampionsCup Star of the match ?? #FearTheFin #SHAvHAR pic.twitter.com/3LsrUiZyH9
— The Sharks (@SharksRugby) December 10, 2022
Although beaten at forward, one aspect of the Quins game that did work for them though was their territory game, which they pretty much controlled in the early parts and then later parts of the first half.
So the visitors were able to keep themselves in the game with a driving maul try dotted down by Will Evans and made a hash of an easy scoring opportunity right at the end of the half that would have made it a one point game rather than a 22-14 advantage to the Sharks at halftime.
But the Sharks continued to apply forward pressure after halftime though it was great kick ahead from near the halfway line and then excellent chase of his own kick from the Sharks’ other wing, Werner Kok, that re-established the 15 point gap between the teams in the 52nd minute.
It was a good thing he scored it too, or the red card would have been the talking point after an entertaining and tense game that was a fitting start to Champions Cup rugby in South Africa.
But for that card, of course, rugby’s rulers are really going to have to wake up and do something to stop the complete idiocy that is blighting the game.
Rugby is a contact sport, there will be the odd clash of heads. If you don’t like it, don’t sign up for it!
Scores
Cell C Sharks 39 - Tries:Bongi Mbonambi, Makazole Mapimpi 2, Werner Kok and Boeta Chamberlain; Conversions:Curwin Bosch 4; Penalty:Curwin Bosch.
Harlequins 31 - Tries:Josh Bassett 2, Will Evans and Andre Esterhuizen 2; Conversions:Tommasso Allan 2 and Will Edwards.