Sharks battle past Griffons in Welkom

The Cell C Sharks overturned a halftime deficit to beat the NovaVit Griffons 35-9 in a Currie Cup clash at Down Touch Investments Stadium in Welkom on Friday afternoon.

Lady luck definitely smiled on the visitors during the first half as Lionel Cronje scored the easiest try of his career.

The Griffons paid the price for throwing the ball around on their own goal line to allow Cronje to dot down in the 32nd minute. It put the Sharks in front for the first time in the contest.

Before that, the home team were clinical and knocked over two penalties through the reliable boot of Jaywinn Juries. He had the last say of the first half as well as he put the Griffons back in front with his third penalty of the day.

The halftime break did the Sharks the world of good as they scored two quick tries to put some distance between themselves. First Yaw Penxe scored and then the Sharks made it two tries within five minutes as eighthman Mpilo Gumede dived over.

The Sharks suddenly found themselves 21-9 ahead after 45 minutes.

The match was a scrappy affair with both sides guilty of far too many transgressions. It slowed the scoring before burly prop Ntuthukho Mchunu added his name to the scoresheet in the 62nd minute and earned the visitors their bonus-point try in the process.

The Sharks enjoyed total domination as the Griffons ran out of steam.

Nevaldo Fleurs completed the excellent second half as he broke through the defense to score the fifth try for the Sharks with the final move of the game.

Cronje added the extras to keep his conversion rate at 100 per cent for the fixture.

SCORES: NovaVit Griffons
Penalties: Jaywinn Juries (3)

Cell C Sharks

Tries: Lionel Cronje, Yaw Penxe, Mpilo Gumede, Ntuthukho Mchunu and Nevaldo Fleur. Conversions: Lionel Cronje (5)