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Am’s brace puts Sharks on path to big win

rugby09 December 2023 17:30
By:Gavin Rich
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The one Hollywoodbets Sharks player to emerge from last week’s trip to Pretoria with credit was Lukhanyo Am and it was the Springbok centre who provided the early touches on Saturday that set up his team’s comfortable and morale boosting 45-5 victory over Pau in their opening Investec Challenge Cup match in Durban.

Given that it was in two wet weather games that the Sharks suffered two of their most significant home defeats in recent times, against Edinburgh the season before last and then Cardiff in the game that cost Sean Everitt his job in 2022/23, there might have been some misgivings from their supporters when the clouds rolled in and then it started raining.

But this time the Sharks got the wet weather game right, ensuring that they set up a strong territorial bridgehead first before trying any fancy stuff.

As one would anticipate in the conditions, the first minutes were fairly error ridden, but after that the Sharks held onto the ball well and also played a good tactical game to keep the French team in their own territory.

The upshot was that the pressure exerted by the hosts, and their willingness to be precise and patient in carrying the ball in the right areas of the field, saw the Sharks systematically wear down their opponents and then take control.

AM CONVERTED TERRITORY INTO POINTS

And it was Am who ensured the early territory advantage was turned into points.

The match was nine minutes old when Springbok World Cup hero Ox Nche bashed the ball up towards the Pau line before it was released to Am, who went over between the posts untouched.

Let it be said that Pau were significantly understrength for this game in the second tier European competition, with only four players who played the Sharks having played against Toulon in the Top 14 the previous week.

There were no less than nine 19-year-olds in the playing group and it was one of those, left wing Gregoire Arfeuil, who would have had his confidence boosted when he ran onto a kick ahead in the left corner to score a good try.

It came off a buildup that appeared to shock the Sharks with the attacking prowess that was shown, but it was to be the last high note for a Pau team that was decidedly inexperienced and would have gained something from having played against the likes of Eben Etzebeth, Nche and Am and having had a few minutes of good competitiveness here and there.

There certainly wasn’t much between the teams on the scoreboard before a good buildup through the phases led to Am’s second try as he slid across the wet grass to dot down, but when Curwin Bosch almost immediately atoned for a penalty miss, where he hit the post with his only kick that wasn’t successful, but kicking one from almost the same position a few minutes later, there was 12 points between the teams.

EBEN ALSO GOT TWO

Lock Eben Etzebeth, the official Man of the Match, then drove over on the stroke of halftime to make it a 19 point game (24-5) at the break and then a minute into the second half wing Marnus Potgieter rounded off what was a good backline attack in the conditions to clinch the bonus point and effectively put the result beyond doubt at 31-5.

Etzebeth matched his Bok teammate Am by scoring his own try- scoring brace before being replaced, but his leaving the field was not before he would have given young Corne Rahl the invaluable experience of having partnered the double World Cup-winner in a winning effort.

No-one will be fooled into thinking it was a win that was deserving of too much euphoria, for Pau were under-strength, but in a season that has seen only two positive results from eight starts so far it will be an important confidence booster as they look to use the Challenge Cup to regroup and start to build the team ethos that their coach felt was missing at Loftus seven days ago.

Six tries in the first 50 minutes wasn’t a bad effort either in such miserably wet conditions and the fact they never bothered the scoreboard operators after that shouldn’t really be a concern as the game was done and dusted long before then.

Scores

Hollywoodbets Sharks 45 - Tries: Lukhanyo Am 2, Eben Etzebeth 2, Marnus Potgieter, Makazole Mapimpi; Conversions: Curwin Bosch 6; Penalty: Curwin Bosch.

Pau 5 - Try: Gregoire Arfeuil

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