When you lose your captain to a knee injury in the first half and then your star centre ends up playing the last 30 minutes as a loose-forward you can hardly say everything went to plan but the Hollywoodbets Sharks nonetheless got what they were looking for on Friday evening.
Their 29-10 win over the Ospreys in their penultimate Vodacom United Rugby Championship league game at Hollywoodbets Kings Park secured them a full of five log points which drew them level on points with the third placed Vodacom Bulls, with the Pretoria team of course having a game in hand.
More particularly, the Sharks’ win ensured that they will end the URC season in the top four, and may even be able to go higher than their current fourth if it all goes pear shaped for Glasgow Warriors in their last two league games, starting with Saturday’s clash with Benetton in Treviso. Such a result would set up the Sharks to avoid having to play fellow South African team, the DHL Stormers, in their quarterfinal at the start of June.
The Sharks needed just three log points to be sure of a top four finish and there was never really any doubt they would get the win once they moved into a 14-3 lead and put daylight between themselves and a tenacious Welsh team that, typically of teams from that nation, just wouldn’t go away and kept up a full effort right until the end.
The Sharks claim another win in their charge for a home quarter-final 💪🦈#VURC pic.twitter.com/Qff8r2GgyU
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) May 9, 2025
But the win was largely overshadowed by Eben Etzebeth going off with a potentially serious knee injury in the first half. The incident happened in the 27th minute, with the most capped Springbok sustaining a knock to the inside of his left knee. He looked in discomfort immediately as he limped down the touchline but gallantly tried to return to the field and continue the game.
It quickly became apparent that his toughness wouldn’t be enough to hide the reality that he had an injury that could not permit him to continue and the golf cart that ferries injured players who are unable to get themselves off the field was duly summoned. As if that wasn’t already a sight to send shivers of consternation through not only Sharks coach John Plumtree but also Springbok mentor Rassie Erasmus and millions of South African fans, the sight of Etzebeth watching the rest of the game on crutches would have been even more concerning.
With the playoffs set to start after next week’s final league game against the Scarlets, the immediate concern for the Sharks is that it looks likely they will go into the business end of the season without their leader and talisman. And Erasmus will be hoping that the injury is not serious enough to prevent him starting the coming international season.
INJURIES FORCED A RESHUFFLE
As Esterhuizen’s switch to flank signifies, Etzebeth’s wasn’t the only Sharks injury, with his replacement Emmanuel Tshituka, who came on as a flank so that his brother Vincent could move into the second row alongside Jason Jenkins, being forced off later in the game. The Sharks were severely disrupted and that needs to be taken into account after a game where they got their anticipated comfortable win but still never quite gave the impression they were fully hitting their straps.
You can only play as well as your opposition allows you to and the Ospreys, who were fighting for their lives as this was their last chance to stay in the race for a top eight spot, were fully committed and strong in the tackle and other contact areas.
The visitors started in promising fashion with Dan Edwards converting early pressure by kicking a penalty to put his team 3-0 up after two minutes. One area where the Sharks were good on the night was with their kicking game, and they showed their intent early as the eventual man of the match Ethan Hooker came up trumps in an early aerial contest.
Hooker was later to score an important try by profiting from another good kick from scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, but it was the carrying of the forwards that set up the two first half tries. The first came from the relentless pressure applied from good field position achieved from the penalty awarded at an eighth minute scrum, with the Ospreys, as they did for most of the match, putting in a good shove but being penalised for crabbing around the Sharks.
There were a series of pick and goes near the Ospreys line before lock Jason Jenkins, who showed up well as a ball carrier in this game, went over near the posts for the Sharks, with Siya Masuku’s conversion, to take a 7-3 lead after 10 minutes.
The Ospreys forwards played above themselves and even shaded their more highly rated opponents for much of the game, while their defensive game was excellent. However, the Sharks have been good defensively recently too, and the closest the Ospreys came to scoring a first half try was a brilliant little snip and then kick ahead and gather from scrumhalf Kieran Hardy, but unfortunately the TMO angle confirmed he had lost the ball forward after being challenged by wing Hooker as he was crossing the line.
There were errors from the Sharks, one of them a penalty aimed at the corner from Masuku that went too long and into touch in goal, but when they did get back into position to apply pressure they scored a try that was a good replica of the first one, with Esterhuizen, who featured strongly a few times in the buildup, shaking free from some attempted tackles to cross the line for his team’s second try in the 33rd minute.
The hosts led 14-3 at the break and it was still a close game at that point but when Hooker ran onto the ball after it had been spilt by the Ospreys from Hendrikse’s kick and crossed for the third try it was a long way back for the Ospreys. They did strike back with a good try to replacement hooker Sam Parry but in the 64th minute the Sharks made the game safe when some chaotic too and fro play eventually saw wing Makazole Mapimpi beat a defender down the left touchline before transferring inside for Phepsi Buthelezi to score.
The final points of the game came through a penalty in the last minute from Masuku, who interestingly handed the kicking duties to Aphelele Fassi for the Sharks’ second try, perhaps an indication that the flyhalf was carrying a slight injury. He did though reassume the goalkicking duties after that.
Scores
Hollywoodbets Sharks 29 - Tries: Jason Jenkins, Andre Esterhuizen, Ethan Hooker, Phepsi Buthelezi; Conversions: Siya Masuku 2 and Aphelele Fassi; Penalty: Siya Masuku. Ospreys 10 - Try: Sam Parry; Conversion: Dan Edwards.