The Hollywoodbets Sharks made the most of for once starting off a Vodacom URC campaign at home as they scored a comprehensive win over the Ospreys to bank a full house of log points at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday.
The Sharks have tended to make a slow start to their URC seasons but then most if not all the time they have tended to start off on the road, which has led them with ground to make up later on and put the team under pressure when they welcome back their Springboks and start playing home games.
They don’t have to worry about that this time as they will head into next week’s second game against champions Leinster, also at home, with the confidence they would have gained from an energetic, zippy performance that wasn’t without flaw but which in terms of DNA and forging an identity was a hugely positive way to start JP Pietersen’s first full season as head coach.
Indeed, during the first half, when the Sharks scored four tries and some of them were the product of an at times outrageous offload game, it sent the memory bank to work. When last did the Sharks start any season so positively? You’d probably have to go back to the last Super Rugby season before Covid arrived, when under Sean Everitt the Sharks topped the log when the suspension of play came six games into the season.
There’s a lot of youthful potential in the Sharks team and that was to the fore during that period, with the young captain Nick Hatton inspiring so much of the intensity that was forthcoming from his side. His dove-tailing with scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, who is almost a veteran in comparison with some of his teammates, was excellent, and it played a role in an excellent first try that featured dazzling offloads and both players handling twice as they attacked from deep.
Hatton rounded off for the try that coupled with young flyhalf Vusi Moyo’s excellent conversion from the touchline gave the Sharks a 7-0 lead after 12 minutes. They had been a bit rusty in those early minutes, which is understandable at the start of a new season, but had dominated possession and territory and ensured that all the pressure was on the visitors.
Nine minutes later Jurenzo Julius, known as the Boogeyman, produced another great offload and after a long flat pass from Hendrikse had found inside centre Janco Puchase to create the space it was Manu Tshituka who took an inside pass to dot down his team’s second try.
GILIOMEE’S SHARKS CAREER MAY ALREADY BE OVER
Through all of this there was one player who was particularly influential and sadly there is a negative caveat to add here - this may well have been Junior Bok Luan Giliomee’s last game for the Sharks.
His departure for the Bulls was initially set for the end of December, when his Sharks contract will expire, but it is understood that has been brought forward in terms of a swop being made between the two clubs. The Sharks have agreed to let Giliomee go early in exchange for the young hooker moving from the Bulls, Esethu Mnebelele, being immediately available to the Durbanites.
Mnebelele was the captain of the Junior Springbok team that won the Junior World Championship a few months ago so he is a valuable acquisition and a big future is expected of him.
He may well turn out to be the player who will replace Malcolm Marx at the Boks when the current World Rugby Player of the Year hangs up his boots.
But Giliomee is going to be a massive loss to the Sharks, as he showed when he ran more than half the length of the field after being put in the gap by that man Julius to score the Sharks’ third try. It was an electrifying moment and contribution from Giliomee and it was far from his only one. It was he who had the pace and nous to chase down a kick ahead that led to the Lilethile Bester try that clinched the bonus point after 36 minutes.
He did make an error by knocking on a ball that led to an Ospreys try but Giliomee was a fitting winner of the man of the match award and while we are hearing he could be moving to Pretoria as early as this week, the Sharks will be hoping he can stick around in the sub-tropics for a bit longer.
NOT ALONE IN SHINING
Not that he was the only youngster who shone for the Sharks on a day where a bright future was writ large. Given how comfortable they were it would seem churlish to labour too much on the down moments, which included a high error rate that led to nine turn-overs in the first half and then there were the four tries that were conceded.
Two of those came in the first half, one shortly before halftime to turn what had been a 28-7 lead into a 28-14 advantage at the break, and coach Pietersen would be right to expect the maul defence to be better going forward.
Then came a gift try four minutes into the second half scored by flanker Liam Wright, who scored too easily through a defensive lapse near the fringes, and suddenly the Sharks’ lead wasn’t so comfortable. They recovered though through two well taken penalties from Moyo and then came the second Giliomee try, which effectively was set up for him by the players on his inside as he dotted down in the corner.
By then Siya Masuku had replaced Moyo at flyhalf and he followed up the starting player’s good kicking form by converting well from touch. The Ospreys grabbed a late try to fullback Iestyn Hopkins to clinch his team the consolation of a four try bonus point that shouldn’t really have come their way given the way the Sharks dominated possession and territory.
Scores
Hollywoodbets Sharks 41 - Tries: Nick Hatton, Manu Tshituka, Luan Giliomee and Litehile Bester; Conversions: Vusi Moyo 4 and Siya Masuku; Penalties: Vusi Moyo 2. Ospreys 24 - Tries: Luke Morgan, Sam Parry, Liam Wright and Iestyn Hopkins; Conversions: Lawson Creighton 2.