Fassi X-factor gets Sharks out of jail against Scarlets

The Cell C Sharks began the new era of home matches against overseas opponents with a 37-20 victory over the Scarlets in their Vodacom United Rugby clash at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Friday night.

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The Sharks scored four tries, one of them a penalty try, in the last half hour of the game to turn around what had been a difficult situation for them.

The hosts were chasing the game for most of the first hour, and frankly lucky to be in touch on the scoreboard, against a team that will consider itself unlucky not to have gone well ahead in the first half.

The win will boost the Sharks’ confidence and will keep them on top of the South African Shield and in the top half of the log for at least another week.

But they might have been looking at a very different scenario were it not for the X-factor of fullback Aphelele Fassi that turned the game in their favour in the second half and hid some glaring deficiencies in a team on paper at least should be capable of much better.

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— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) March 11, 2022

Fassi produced several good moments but the pivotal one was when he pounced on a loose ball and ran half the length of the field to score a try that levelled the scores at 16-all in the second half.

From a morale viewpoint, that score appeared to boost the Sharks and kill off what had until then been a spirited and strong challenge from the visitors from the Welsh town of Llanelli.

After that it was the Sharks who had the energy and, not surprisingly, it was the visitors from the northern hemisphere that flagged in the sub-tropical heat and humidity.

The Sharks took advantage by crossing for their fourth try to Marius Louw five minutes after the hooter had sounded to secure a bonus point that could prove crucial in the weeks to come.

MISSED CHANCES

Unsurprisingly, the Sharks had dominance in the set scrums, and they got reward for their dominance later in the game, with a penalty try from a scrum following the Curwin Bosch try off a charge down that gave the Sharks the lead for the first time in the game in the 62nd minute.

A later Bosch penalty put the Sharks 10 points ahead before the penalty try came and forced the Scarlets to play with 14 men because of the resultant yellow card to a front row forward.

The end margin of 17 points certainly wasn’t a fair reflection of the game from the Scarlets' viewpoint, and they will spend the day after the game lamenting the narrow misses they experienced in the first half which were the rugby equivalent of soccer’s hitting the woodwork (goalpost).

The first was early in the game where that man Fassi, a deserved recipient of the official Man of the Match Award if ever there was one, got to the touchdown with his finger only a millisecond ahead of Scarlets flyhalf Sam Castelow, who you could argue had more clear downward pressure on the ball.

Then later in the first half wing Stef Evans looked like he was over for a try after a good line break from centre Scott Williams but the TMO correctly adjudged that his boot had nudged the touchline before his spectacular dive.

If the Scarlets missed chances in the first half so did the Sharks, with Bosch missing two kickable penalties and then a much more difficult one later on.

If Bosch isn’t going to kick his goals it is difficult to justify his place in the Sharks team for frankly, although he did seem to be a bit more confident taking on opponents later in the match, his general play is just not up to it.

It might be remiss to blame the Sharks’ dysfunction in their attacking game entirely on Bosch, but his tendency to stand in the pocket just makes it difficult for the players around him to get themselves into the game and to be a factor on attack.

As his team notched a bonus point win, Sharks coach Sean Everitt will doubtless see it as mission accomplished, but he would be doing himself and his team a disservice if he pronounced himself happy with the overall performance against a visiting team missing several key players to Welsh Six Nations duty.

SCORERS

Cell C Sharks 37 - Tries: Aphelele Fassi, Curwin Bosch and Marius Louw; Penalty try; Conversions: Curwin Bosch 2 and Tito Bonilla; Penalties: Curwin Bosch 3.

Scarlets 20 - Tries: Aaron Shingler and Stef Evans; Conversions: Sam Costelow and Dan Jones; Penalties: Sam Costelow.