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Boeta's drop kick hat-trick sinks Ospreys

rugby08 October 2021 20:54| © SuperSport
By:Brenden Nel
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It was a night for celebration for Cell C Sharks flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain as he landed three pinpoint drop goals to see his side to their first Vodacom United Rugby Championship victory with a 27-13 win over the Ospreys in Swansea on Friday night.


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The Sharks finally broke their URC duck with a performance that stuttered and stumbled, but found their feet when it mattered most to score two second-half tries and take control of the game.

The Ospreys, while dominant at the breakdown, found themselves on the wrong end of several handling mistakes and losing the ball in the tackle while on attack and while they troubled the visitors, they couldn’t finish much on the night.

The Sharks, however, won the aerial battle and took control of the scrums, even though they didn’t always get the reward.

But it was their ability to find the holes in the Ospreys defence that helped them get over the line for the first time in three games.

Chamberlain’s cool and calm demeanor had a lot to do with that. Alongside Ruan Pienaar they controlled the Sharks' attack and marshalled the defence so well that by late in the second half there was a clear difference between them and their opposite numbers.

And the talented No 10 showed that he could come through when he was needed.

The Ospreys had the better of the early exchanges, and quickly racked up a 6-0 lead.

But the Sharks were finding the holes as well, although their early finishing was nowhere near the standard of the competition.

They fluffed a massive try-scoring chance when Werner Kok broke through down the left-hand flank and had two players inside him, but tried to grubber the ball ahead instead of passing, and fluffed the kick in the process.

There was also a clear difference in strategy in the red zone as the first two times they got close to the posts, Chamberlain caught the defence and popped over two relatively easy drop goals to bring the Sharks level.

Neither side seemed to want to take control of the game and it headed into halftime in a deadlock.

The Sharks clearly found the benefit of the halftime talk as they started off like a rocket. Chamberlain grubbered past the rush defence for Hyron Andrews to pick up one-handed as the ball bounced perfectly and then offloaded to a flying Jeremy Ward, who was unstoppable on his way to the tryline.

While the Ospreys looked good in patches, they inevitably lost the ball in prime positions and gave the Sharks more than enough lifelines.

The Sharks took one of these as they milked a right-hand flank overlap and saw winger Marnus Potgieter take the last pass and run around to put them ahead by 12 points.

Sustained pressure kept them in the Ospreys half, and a poor goal-line kickoff was magnificently manipulated as Chamberlain fired back with a third drop goal to extend the lead.

Two late Ruan Pienaar penalties sealed the game in their favour and while Gareth Thomas scored a late try - one which the Sharks contested for a knock on and which was never conclusively settled by one television replay that was shown - it was enough to give the visitors a big victory and break their tour duck.

Scorers

Cell C Sharks - Tries:Jeremy Ward, Marnus Potgieter. Conversions:Ruan Pienaar. Penalties:Pienaar (2). Drop Goals: Boeta Chamberlain (3)

Ospreys - Try:Gareth Thomas. Conversion:Stephen Myler. Penalties: Gareth Anscombe (2)

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