It is a rare thing that a crowd gives the visiting captain a standing ovation when he leaves the field but Duane Vermeulen richly deserved it on an afternoon where he was hugely influential in his team Ulster’s 31-24 Vodacom United Rugby Championship win over the Cell C Sharks in Durban.
The Sharks dominated possession and forced their opponents to make twice as many tackles on a humid afternoon at HollywoodBets Kings Park that really should have advantaged them. However, apart from the Sharks lacking the same degree of efficiency as their opponents and occasionally looking disorganised, the telling statistic was the turn-overs.
That column showed four times as many turnovers conceded by the Sharks (20) to those conceded by Ulster (5) and that was where the game was won and lost. And Vermeulen, who himself affected a crucial turnover penalty before halftime and was always prominent in the physical aspects of the game, showed that he remains a legendary player.
Werner Kok ??
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) February 25, 2023
MASSIVE hand-off from the Cell C Sharks winger to send Boeta Chamberlain through!
Seven points in it with 10 to play.. pic.twitter.com/T1GKI4IM7d
The two teams shared the try count at four each, but the difference on the scoreboard was the penalty kicked by Ulster’s excellent scrumhalf John Cooney, and what a game he had as Ulster’s general in allround play, as well as the fact he was on target with all four conversion attempts whereas the Sharks’ Curwin Bosch missed two.
ULSTER BACK IN THE RACE
The upshot is that Ulster garnered five log points for the win, and they now move within five of the second-placed Stormers after the same number of games. Suddenly next week’s game against the Sharks at DHL Stadium in Cape Town takes on extra significance for the Stormers, who have an extremely tough away trip to Leinster coming after that. The Sharks managed two log points and hold onto their position in the top seven, which they were always going to do given that none of the other teams were playing this weekend.
They will be disappointed though that they didn’t move up the log, as they could have done, and remain in danger of missing out on Heineken Champions Cup qualification. The Vodacom Bulls, with aspirations on a place in the top four, would also be disappointed that Ulster have now opened up quite a significant gap on them.
WILLIAMS’ BRILLIANT START
It didn’t look like it would turn out that way when Grant Williams crossed for a brilliant Sharks try in just the second minute. There are few quicker players on the rugby field than Williams, and once he’d sliced through a half gap from a loose scrum about 30 metres out, there was going to be no stopping him.
Unfortunately for the Sharks, Bosch was unable to convert, so when Cooney kicked a 19th-minute penalty and then added a conversion to replacement hooker Tom Stewart’s first of two driving maul tries four minutes later, the visitors were into a 10-5 lead.
Boeta Chamberlain might have been close to being the Sharks’ man of the match at fullback, and it was his excellent crosskick that sent wing Thaakir Abrahams in for a try that regained the lead for the hosts. This time Bosch converted and it was 12-10 to the Sharks after 29 minutes.
One of the Achilles heels on the day for the Sharks was their ineffectualness in the maul, with Ulster, Vermeulen again big in that phase, being the opposite. Ulster's second try was scored way too easily, with the Irish side marching the Sharks back many metres from a lineout before dotting down for Stewart’s second try.
CONTROVERSIAL TRY BUT PROBABLY RIGHT CALL
That made it 17-12 to Ulster and that was the halftime score. Perhaps the real clincher for Ulster was the try scored three minutes into the second half, one that should have been hotly disputed although referees would argue otherwise - and they’d perhaps have a point.
Ulster had started the half strongly but Dylan Richardson looked like he had saved the situation for the Sharks by producing a rare turnover for his team. But with Williams set on his own tryline to prepare for the box kick, Ulster centre Stuart Moore came through and dived on the ball. After consultation with the TMO, the try was awarded.
South Africans might argue in the Sharks’ defence that Williams had grounded the ball on the line, but this appears an instance where the referee gets to read intent. Williams clearly wasn’t dotting the ball down, that would have been crazy given that it would have meant conceding the put-in to Ulster at a five-metre scrum. So the try was awarded on that basis and Cooney kicked the conversion to make it a 12-point game.
A narrow defeat for the Cell C Sharks at home ?? pic.twitter.com/u1b7fI6Ut8
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) February 25, 2023
It was always going to be difficult for the Sharks to chase the game from there, and so it proved, but they did make a good fist of it, with first a try from Ntuthuko Mchunu and then Chamberlain, that one an outstanding counter-attack, bringing the Sharks back. But in between those, there was a good try to young Ulster lock Harry Sheridan and that was enough to keep Ulster ahead.
Scores
Ulster 31 - Tries:Tom Stewart 2, Stuart Moore and Harry Sheridan; Conversions: John Cooney 4; Penalty:John Cooney.
Cell C Sharks 24 - Scores:Grant Williams, Thaakir Abrahams, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Boeta Chamberlain; Conversions:Curwin Bosch 2.