The Hollywoodbets Sharks have made a habit of getting themselves out of jail and winning games they look destined to lose but it didn’t work for them in Treviso as hosts Benetton scored a surprisingly comprehensive 38-10 Vodacom United Rugby Championship win.
For Benetton it was a much needed first win of what has been a disappointing season thus far, with former Sharks fullback Rhyno Smith scoring a brace of tries as the hosts followed up their unexpected win in Durban earlier this year with an even more emphatic one this time.
Their four tries ensured a full house of five log points.
It was the second defeat in three games for the Sharks and coach John Plumtree won’t be satisfied with that as his team returns home now for two tough games against the most recent URC champions, Glasgow Warriors and Munster, respectively at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.
At least the game should have made Plumtree's mind i[ over one thing - there shouldn’t be any questioning of the selection for the Warriors game, with most of the phalanx of returning Springboks likely now to front the Scottish team.
A sizable proportion of the team that played in Treviso might have been pressed into continuing for the sake of continuity had they won this game, with the returning Boks being assimilated back into the Sharks’ system off the bench.
But the Sharks team beaten by Treviso looked like a side that might be feeling the effects of a particularly tough and draining start to the season which has effectively meant six hard successive games, starting with the last Carling Currie Cup league game against the Vodacom Bulls, then the two domestic playoff games before the three URC tour games.
They started sharply enough, certainly sharper than against the Dragons the previous week, and although Benetton got the first points on the board through a Jacob Umaga penalty, the Sharks looked the stronger of the two teams for the first 20 minutes.
Siya Masuku levelled the scores at 3-all in the 17th minute as the Sharks gained some go forward that unfortunately for them they just couldn’t turn into five pointers.
OVERTHROWN LINEOUTS AND POOR DEFENDING
It quickly became apparent though that the Sharks were having trouble defending the wide channels, and the Durban team’s defensive system was too bunched as a skip pass sent in Benetton’s England born Italian international wing Paolo Odogwu in the 24th minute.
It could almost have been described as a 14 point swing, as just before that the Sharks were on the attack with a throw-in at a lineout inside the Benetton 22.
Indeed, there were two of those, with Benetton’s third try coming about after a quick throw-in from a 50/22 that started with a Sharks overthrow at a lineout on the Benetton line.
Benetton had suffered three successive defeats and although they were short of their full complement because of injuries, they were clearly up for the game, with their desperation no doubt driving their strong defensive effort.
There was some excellent scrambling defence responsible for thwarting some promising Sharks buildups.
As the first half wore on, Benetton started to become more dominant in the contact situations.
Another area where Benetton might have surprised the visitors was in the set-scrums.
Benetton were without no less than six front row players because of injury, and the Sharks were expected to dominate the phase, but that dominance wasn’t forthcoming.
However, the hosts were also really good with ball in hand, and made far better use of their opportunities than the visitors did.
Their attacking flair coupled with the Sharks’ porousness on defence was responsible for the second Benetton try, which saw former Sharks player Rhyno Smith cross off some excellent handling from flyhalf Umaga and some incisive running through the ineffectual tackle attempts in the 29th minute.
The three Benetton tries were all converted by Umaga, so the hosts took a comfortable 24-3 lead into the break.
Given the Sharks’ penchant so far this season of fighting back from impossible positions, it wasn’t a case of the Sharks being out of the game yet.
Apart from their own comeback from a 17 point deficit against Dragons last week, they themselves squandered a 20 point lead against Connacht in their opening game in Galway seven days before that.
DIDN’T CONVERT THIRD QUARTER DOMINANCE INTO POINTS
And for most of the third quarter they dominated possession and territory. That was the cue though for Benetton to tighten their swarming defensive effort even further, and in the face of the pressure the Sharks just made too many errors.
Time and again the Sharks built up near the Benetton line only for them to cough up possession and as the frustration grew so did the error rate.
It was left to Benetton to deliver the coup de grace through a great running line from fullback Smith who clinched the bonus point try in completing his brace.
At 31-3 and just over 10 minutes to play it was clear there’d be no Houdini act from the Sharks this time and the Sharks looked thoroughly beaten and dejected when Leonardo Marlin crossed for the fifth try to complete the rout three minutes from the end.
The Sharks did score the last try of the game, with Ntuthuko Mchunu dotting down against a Benetton team by then reduced to 14 men by a yellow card, but unlike Fez Mbatha’s try at the same stage of the Dragons game and in a similar position, this time it didn’t count for anything other than a slight measure of pride on a day where the Sharks can consider themselves to have been delivered a wake-up call.
Mchunu busts his way over đź’Ą
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 12, 2024
But it is a commanding win for Benetton over the Hollywoodbets Sharks 🟢🏉#VURC pic.twitter.com/joznOWolA8
Scores
Benetton 38 - Tries: Paolo Odogwu, Rhyno Smith 2, Ignacio Mendy and Leonardo Marin; Conversions: Jacob Umaga 5; Penalty: Jacob Umaga.
Hollywoodbets Sharks 10 - Try: Ntuthuko Mchunu; Conversion: Lionel Cronje; Penalty: Siya Masuku.