The Hollywoodbets Sharks’ growing trend of finding a way to win when defeat seemed almost inevitable was back with them at Rodney Parade in Newport as Fez Mbatha crossed for a try four minutes into injury time to clinch a crucial 33-30 Vodacom United Rugby Championship victory.
In the playoff stages of the Carling Currie Cup the Sharks started to make a habit of went in the opposite direction last season, when far too often they somehow found a way to lose a game they should have won. In the semi-final against the Vodacom Bulls, they got through with only 12 men on the field and went to 100 minutes, while in the final it was a monumental Jordan Hendrikse penalty that swung it.
This time you could say that just like Dick King and Ndogeni did by going on horseback from what is now Durban to Grahamstown when the garrison at what was then Port Natal was under siege centuries ago, this time it was Jurenzo Julius who saved the KwaZulu/Natalians.
Faced with a 17-point deficit after another of those now customary slow starts, it was Julius who stepped up first to set up the try scored on the stroke of halftime that brought the Sharks back into the game with an important on the hooter psychological blow. Julius, always the rapier while big Andre Esterhuizen provided the broadsword, wriggled through a gap and then some thrilling interplay between Esterhuizen and Hooker near the touchline cutting inside created the extra man position for scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse to score.
Then five minutes into the second half it was Julius himself who slammed the ball down for a try which frankly the TMO took far too long to confirm. That he’d got the ball down should have been obvious after the first viewing, it didn’t require several takes, and ditto the last try, when Mbatha dotted down to win the game after the Sharks had showed impressive patience in the buildup.
JULIUS’ CONTRIBUTION WAS CRUCIAL
The Sharks’ reserve hooker though would never have been in position had it not been for Julius’ contributions before and after halftime. The Sharks did look like they were trying hard to find a way to lose after the Sharks finally took the lead in the game for the first time when a pinpoint cross kick bounced perfectly for Ethan Hooker in the 48th minute.
Siya Masuku’s conversion had put the Sharks into a 26-20 lead, and they looked like they were taking control, but then lock Jason Jenkins was carded for a deliberate knock-down (the referee allowed the Dragons to get away with a blatant similar indiscretion in the first half) and it changed the game.
Suddenly the Dragons had a second wind, and no sooner had Jenkins been banished from the field than Ben Carter capitalised on the go-forward his team had gained against a Sharks defensive system on the back foot by barging over in the 56th minute to reclaim the lead for the hosts.
Replacement flyhalf Will Reed missed the conversion but was on target with a penalty kick two minutes later to make it 30-26 to Dragons with 22 minutes to go. Fortunately for the Sharks, Reed then missed a kickable penalty that would have made it a seven point game, which would have made it so much tougher.
SHOWED GREAT PATIENCE
However, needing a try to win, the Sharks maintained their patience through a concerted period of sustained pressure which really should have seen a yellow card shown to the Dragons by referee Andrew Brace. Instead, after a stream of penalties that ran up in numbers in quick succession Brace left it to what was effectively the last move of the game to issue a warning.
The Sharks made what could be considered an odd decision to take a scrum at a penalty near the Dragons line after the hooter. They’d just gone for two lineouts which were stopped by the Dragons illegally driving earlier and being penalised. With the new laws in place prohibiting a scrum off a tap penalty for early engagement, that’s exactly what then happened.
The Sharks couldn’t scrum again, which is the problem with that law change, but they did keep the ball alive through many phases and eventually that patience and ball retention paid off when, ironically, a Dragons knock-on provided the space for the momentum which propelled the Sharks over for the try.
Earlier in the game they’d looked in big trouble as the tigerish Dragons played above themselves and the Sharks’ indiscipline let them down, with starting flyhalf Lloyd Evans making up for a really early miss by slotting a penalty in the third minute. James Venter was yellow carded for a high tackle, and it was while he was off the field that the Dragons’ most impressive player, the flanker Taine Basham, crashed over for their first try.
The 10-0 lead became 10-5 when the Sharks decided against kicking a penalty from in front of the posts and were rewarded when skipper Vincent Tshituka went. Masuku should have kicked the conversion but missed, so when the Dragons added tries to prop Chris Coleman and scrumhalf Rhodri Williams, they propelled themselves into a 17-point lead.
The Sharks were in a hole at that point, and this time last season they wouldn’t have extricated themselves from it. But times have changed, and it was their team culture and refusal to die as much as anything else that allowed them to avert calamity.
SCORES
Hollywoodbets Sharks 33 - Tries: Vincent Tshituka, Jaden Hendrikse, Jurenzo Julius, Ethan Hooker and Fez Mbatha; Conversions: Siya Masuku 4.
Dragons 30 - Tries: Taine Basham, Chris Coleman, Rhodri Williams and Ben Carter; Conversions: Lloyd Evans 2; Penalties: Lloyd Evans and Will Reed.