Cape Town — Sharks coach Sean Everitt was concerned when scrumhalf Grant Williams was sent off in the final quarter, but he praised his team for showing great resolve to close out a 29-22 United Rugby Championship victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.
The Durban side grabbed a bonus point for scoring four tries and got back on track after drawing and losing against the Stormers over the last two weeks.
But they made heavy weather of getting past the Bulls, who lost flyhalf Morné Steyn to a red card in the 11th minute for a late and dangerous tackle on Sharks captain Lukhanyo Am.
They were leading comfortably at 26-12 around the hour mark and with the bonus point in the bag when Williams was also red-carded — for leading with the head and making contact with Bulls pivot Chris Smith’s face — and it provided an opportunity for the home side to loosen the shackles and give it everything they had in the final quarter.
They nearly pulled off the impossible, with tries by Simphiwe Matanzima and Madosh Tambwe bringing them within reach at 26-22. But replacement flyhalf Curwin Bosch sealed the victory with a penalty after the hooter.
“When Grant went off and the score at 26-12, we knew that it’s never done — we found that out at Kings Park a couple of weeks ago. That’s when you need to be accurate in your execution of your set-piece. And those two lineouts unfortunately, between the two 10s (10-metre lines), that put us under the pump, definitely,” Everitt said in the post-match press conference.
“And those were errors of ours, so we probably could’ve put it away. We know when the logs are so closely contested, every point counts. So, the try that the Bulls scored obviously allowed them the bonus point.
“I’ve been in teams that have played with 14 men — and sometimes less — and have won. So, we knew that teams are often motivated by the fact that they go one down. I think the problem for us was that when we had that numerical advantage, our discipline let us down. So, we didn’t capitalise on the advantage that we should’ve got.
“In saying that, we were also with 14 men for 30 minutes too, so that doesn’t help matters when you’ve got that opportunity in the game. But credit to our guys — they really defended well, and the Bulls coming back at us in the last 10 minutes just shows how they proud they are playing here at Loftus.”
Bulls coach Jake White bemoaned the fact that his team were unable to complete a thrilling comeback following Steyn’s departure, but was delighted with the fighting spirit shown by his players.
“I just said to the players now, it’s never nice to lose, and you don’t feel good about it. But there’s a lot to feel positive about from that game. If you lose your flyhalf, your quarterback, with 65 minutes left to go — and then you still score four tries against a team that has about eight or nine incumbent Springboks, that probably is the best team that is available in South Africa…” White said.
“There’s a lot of pleasing things there. The result is not what we want, but you can’t question their commitment and their character. The reality is, I thought we were all over them, but the game is about playing for 80 minutes and 15 guys on the field, and we probably let ourselves down by not doing that.”
All four South African teams will get a week off, before they all travel north for matches on the following weekend.
The Bulls will travel to Italy to face Zebre on February 25, while the Lions will take on Irish giants Leinster in Dublin on the same day.
The Sharks will also be in Italy for their clash against Benetton in Treviso on February 26, and the Stormers will look to continue their good run of form against Connacht in Galway on the same day.
Points-Scorers
Bulls 22 – Tries: Cornal Hendricks, Marcell Coetzee, Simphiwe Matanzima, Madosh Tambwe. Conversion: Chris Smith (1).
Sharks 29 – Tries: Henco Venter, Bongi Mbonambi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi. Conversions: Tito Bonilla (2), Curwin Bosch (1). Penalty: Bosch (1).
IOL Sport