Ken Borland

The Pumas, as a team, were a bit like the family that rushes to the airport, getting through gridlocked traffic, and then misses their flight because they lost their boarding passes, as they went down 19-42 to the Sharks in Nelspruit on Saturday.

The scoreline makes it seem like one-way traffic in favour of the Sharks, but in truth they found themselves in a real battle, especially in the second half, and it was only their clinical finishing that saw them win by a comfortable margin on the scoreboard.

But the Pumas made life very difficult for them, certainly giving as good as they got in the tight exchanges. But where the Pumas let themselves down was inside the Sharks 22, where they turned over the ball on numerous occasions. What was particularly frustrating was the number of penalties kicked to touch to set up an attacking lineout, but then the throw would fly off wildly or be dropped by one of the forwards.

In contrast, the Sharks maul was a soaring success, powering its way over for three of the Sharks’ six tries.

Having now played on successive weekends, there was always the likelihood of the Sharks finding better cohesion and rhythm, and when they did escape the tight forward exchanges and were able to find some space, their attacking play was impressive.

They settled their nerves with a try in the second minute, fullback Manie Libbok supporting a strong run by centre Marius Louw to score, and wing Madosh Tambwe scored probably the try of the game as he ran crossfield at first but then spotted a big gap in the Pumas defence and cruised through to go over from the halfway line.

The Sharks led 28-7 at the break thanks to hooker Dan Jooste scoring from a maul and Springbok wing Sbu Nkosi unsurprisingly getting on the scoresheet after an extraordinary, long pass from flyhalf Curwin Bosch that went behind the Pumas defensive line but curled its way back into the powerful World Cup winner’s hands.

Thanks to their efficiency in taking their chances, the Sharks always looked likely winners from there on, although they did have to weather a typical Pumas comeback.

The home side grabbed the first try of the second half through a superbly-worked move involving wing Neil Maritz and fullback Devon Williams, with outside centre Erich Cronje up in support to grab the first of his two tries, the second coming from a long pass straight from the base of a ruck by scrumhalf Ginter Smuts.

The Sharks had to absorb long periods of pressure inside their 22, but Pumas mistakes allowed them to break free and replacement hooker Kerron van Vuuren scored twice from rolling mauls to ensure a bonus point win.

Scorers

Sharks – Tries: Manie Libbok, Madosh Tambwe, Dan Jooste, Sbu Nkosi, Kerron van Vuuren (2). Conversions: Curwin Bosch (6).

Pumas – Tries: Francois Kleinhans, Erich Cronje (2). Conversions: Theo Boshoff (2).