Ken Borland

The Sharks motored into a 12-0 lead after just 16 minutes, thanks to rapid recycles of the ball and tremendous direct rugby, but they then spluttered and allowed the Lions back into the game before eventually running rampant from the hour mark to win 37-10 in their United Rugby Championship match at Kings Park on Friday evening.

It was all smooth sailing for the Sharks at the start of the derby and, in the ninth minute, they kept possession through nine phases, after a strong carry by eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi, going right and then left before inside centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg broke the defensive line and passed inside for wing Makazole Mapimpi to score.

With 67% possession in the first half, the Sharks were soon back on attack and, after bashing away on the line against the stout Lions defence, they went wide, two short loop passes being followed by fullback Boeta Chamberlain knifing through for the try.

But the shift in momentum perhaps came straight afterwards as flank Jeandre Labuschagne misjudged the restart, dropping the ball, and Lions wing Edwill van der Merwe was on hand to kick through and score the try.

The Lions gained belief to go with their tireless efforts on defence, and despite making just 35 tackles to the visitors’ 105 in the first half, the Sharks went into halftime just 12-7 up.

Flyhalves Curwin Bosch and Jordan Hendrikse traded scrum penalties in the first six minutes of the second half, but the Sharks eventually showed why they were top of the log in southern hemisphere competition when SuperRugby was killed by Covid and remain one of the most highly-rated teams in Europe.

The turnaround came out of the blue as Chamberlain charged down a clearance by Lions fullback Andries Coetzee, centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg gathered and his pop pass found just the right player in scrumhalf Grant Williams, whose sheer speed from just outside the 22 made his try impossible to stop.

Having defended so much, perhaps fatigue set in for the Lions in the final quarter and they began to make basic errors. Centre Marius Louw strayed in front of the kicker, Jaden Hendrikse took a quick tap for the Sharks, Sikhumbuzo Notshe burst clear and Siya Kolisi rounded off the try.

The ever-busy Mapimpi then kicked through a dropped ball in the Lions backline, his second kick being a touch of Messi-like class, as he grabbed his second try at the death.

Scorers

Sharks – Tries: Makazole Mapimpi (2), Boeta Chamberlain, Grant Williams, Siya Kolisi. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (2), Jaden Hendrikse. Penalties: Bosch, Lionel Cronje.

Lions – Try: Edwill van der Merwe. Conversion: Jordan Hendrikse. Penalty: Hendrikse.

The more exotic skills of Sikhumbuzo Notshe will be up against the more physical, direct talents of Duane Vermeulen in SuperFan Saturday at Loftus Versfeld, and the Sharks eighthman is looking forward to taking on a man he considers his role-model.

Notshe, born in King Williams Town, came through the youth ranks at Western Province and spent three seasons from 2013-2015 playing with Vermeulen at the Stormers before the Springbok hero left for France. The Bulls v Sharks match on Saturday is going to be a real clash of styles, and the personal battle at eighthman exemplifies that.

“You always want to play against the very best and I will approach Saturday as just another challenge. But when I joined the Stormers, I learnt so much from Duane in terms of jumping and mauling. I’m coming up against my role-model, he taught me the ropes in professional rugby, so I look forward to that. But the most important thing is to worry about my team first and not my individual performance,” Notshe said.

“We need to focus on our game-plan and on ourselves, we want to play the Sharks brand of rugby, with urgency and speed. We are a team that strives for performance and we don’t worry about results as much. If we perform well then we will get the result regardless. We just want to play to the best of our abilities and tick our boxes, and we’re excited about this weekend.”

New Sharks coach Sean Everitt’s approach has been less woes than predecessor Robert du Preez and his young team responded superbly, Notshe being one of several talents to bloom as they soared to the top of the overall Super Rugby table with six wins in seven matches before Covid-19 ended the season. The team culture has been outstanding, with Everitt focusing on transformation and diversity, and his ‘pets’ had built up tremendous momentum when their campaign was cruelly cut short in mid-March.

Will the Sharks be able to pick up that momentum on Saturday?

“We can’t promise that and obviously it was really frustrating to have the season end when it did. But we can’t stay in the past, it’s now a clean slate and all the other provinces have loaded up with some players, we are aware of that. We need to live in the present, it’s a fresh start because the last time we played was six months ago and we’ve also got some new players and lost a couple too.

“But we won’t change our identity as Sharks, it’s exciting that we can take the learnings from the seven rounds of Super Rugby we played and we have things to work on like working harder off the ball and polishing our basics, like catching and passing. We want to sharpen up our game and be urgent – if there’s a loose ball then a Sharks jersey must be on to it,” Notshe said.