Ken Borland

The Sharks were clinical and dominant in the first half of their opening United Rugby Championship match against Zebre in Parma, racing into a 28-3 lead after half-an-hour, but the last 45 minutes saw them display the opposite characteristics as they were fortunate to escape with a 42-37 win.

Zebre looked to have snatched a stunning comeback victory in the 77^th minute when replacement wing Jacopo Trulla went over the line for the second time in two minutes, slickly finishing brilliant counter-attacks, but the officials spotted an offence on the opposite side of the field that gave the Sharks a massive reprieve.

Replacement prop Juan Manuel Pitanari had taken out Werner Kok off the ball as he chased the kickoff, and instead of potentially trailing 41-39 in the dying stages, flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain was able to kick a penalty that put the Sharks 42-34 up.

Skilful Zebre flyhalf Tiff Eden then kicked a penalty at the other end in the final minute to ensure the home side at least took home two well-deserved bonus points.

Having produced such compelling rugby in the first half, dominant forwards laying the platform and the backline rushing up in sturdy defence, it was inexplicable that the Sharks were so stuck on the back foot in the second half. The vagaries of momentum will be blamed, but there is no doubt the visitors surrendered the initiative.

The early momentum was squarely the Sharks’ as Zebre made a wild start to the game, conceding two yellow cards, one of which could easily have been a red, and a number of penalties.

Through good, cohesive team play, the Sharks capitalised and they had scored four tries by the 27^th minute, two by forwards and two by backs, which summed up the balance in their game, which would certainly have impressed independent observers.

Rohan Janse van Rensburg, playing at outside centre, looks a fine acquisition by the Sharks. He carried strongly, along with prop Thomas du Toit, for the opening try by lock Reniel Hugo, and he grabbed the fourth try with a powerful finish after his midfield partner Ben Tapuai had sent Chamberlain, who had a good game at flyhalf, slicing through with a slick inside ball.

But Zebre again made a game of it in the second half, their comeback starting in first-half injury time as they finally controlled the ball long enough to create some pressure.

The Sharks briefly managed to break free of Zebre’s second-half dominance as the arrival of replacement tighthead prop Carlu Sadie led to a penalty at his first scrum by Chamberlain, and then big front-foot ball at the second that saw flank James Venter score.

But the Sharks defence allowed the dangerous Zebre runners far too much time and space on the ball in the second half.

Scorers

Zebre: Tries – Luca Bigi, Simone Gesi, Taina Fox-Matamua, Gabriele Venditti, Jacopo Trulla. Conversions – Tiff Eden (3). Penalties – Eden (2).

Sharks: Tries – Reniel Hugo, Kerron van Vuuren, Werner Kok, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, James Venter. Conversions – Boeta Chamberlain (4). Penalties – Chamberlain (3).

Brace yourself Pommies! The Proteas began their tour of England with an emphatic all-round performance as they beat the world champions by 62 runs in the first ODI at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, a powerful batting display being backed by a dominant showing by the spinners and some skilful, impressive fast bowling.

South Africa had won the toss and elected to bat first in a heatwave that had the ground authorities put precautionary measures in place for spectators and extra drinks breaks allotted for the players.

A sensible start by Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock (19) saw the Proteas reach 35 in the first six-and-a-half overs, after which Rassie van der Dussen came in and produced one of his greatest innings.

The 33-year-old got going from the outset of his innings, but seemingly without extending himself too greatly as he cruised to his half-century off just 45 balls.

Malan went to a composed half-century himself, but then struggled a bit with his pacing in the middle overs, ending with 57 off 77 balls.

Aiden Markram backed himself and was attacking from the start, but struggled to get the right tempo to his innings as he perhaps went a bit too hard at the ball early on. But as soon as he went back to his natural classy game he flourished, smashing 77 off 61 balls as he and Van der Dussen added 151 for the third wicket off just 123 balls.

Van der Dussen went to the most unflustered of centuries, needing just 90 balls to do it, as he pushed himself hard in the sweltering heat, placing the ball brilliantly, and running hard because he only hit nine fours as he posted a career-best 134 off 117 balls.

Both he and Markram fell in the 46^th over bowled by Liam Livingstone, which left new batsmen in David Miller (24* off 14) and Heinrich Klaasen (12) to bat out the last four overs, and they got South Africa to 333/5 when 350 was probably on the cards.

The Proteas might have been a little concerned at the break, but their attack did superbly.

Although England openers Jason Roy (43) and Jonny Bairstow (63) added 102 for the first wicket, they were limited to just 47 in the powerplay as Lungi Ngidi and captain Keshav Maharaj were excellent up front.

South Africa suffered a blow when seamer Andile Phehlukwayo collided with Maharaj in the field and left the field for stitches after bowling just three overs. It meant Markram had to come into the attack but far from leaving the attack deficient, it only strengthened the Proteas’ hand. Markram (4-0-25-2) claimed the key wickets of Bairstow (63) and Ben Stokes (5) in his last ODI, both lbw as they missed sweeps.

Fellow spinners Maharaj (10-1-42-1) and Tabraiz Shamsi (9-0-53-2) then strangled the middle-order, but Joe Root kept England’s hopes alive with a sweetly-struck 86 off 76 balls.

But fast bowler Anrich Nortje (8.5-0-53-4) bowled Root and claimed two other wickets in the 45^th over to seal the impressive victory as England were bowled out for 271 in the 47^th over.

When you post 367 in your first innings and then reduce the opposition to 101 for five and your spinners have been as dominant as South Africa’s were, there is bound to be some disappointment when your lead is whittled down to just 75 by the end of the day, but that’s what happened to the Proteas on the third day of the first Test against Bangladesh at Kingsmead on Saturday.

Thanks to the epic defiance of opening batsman Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who was last man out for 137 made in 442 minutes off 326 balls, Bangladesh made it all the way to 298 all out.

It meant South Africa still emerged with a handy lead of 69, which openers Sarel Erwee and Dean Elgar extended to 75 as they reached six without loss in the four overs of their second innings that were possible before bad light and rain stopped play at 4.10pm.

But it could have been so much more with better bowling and catching. Most crucially, Liton Das was dropped on 16, a straightforward chance to Dean Elgar at first slip off Lizaad Williams, and he went on to score 41 and share an 82-run partnership with Joy that lifted Bangladesh from 101 for five to 183 for six.

There were three other half-chances that went down too through the innings, and South Africa, who were able to take the second new ball in the second over after lunch with Bangladesh on 186 for six, will be disappointed by how Williams and Duanne Olivier lost the lengths that they had been bowling earlier.

Williams had bowled Liton in the 79^th over with a beautiful delivery with the old ball that nipped back sharply, but Joy and Yasir Ali were flourishing against the new ball, having added 33 when Yasir fell for 22 to a car-crash of a run out.

But Bangladesh’s next partnership between Joy and Mehidy Hasan Miraz was smoothly underway as they added 51 for the eighth wicket before Wiaan Mulder had Mehidy caught at slip for 29.

Joy then accelerated, quickly cutting the deficit from exactly 100 to 69 as he struck 27 runs off his next 17 deliveries with five fours and a six.

But the promising Williams ended his fun by having him caught at slip, to finish with three for 54 in 18.5 overs in his debut Test.

Simon Harmer failed to add to his wicket-tally of the previous day, finishing with four for 103 in 40 overs as the Bangladesh batsmen showed much more intent against him and Keshav Maharaj on Saturday.

The Sharks were utterly dominant in the scrums but failed to take full advantage of that edge and were held to a 22-22 draw by the gutsy Stormers as they conceded a final-minute penalty try in their United Rugby Championship match at Kings Park on Saturday.

The Stormers, trailing 15-22, were hard on attack and had a two-man overlap against a 14-man Sharks team when fullback Aphelele Fassi’s deliberate knock-on killed the move and he was the last defender, leaving the officials with little choice but to award the penalty try which earned the visitors a share of the spoils.

The home side were also extremely wasteful in terms of their goalkicking, as they only succeeded with three out of their eight shots at goal. Starting flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain only kicked three out of seven, but he did at least slot an impressive 47m drop goal on the stroke of halftime, following a goal-line drop-out by the Stormers.

It put the Sharks 11-3 up at the break and was important as the home side were already struggling to make their dominance count on the scoreboard.

The Sharks started in superb fashion as they won a penalty, set the lineout and then, after a ruck deep inside the Stormers 22, wing Makazole Mapimpi joined the line, but instead of knifing through on his own as he usually does, he threw a long pass out wide for outside centre Lukhanyo Am to stroll over for the opening try after just four minutes.

The Sharks stayed on attack but were then penalised five times in a row by referee Marius van der Westhuizen and the first time they infringed inside their 22, Am was yellow-carded for offsides. Flyhalf Manie Libbok put the Stormers on the board from the resulting penalty.

A massive scrum by the Sharks earned Chamberlain a penalty (8-3), but three minutes later he took too long over taking another shot at goal and the penalty was overturned. He then missed another scrum penalty, so it was relief all round in the Sharks camp when he did slot his drop goal.

The Sharks also made a great start to the second half with a splendid try. Prop Ox Nche’s leg-drive got him half through a tackle, but his skill in throwing a long pass out wide to Fassi at the same time was the key factor. Fassi then put through the perfect grubber for Mapimpi to show why he is the Finisher Supreme.

Chamberlain missed the conversion but added a 51^st-minute scrum penalty to lift the Sharks into a commanding 19-3 lead.

But the Stormers kept nipping at their heels and metaphorically kicking them in their shins as they staged another late charge after their impressive win over the Bulls last weekend at Loftus Versfeld.

Warrick Gelant once again sparked matters as his little shimmy and lovely offload in the tackle to Damian Willemse saw the fullback provide a great finish through two tackles for the try.

A Chamberlain penalty put the Sharks 22-8 ahead after 65 minutes but the Stormers thoroughly dominated the closing stages.

They got their rolling maul going well and earned their first penalty try in the 69^th minute when replacement prop Khutha Mchunu came in on the side a couple of metres from the line to kill the momentum. Van der Westhuizen awarded a penalty try and a yellow card.

With three minutes remaining, the Sharks were actually down to 13 men as wing Sbu Nkosi clattered into the back of Seabelo Senatla, preventing him from following up his deft grubber, and was also sent off.

Mchunu returned for the final minute, but was not able to prevent the Sharks from suffering a draw that will hurt plenty.

Meanwhile the Stormers will be celebrating seven hard-earned points on the road in the last fortnight.

Scorers

Sharks – Tries: Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi. Penalties: Boeta Chamberlain (3). Drop goal: Chamberlain.

Stormers – Tries: Damian Willemse, penalty tries (2). Penalty: Manie Libbok.