Ken Borland

The frustration of red cards ruining thrilling rugby matches was once again to the fore as the British and Irish Lions hammered the Sharks 71-31 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night, the match turning into a one-sided affair after Sharks scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse was sent off for a moment of madness.

The Sharks had produced a ferocious response to their drubbing in midweek in their first meeting with the Lions, and at 26-26 after a dazzling first half, the stage was set for a marvellous second half.

But then five minutes after the break, Hendrikse, who is generally an infuriatingly niggly scrumhalf to play against, crossed the line by hitting a Lions player on the back of the head with his elbow. Referee Wayne Barnes quite rightly red-carded him and that was the end of the contest.

The Sharks, so valiant and determined in the first 40 minutes, had the stuffing knocked out of them as the Lions roared their way to seven more tries in the second half. Hooker Jamie George, flank Tadhg Beirne and wing Anthony Watson, who showed why everyone in the UK raves about him, all came away with braces.

In the first half, the Sharks had rebounded from their mauling in midweek with a superb display of scrambling defence and they were extremely stingy with the amount of space and time they gave the Lions. The tourists, under such determined pressure, showed that they are human as well and the mistakes came.

Wings Anthony Volmink, who scored twice, and Thaakir Abrahams showed their ace finishing skills, while Hendrikse scored a fine intercept try inI the 24^th minute and lock Reniel Hugo charged down a kick for outside centre Werner Kok, who again played with great fervour, to score.

The loose trio of Phepsi Buthelezi, Celimpilo Gumede and Dylan Richardson were outstanding for the Sharks.

The second half promised so much but true rugby fans will have hated the mismatch it became. On the bright side, the Sharks showed in the first half that the dominance of the Lions and the shackles they impose can be broken.

Scorers

Sharks – Tries: Anthony Volmink (2), Thaakir Abrahams, Jaden Hendrikse, Werner Kok. Conversions: Lionel Cronje (3).

British & Irish Lions – Tries: Chris Harris, Jamie George (2), Duhan van der Merwe, Tadhg Beirne (2), Jack Conan, Elliot Daly, Anthony Watson (2), Tom Curry. Conversions: Dan Biggar (8).

Serviced by a steady flow of quick ball, British and Irish Lions fullback Josh Adams and wing Duhan van der Merwe both scored hat-tricks as the tourists hammered the Sharks 54-7 at Ellis Park on Wednesday night.

The Covid crisis surrounding this series meant the Lions had to make eight late changes to their originally announced team and they had just one backline reserve on the bench. It only seemed to fuel them to higher levels of excellence.

Playing with tremendous skill and tempo, the Lions were ruthless and clinical in scoring eight tries. Their aggressive defence took away much of the time and space the Sharks are used to normally and the tourists only conceded a single try.

The prolific Adams, who has now scored eight tries in three appearances for the Lions, and Van der Merwe both scored in the opening 10 minutes to immediately settle the tourists and banish all thoughts from their minds of the tremendous disruption they have suffered over the last 24 hours.

With Owen Farrell, one of the late changes at flyhalf, producing a tactical masterclass, the Lions scored two more tries before halftime to lead 26-0 at the break.

The Sharks scored first in the second half, flank James Venter rounding off a lovely try that featured slick work down the right touchline by Jeremy Ward, Werner Kok and Manie Libbok.

But then they ruined their promising moments with basic errors and soft moments, succumbing to the pressure exerted on them by a top-quality international side. The Lions scored four more tries, the last when they deliberately played with just 14 men. From a powerful scrum, Adams had space aplenty to complete is hat-trick.

It is highly unlikely that Sharks coach Sean Everitt sleeps well tonight. With their first foray into Europe a couple of months away, the Sharks were way off the pace. Clearly, playing against sluggish South African teams has got them into bad habits and a false sense of security.

Scorers

Sharks – Try: James Venter. Conversion: Curwin Bosch.

British & Irish Lions – Tries: Josh Adams (3), Duhan van der Merwe (3), Bundee Aki, Louis Rees-Zammit. Conversions – Owen Farrell (3), Finn Russell (4).

The Bulls often moan about the stereotype that portrays them as playing ponderous, one-dimensional kicking rugby but they did that and more in the Rainbow Cup final as they were deservedly hammered 35-8 by an underdog Benetton Treviso side that were full of vigour and invention.

The Bulls’ physicality and intensity were meant to be their trumpcards but Benetton, guided by an astute Kiwi coach in Kieran Crowley, merely speeded the game up in hot, humid conditions, getting the ball quickly out of the collisions areas, and with physical contests stripped of their importance, the visiting side were left looking like dumb brutes. Outscored by five tries to one, the Bulls embarrassingly lost by the sort of scoreline many expected to be their winning margin.

In many ways the Bulls were the architects of their own demise as they consistently failed to kick the ball into touch even if just to slow Benetton down; flyhalf Chris Smith perhaps had concussion judging by the shiner he took the field with because his head was not in the game as he constantly fed the dangerous Treviso back three.

Their lineouts were scrappy – tapped balls leading to two tries – and even their rolling maul failed to gain much traction. There were basic errors aplenty in one of the most frustrating Bulls days for many years.

The Bulls did score via a maul, and the quick thinking of wing Madosh Tambwe, to go into the last 10 minutes of the first half level at 8-8. But eighthman and captain Marcell Coetzee, who produced a strangely timid display for someone who wants to force their way back into the Springbok squad, then allowed a restart to go over his head and bounce into touch. Lock Walt Steenkamp tapped instead of catching the ball, scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl was caught between passing or dotting down, and hooker Corniel Els pounced for the try.

The former Bulls man was then the central figure as Benetton scored on the stroke of halftime to take their lead to 20-8. A clever kick behind by scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenhage saw the Bulls again struggle to clear their lines properly, another tapped lineout putting them under pressure, and Els then burst from a rolling maul but lost the ball over the line. A penalty try was awarded though because Stravino Jacobs, who was yellow-carded, had tackled him around the neck. It was a fair decision, because either Els or Duvenhage would certainly have scored.

Benetton flyhalf Paolo Garbisi produced a masterclass at flyhalf and he continued to boss the second half as the home side scored three more tries, continuing to create space out wide with ease.

The big question the Springboks will be asking ahead of their crunch series against the British and Irish Lions is whether this feeble display by the team that has been so dominant at home was just an awful day in the office or indicative of the poor standard of South African rugby?

Scorers

Benetton Treviso: Tries – Monty Ioane, Corniel Els, penalty try, Michele Lamaro, Edoardo Padovani. Conversion – Paolo Garbisi. Penalties – Garbisi (2).

Bulls: Try – Madosh Tambwe. Penalty – Chris Smith.

The Imperial Lions were outstanding in the field as they hammered the Titans by 18 runs on the DLS method to win the Gauteng derby and move ever closer to the playoffs in the T20 Challenge at Kingsmead.

The win saw the Lions leapfrog the Titans into second place on the log, with a game in hand.

The rain which interrupted the decent Lions innings in the 17^th over on 124 for four saw the Titans target adjusted to 131 in 15 overs.

But the misfiring Titans top-order were blown away by the superb Lions attack, invariably picking the wrong shot at key times.

The mixture of spin and seam saw the Titans slump to 55 for six in the ninth over and it was only the efforts of the tail – Simon Harmer (17), Junior Dala (21) and Lizaad Williams (11*) – that denied the Lions the crucial bonus point as the Titans closed on 112 for eight.

Left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks was the pick of the bowlers with an outstanding two for seven in the three overs he was allowed, while spinner Bjorn Fortuin was again brilliant with two for 21.

Kagiso Rabada was typically tough for the batsmen to get away as he took one for 18.

The Titans, by way of contrast, were a bit messy in the field and Lions opener Reeza Hendricks stroked them all over the park in a wonderful 39 off 28 balls.

It gave the Lions a great start and a composed Rassie van der Dussen looked set to give them a big finish, having cruised to a promising 37 not out off 24 balls, when the rain came down.

Harmer (3-0-19-1), Chris Morris (3-0-10-0) and Lungi Ngidi (3-0-19-1) were good with the ball for the Titans, hard to get away, but the rest of the bowlers were expensive.