Ken Borland

The Sharks scored two tries to one and French flyhalf Fred Michalak kicked two crucial drop goals as they beat the Stormers 26-19 in their SuperRugby semi-final at Newlands on Saturday.

Wing Louis Ludik and outside centre JP Pietersen, the Sharks’ two most dangerous outside backs, scored the tries and the experienced Michalak also added both conversions and two penalties to end with 16 points.

The Sharks had to contend with travel fatigue, having beaten the Reds in Brisbane last weekend, as well as the passionate Newlands crowd and a table-topping Stormers team that was unbeaten at home this season and had the best defensive record in the competition.

But the Sharks’ tight five dominated and their marauding loose trio carried the ball strongly and disrupted the Stormers’ possession, providing plenty of front-foot ball for their backs. Michalak, capped 56 times for France, played with immense composure and varied his game well, and Pietersen and Ludik were massive threats with ball in hand.

“It’s going to take a while to get over this, but we can only blame ourselves, we had 80 minutes to prove we were good enough and we came up short. We get such good support but we don’t have a cup to show for it – that’s what makes it tough,” Stormers captain Jean de Villiers said after his team’s fifth defeat in six SuperRugby playoffs.

“But credit to the Sharks for travelling so much and then putting on a fantastic performance tonight. If there’s a team you can’t bet against us in these competition it’s them and we’re definitely behind them all the way,” De Villiers added.

“The boys put their bodies on the line and it was tough coming to Newlands having spent last week in Australia, but the boys showed resilience. We had a lot of motivation to do something that’s never been done before. The front row and the tight five really put their hands up,” Sharks captain Keegan Daniel said.

The Stormers were first on the scoreboard as Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis was laid low by a rampaging Eben Etzebeth, the lock’s powerful charge setting up a penalty which flyhalf Peter Grant kicked (0-3).

But the Sharks showed they were more than up for the physical challenge, despite their jetlag, and the rest of the half belonged to them. With Michalak pulling the strings, they led 13-6 at the break.

The Stormers scrum was all at sea against the all-Springbok Sharks front row and Michalak was presented with a 13th-minute penalty to level the scores.

The home side were able to see off the strong forward drives of the Sharks, but the front-foot ball allowed Michalak to slot a drop goal to see the Sharks in front midway through the first half.

The Stormers trailled from then onwards and, although their defence at close quarters was sound, they were pinned in their own territory by the strong Sharks kicking game.

Michalak stayed calm under pressure to turn a defensive position after a Stormers kick into attack, fullback Riaan Viljoen hoisting a pinpoint up-and-under. Ludik was there like a flash, winning the ball and then stepping inside to race away and score the opening try.

Michalak converted and, even though Grant kicked a penalty on the half-time hooter to close the gap to seven points, there was no doubt which side held the upper hand.

The 29-year-old Frenchman could not succeed with a drop goal attempt that was half charged down five minutes after the break, but it did give the Sharks good field position and, when the Stormers could not legally stop a rolling maul off a lineout, it gave Michalak another penalty (16-6).

Viljoen could not convert a long-range penalty six minutes later, and the Sharks would be trapped offsides by a succession of attacking phases, allowing Grant to kick a penalty and close the gap to 9-16.

On the hour mark, Michalak shaped as if he would be attempting another drop goal, but then darted on to attack, passing the ball to Pietersen. His shimmy outside and step inside was enough to ensure the Stormers’ defence would be parted and he then sped away for the try.

Michalak’s conversion made the score 23-9, but there was always likely to be some tailing off from the Sharks given all their travelling, and the Stormers dominated the final quarter.

Grant pushed a 62nd-minute penalty wide to add to the other mistakes he made in the game, but the Stormers then kept the ball for 13 phases, stretching the Sharks left and right, before lightning-fast wing Gio Aplon was able to dash through what was left of the defence to score the home side’s only try.

Grant added the extra two points and then kicked a penalty from in front of the posts to leave the Stormers just four points behind with eight minutes remaining.

But Michalak then stepped up and, given a wonderful platform by the hard work of his forwards, kicked a 76th-minute drop goal from 30 metres out.

The Stormers burst back on to attack but, even though the Sharks looked out on their feet, there was no gap to break through.

Flank Daniel, an ever-present influence at the rucks, and Pietersen then combined to steal a vital turnover and send the Sharks back to Australasia for the final.

There they will meet the Waikato Chiefs in Hamilton.

Scorers

Stormers – Try: Gio Aplon. Conversion: Peter Grant. Penalties: Grant (4).

Sharks – Tries: Louis Ludik, JP Pietersen. Conversions: Fred Michalak (2). Penalties: Michalak (2). Drop goals – Michalak (2).

Murali Vijay was back to his best as his dominating century led the Chennai Super Kings to a thumping 86-run victory over the Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League semi-final at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk on Friday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120525/Vijay_sets_up_Chennai_win_amidst_Delhi_blunders

The Daredevils, who topped the round-robin log, will have to reapply their minds when it comes to strategy in the playoff stages as they made some absolute howlers in the two defeats that see them lose out on the final.

In the semifinal, leading wicket-taker Morne Morkel was left out of the team in a shock selection, while the player who replaced him made his IPL debut, conceded 47 runs in three overs and was out first ball.

Captain Virender Sehwag also batted number three in yet another rejigged Delhi batting line-up that failed dismally to come close to their daunting target of 223, subsiding lamely to 136 all out.

Mahela Jayawardene scored 58 off 35 balls for the Daredevils, but key hitters David Warner (3) and Sehwag (1) both failed, South African all-rounder Albie Morkel, the brother of Morne, accounting for the Delhi captain with a short delivery.

Jayawardene and Ross Taylor (24) combined for a third-wicket partnership of 52 in 4.4 overs, but the home crowd were soon cheering the inevitable Chennai victory when Dwayne Bravo removed Taylor with his second ball.

West Indian Andre Russell was sent up the order to have a dip and hit two fours in his 16 off 11 balls, before Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed him and then bowled Jayawardene.

Lower-order batsmen have little chance of getting on top of the tall off-spinner and Ashwin finished with superb figures of three for 23 as Delhi meekly subsided, losing their last wicket in the 17th over.

Australian paceman Ben Hilfenhaus kept things tight at the start of the innings, taking one for 17 in three overs, but any audit of the match will reveal that the Daredevils threw the match away more than Chennai won it.

Vijay scored a cavalier century for the Chennai Super Kings as they posted a massive 222 for five as the Daredevils paid the price for omitting the competition’s best strike bowler.

The Super Kings took control from the start, with opener Vijay going on to plunder 113 off just 58 balls – one of the great IPL innings.

Chennai were sent in to bat and Vijay and Michael Hussey (20) made a great start as they added 68 for the first wicket in eight overs.

Delhi will also rue the decision to bring in debutant off-spinner Sunny Gupta, who bowled the first over and had his first two deliveries hammered for four by Vijay as he conceded an awful 47 runs in the three overs he bowled.

Having made some very strange tactical decisions in their qualifier loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders, Sehwag will also regret bringing himself on for an over, which cost 21 runs as Vijay hit him for a pair of sixes and fours.

Varun Aaron was the other Daredevils bowler to have a nightmare, conceding 63 runs in his four overs, although he did take two wickets.

Suresh Raina (27 off 17) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (23 off 10) chipped in to support the rampant Vijay in partnerships of 69 in 5.3 overs and 36 in 2.5 overs respectively, before Bravo blasted 33 not out off just 12 balls to give the Chennai innings a tremendous ending.

Vijay stroked the ball to all corners of the ground to pick up 15 fours and four sixes, being run out off the last ball of the innings.

Fast bowler Umesh Yadav was the best of the Delhi attack, doing exceptionally well to avoid the slaughter as he conceded just 27 runs off his four overs and claimed the wicket of Albie Morkel, wicketkeeper Naman Ojha diving full-length to his left to take a brilliant catch and dismiss the South African first ball.

The IPL wraps up with Sunday’s final at the same Chepauk venue, with the Super Kings taking on the Kolkata Knight Riders.

It will be the spin of the mysterious Sunil Narine and his other two slow colleagues against the powerful Chennai batting line-up, for which the return to form of Vijay is an obvious and major boost.

Perhaps more importantly, it will be the big-match performers in the CSK team that will be the key men as they go in search of a hat-trick of titles.