Ken Borland

Sharks coach Sean Everitt will be hoping the critics keep mum about two things after their thumping 51-3 win over the Dragons in their United Rugby Championship match in Durban at the weekend: their poor finishing and the form of flyhalf Curwin Bosch.

A much more clinical display by the Sharks saw them score four tries and be awarded two penalty tries, while Bosch gave an assured all-round performance and his fine kicking saw him succeed with four conversions and three penalties.

“Being able to convert in the gold zone was what we worked on all week and we spoke about not giving the Dragons any soft moments,” Everitt said. “And we tightened up and gave them nothing.

“We were able to put our whole game together. We’ve been managing the game well and winning the territory battles, but now we were clinical in the important areas too.

“Curwin has made 17 out of 19 tackles but the poor guy never gets compliments, he just gets ridiculed. Last week he missed one kick from in front and that was the talking point.

“But he has managed the game very well and his field-kicking was outstanding. It was one of his better games, after lots of criticism, and I’m very happy for him,” Everitt said.

Like a teenager anxious to make sure they have a prom date, the Sharks are grimly hanging on to eighth place in the URC standings and next week’s derby against the high-flying Lions is a crucial match, especially since both the Stormers and Bulls have finned past them on the log.

“It’s about building momentum and a win next week would be big for us, massive,” Everitt admitted. “Winning by the scoreline we did brings confidence and we have a really good platform for the next few games.“

The Central Gauteng Lions celebrated their second successive win in the CSA Four-Day Domestic Series with a thumping innings victory in just three days over the Eastern Province Warriors at St George’s Park on Sunday.

The hosts were left contemplating a dismal batting performance that saw them bowled out for just 54 on Sunday, to go with their paltry 96 in the first innings.

It meant the Lions’ first innings total of 170 was enough for an innings-and-20-run win.

Paceman Sisanda Magala was the hero on Sunday with 6/30 in 13 overs on his former home ground.

The Free State Knights attack was also dominant in Potchefstroom as they bowled out the North-West Dragons for 197, leaving them with just 17 runs to get for a 10-wicket win.

North-West were forced to follow-on after Mbulelo Budaza’s 4/64 saw them dismissed for 237 in their first innings, Patrick Kruger also taking 3/12 with the ball to follow up his blazing 192* with the bat.

Young Gerald Coetzee was the chief destroyer in the second innings with 4/47.

The Western Cape derby in Paarl saw Western Province take a big 177-run lead on the first innings as opener Tony de Zorzi (129) and Zubayr Hamza (94) added 170 for the second wicket to lay the platform for their total of 444.

A solid batting display saw Kyle Verreynne and Aviwe Mgijima score 40s and Mihlali Mpongwana and Yves Kamanzi put on 53 for the last wicket.

The Boland opening pair of Isma-eel Gafieldien (60*) and Pieter Malan (41*) did well to get the deficit down to 71 with their unbeaten stand of 106 before the close of play.

A slow pitch at SuperSport Park did not make for the most adorable cricket as the KZN Dolphins piled up 433 all out to lead the Northerns Titans by nine runs after the first innings.

Opener Sarel Erwee was patience personified as he batted for 370 balls in scoring 163, sharing valuable partnerships with Bryce Parsons (78), Keegan Petersen (41) and Jason Smith (59).

Off-spinner Simon Harmer came into the game well in the afternoon, taking 4/106, with paceman Corbin Bosch getting three wickets.

Northerns openers Grant Mokoena (58) and Neil Brand (58*) played some gorgeous strokes as they put on 125 for the first wicket.

A great catch by Kerwin Mungroo at backward point off Daryn Dupavillon removed Mokoena five balls before bad light stopped play with the Titans on 126/1, leading by 117.

Connacht, aided by the wind at their backs, broke free in the second half of their United Rugby Championship match against the Bulls at The SportsGround in Galway to turn a 10-7 halftime lead into a thumping 34-7 win on Friday night.

While the Bulls certainly rattled the home side in the first half, scoring first and causing their defence many anxious moments, their inability to adapt at the breakdowns and their inaccuracy in that key department gave Connacht too much free turnover ball and the Irish side were slick in capitalising. The Bulls were too quick to go off their feet at the rucks and were heavily penalised.

“We had enough chances in the first half and in the second half we were up against it because they understand how to play here with the wind pumping and the rain coming down, we struggled to get up the hill, there’s a significant rise and a slope down there in the corner where we got trapped,” Bulls coach Jake White said after the game.

“But we’ve got to adapt, there were a couple of calls that went against us, they had the rub of the green like winning a vital toss in cricket, but we turned ball over in our own half.

“It’s all about learning how to adapt to another environment, it’s as simple as that. The reality is we were not good in conditions that did not suit us, we weren’t accurate, we lost a lot of ball at the back of rucks.

“We’re away from home and we just have to learn and find a way to win. You could see the spring in Connacht’s step when they were 10-7 up at halftime and they knew we had not done enough in the first half,” White said.

Frustrated by how often they were penalised at the attacking breakdown, the Bulls called into service the box-kick in the second half, but that did not go well as Connacht counter-attacked superbly through elusive wing Mack Hansen and powerhouse inside centre Tom Daly.

A dreadful basic error early in the second half by scrumhalf Zak Burger at the base of a scrum put Connacht immediately on attack and Daly muscled over for a try. But the killer blow came in the 49^th minute when Hansen scored off a kick with a brilliant mazy run. There was a hint of obstruction in the try, but the officials allowed it to stand after watching replays, having ruled out a Connacht try in the first half for a marginal forward pass.

“Marcell Coetzee did ask the referee and some might argue that Lizo Gqoboka was obstructed. But we don’t want to be box-kicking and giving the ball away.

“We’ve got to find other ways to score points and not just rely on that and getting calls at scrums and mauls. But it’s so tough over here and at times we played really well, but our decision-making and accuracy needs to be better, especially on our carries and at the breakdown,” White said.

Scorers

Connacht – Tries: Tiernan O’ Halloran, Tom Daly (2), Mack Hansen, Tom Farrell. Conversions: Jack Carty (3). Penalty: Carty.

Bulls – Try: Lizo Gqoboka. Conversion: Johan Goosen.

In the context of thrilling T20 finals it was a disappointment, but for the Titans it was the sheer joy of ruthlessly-efficient accomplishment as they strolled to a hat-trick of RamSlam T20 Challenge titles on Saturday night with a thumping seven-wicket win, with 53 balls to spare, over the Dolphins in Centurion.

Their victory was set up by a magnificent display in the field, Chris Morris leading the attack with four for 13, the best ever figures in a franchise T20 final, as the Dolphins were shot out for just 100, the lowest ever total in a final.

Against a batting line-up as powerful as the Titans, it was never going to be enough and the home side knocked off their target of 101 in just 11.1 overs, with Quinton de Kock leading the way with 39 off 27 balls and AB de Villiers blazing a cameo of 27 off 13 deliveries.

The Titans had won the toss and sent the Dolphins in to bat, and the visitors started well enough, the opening batsmen, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Morne van Wyk, both collecting a boundary in the opening over bowled by Albie Morkel.

But the introduction of Morris for the next over from the West Lane End signalled the start of the Titans’ dominance.

Van Wyk (6) skied the second ball bowled by the all-rounder high over the point region, Farhaan Behardien back-pedalling and then taking the trickiest of catches over his shoulder.

Van Jaarsveld fell in Morris’s next over, the left-hander being bogged down with 14 off 16 balls, driving on the up and being caught at deep mid-on.

The Dolphins were 25 for two and being squeezed relentlessly by aggressive, accurate bowling and ground fielding that was also of the highest order. The development of any partnership was painstaking for the visitors and quickly nipped in the bud.

So efficient were the Titans that the biggest partnership of the innings was the 26 Dane Vilas (21) and Khaya Zondo (7) shared for the fourth wicket.

Ngidi returned to add the wicket of Dolphins captain Zondo to his earlier dismissal of Sarel Erwee (3), finishing with outstanding figures of two for 15 in his four overs, while Malusi Siboto (3-1-10-2), so obviously targeted by the Warriors in the semi-final, bounced back to get rid of the Dolphins’ two most dangerous hitters – Vilas (21) and Robbie Frylinck (0) – in the course of producing a double-wicket maiden in the 13^th over.

At 67 for seven, the Dolphins were obviously not going to post anything substantial and Junior Dala (3-0-21-1) and the brilliant Morris wrapped up the innings.

De Kock showed the fluency that had eluded him so far in the campaign, collecting four fours and two sixes as he gave the Titans a brisk start, despite the early loss of Rivaldo Moonsamy (7), who fell to the wiles of Frylinck.

The part-time off-spin of Zondo accounted for De Kock, but the capacity crowd was delighted to see the skills of De Villiers, who managed to clear the boundary three times in a dozen balls, before Aiden Markram (18*) and Behardien (4*) finished the job.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-africa-sport/sa-cricket-sport/1761380/magic-morris-finds-his-mojo-as-titans-win-3-in-a-row/