Sharks v Stormers: Five takeaways as the ‘Durban bounce’ continues under ‘full attention’ skipper and ‘smart rookie’
Following a 36-24 victory for the Sharks over the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship derby fixture, here are our five takeaways from Kings Park.
The top line
What is rare is wonderful and in front of a bumper home crowd of 25,364, the Sharks beat the Stormers for the second time in the same season for the first time in quite a while.
It was a terrifically entertaining duel despite the sweaty and sticky conditions, and the tone was set after just 22 seconds, Stormers’ Cobus Reinach getting driven over from a quickly tapped penalty in a collision that Sharks lock Corne Rahl won’t want to revisit.
Rahl wasn’t the only second row to wince in the opening exchanges for meekly tackling a scrum-half, though. With the Sharks turning the screw following the yellow carding of Paul de Villiers, Grant Williams got over the line despite Ruben van Heerden.
Temporarily a man up, the stage was set for the hosts to further prosper, but the remainder of the sin-binning period played out with the Stormers striking for six points from two Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty kicks.
That gave them an 11-7 lead they retained until the 25th minute when Ethan Hooker struck for the Sharks’ second converted try. The hosts needed the TMO to safeguard this 14-11 score, a 32nd-minute review scrubbing out a try for Adre Smith because of an off-the-ball Neethling Fouche obstruction.
But there was no help from the officials a few minutes later, when Stormers won a scrum penalty and Feinberg-Mngomezulu landed a bomb of a kick from halfway to tie it up at 14-all.
The out-half then tried his luck from even further out, scoring from inside his own half following an Aphelele Fassi infringement to earn his team a 17-14 interval lead that he soon extended after the resumption, adding the conversion to the fleet-footed De Villiers try.
This 10-point lead, though, evaporated by the 54th minute, Sharks jumping 28-24 up after grabbing converted tries from Andre Esterhuizen and Jaco Williams, with Stormers’ Van Heerden also dispatched to the sin bin.
The Sharks then added a penalty kick after a scrum before their URC win was bizarrely sealed. Replacement Warrick Gelant dawdled as the ball rolled behind the Stormers’ try line and Williams’ amazing dive got the touch for the 72nd-minute converted try.
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The Pietersen/Esterhuizen era
The Sharks could never have believed they could find themselves in this elevated position eight weeks after limping away from Toulouse at the end of the John Plumtree era.
Changing the head coach mid-season is a drastic action to take, but the bounce the Durban franchise have enjoyed since JP Pietersen came to the helm has been revelatory, and Saturday’s win leaves him heading into the break with a tremendous record of five wins in seven matches.
The unexpected revival has earned them a round-of-16 place in the Challenge Cup and now also has them challenging to make the URC play-offs, a development that only makes the Plumtree tenure out to be even worse than it appeared.
Whatever his coaching was missing in getting the best from a talented squad, his successor Pietersen has it in spades, and the outlook is now very bright for the remainder of the season.
Of course, it helped that he had a shedload of Springboks returning to the fold in December following their international exploits, and one of the standouts in recent weeks has been the newly appointed skipper, Esterhuizen.
He appears to have the full attention of the dressing room, and the strengthened bond that now exists in the team was what tipped this victory Sharks’ way in the second half. They remained composed despite going 10 points down, and it was no mean feat that they finished the match with 22 unanswered points.
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SFM’s valid big picture observation
Stormers’ Feinberg-Mngomezulu deserves a shout-out for getting his team into a position where they were in a good spot to go for the win. The Cape Town franchise really had no right to be 17-14 up at the interval and then 24-14 ahead not long into the second half.
They had just 28% of the first-half territory, yet it was the out-half who skilfully nudged them ahead despite that handicap.
Those two penalty kicks he put over late in the half – from the halfway line and then inside his own half – were illustrative of a player feeling delighted at being back at the ground where he scored a record 37 points last time out for the Springboks versus Argentina.
The 23-year-old was by no means perfect. For example, he kicked the ball dead when restarting at 11-14 down, but he kept trying to reward Stormers’ busy back row in trying circumstances.
A development that has been brilliant to see is John Dobson giving him the captaincy in recent weeks at such a young age.
This meant he was up for a TV interview post-match and in a situation where it would have been understandable to be completely negative and bemoan areas of the performance “where we have to check ourselves”, his encouraging bigger picture outlook was evident in how he finished by insisting the Stormers needed to be “proud of what we have achieved so far”.
He is right. As disappointing as it was for his team to lose for the second weekend in succession, winning eight successive games prior to that and being so high up the table meant the foundation is set for a positive campaign and that losing in Durban to an in-form team wasn’t a disaster.
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Lineout malaise
Kings Park witnessed a too-and-fro contest at the scrum that was good entertainment with a variety of outcomes and decisions happening as both teams went for it. Even when it was felt the Stormers had taken command, the Sharks won the set-piece penalty that extended their lead to 31-24 on 69 minutes for wheeling.
Less of a spectacle – and more of a frustration – was how an important part of the lineout battle panned out. You would imagine that getting your calls right when throwing close to the opposition tryline is something you definitely perfect on the training ground through multiple reps, but both teams here showed in the first half how fallible they were in this situation.
When piling on the pressure in the early stages at 0-5 down, the Sharks were left grimacing at seeing two lineouts near the try line softly going astray. They weren’t the only culprits, though, as Stormers reciprocated the malaise, missing the target with one throw and then seeing another fly unplanned out the back.
Evan Roos managed to rescue that incident, grabbing the ball after an awkward bounce and starting the play that ended in the cancelled Smith try. The reality was these were four lineouts that should have been taken by the attacking team and mauled forward towards the line.
Instead, there was a disappointing lack of skill execution in a facet of play you would expect to be better nailed down than the more variable pushing contest at the scrum. It unfortunately continued through to the finish from a Stormers perspective as another throw five metres out was lost out the back after another unconvincing jump.
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Smart rookie
The stats had Jaco Williams down for just four carries in this match, a figure that suggests he was a peripheral player. However, the exact opposite was the case when it came to someone heavily influencing the result.
Games can easily pass wingers by when the traffic is heavy elsewhere, but you have to admire the 20-year-old for how he coped here. Rather than settle for the match panning out the way it was and allowing it to pass him by because the ball wasn’t coming his way, he instead sought involvement.
The rookie smartly made sure he was in the right spot to take the pass with the line gaping for the converted try that put his team into its 28-24 lead, but it was his enthusiasm when chasing what seemed a certain lost cause eight minutes from the finish that marked him out as a young talent to watch.
It was a nothing kick ahead from his side, and what should have happened was Gelant touching down. Instead, he delayed and wound up getting mugged by Williams’ fantastic dive to get downward pressure on the ball. That was the score that gave the Sharks the breathing room to see out their deserved win.
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