Inny Radebe scored a 75th-minute try as the Sharks claimed a 21-20 win against Western Province at Newlands on Saturday. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.
The fullback went over in the left-hand corner after a sustained period of attack from his side, and as the boos rang out, replacement Rhyno Smith held his nerve to slot the touchline conversion.
The visitors had enough scoring opportunities in this match to win it comfortably. In the second half, Louis Schreuder lost the ball over the tryline after a strong scrum, and Odwa Ndungane did the same after Dillyn Leyds had failed to deal with a grubber from Radebe through the defence, who in turn had missed two penalty attempts either side of the break.
But eventually the pressure told on the WP defence, which was forced to make 176 tackles compared to the Sharks’ 115.
The four log points took the Sharks to the top of the Currie Cup log, one point ahead of the Free State Cheetahs, who were set to play the Golden Lions. WP, who picked up a losing bonus point, remain third.
The Sharks started this match as well as they finished it, with WP forced to collapse a lineout driving maul and referee Jaco Peyper awarding a penalty try.
Damian Willemse put Province on the board with a penalty, before the hosts scored a length of the field try that began with a chip kick from Huw Jones inside his 22 that was regathered by Ruhan Nel. Nizaam Carr and Dewaldt Duvenage then did some good work before Jones finished off what he had started.
The hosts struck again from another counter-attack when Jaco Coetzee took advantage of some poor defence to score under the posts.
A knock-on close to the tryline by Ruan Botha ended a promising attack from the Sharks, and they were unable to convert a dominant period into points.
However, they did score in the 34th minute after a clever inside pass from Schreuder found S’bu Nkosi, who was brought down inside the red zone. The Sharks sent the ball wide from the ruck and Franco Marais crashed over in the corner. Radebe kicked the conversion, but missed a penalty that would have levelled the scores.
Willemse slotted a penalty early in the second half to give WP a 20-14 lead, before Radebe missed again.
After Schreuder lost the ball over the line, the visitors continued to apply pressure, opting to scrum or kick to the corner from penalties, but again couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard.
With 10 minutes to go, Steph de Wit was yellow-carded for a cynical ruck infringement and the Sharks opted to kick the penalty for the corner. Once again though, they lost possession.
Ndungane then knocked on over the line, and was bundled into touch during the next attack.
But the Sharks did eventually breach WP’s defence, and Smith’s conversion secured a deserved win.
Western Province – Tries: Huw Jones, Jaco Coetzee. Conversions: Damian Willemse (2). Penalties: Willemse (2).
Sharks – Tries: Penalty try, Franco Marais, Inny Radebe. Conversion: Inny Radebe, Rhyno Smith.
Western Province – 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Ruhan Nel, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Jaco Coetzee, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (c), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Subs: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Michael Kumbirai, 18 Eddie Zandberg, 19 Steph de Wit, 20 Justin Phillips, 21 Robert du Preez, 22 Dan Kriel.
Sharks – 15 Inny Radebe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 S’bu Nkosi, 10 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Tera Mtembu, 7 Tyler Paul, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Jean Droste, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Subs: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 John-Hubert Meyer, 19 Wian Vosloo, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Rhyno Smith, 22 Odwa Ndungane.
Photo: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images
