Online ReporterSharks ended their Vodacom URC drought in Cape Town with an emphatic 30-19 win over the DHL Stormers in front of a full house at DHL Stadium with a performance that can be regarded as a strong statement in favour of their new coach JP Pietersen.
Up until this game, there was some debate over whether the Sharks’ wins over Saracens and Clermont-Auvergne in the Investec Champions Cup and the Vodacom Bulls in the URC really represented the much-hoped-for turnaround for the long-suffering Sharks supporters.
With a return game between these teams set for Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban next Saturday, perhaps the Sharks need to bottle their celebrations for the next seven days, but certainly this performance, which resulted in a four-try-to-two triumph and a full house of log points for the visitors, should be seen as a massive step in the right direction.
Make no mistake, the Stormers were diabolical, and it needs to be said that the warning bells that have been clanging in the most recent home games did set up this kind of result as a possibility.
They did outlast the Bulls here in a titanic derby three weeks ago, but they were nowhere in their away Champions Cup game against Harlequins and were poor, although they had too much firepower in the end, for a weakened Leicester Tigers last week.
Their director of rugby, John Dobson, said something disturbing in a press conference the day before the game − “Maybe we feel too much pressure (to entertain) when we play at home”. It has looked like that to this scribe ever since they came back from a winning sequence of five matches overseas, where they played pragmatic rugby, and started to fall back into their old habit of too many Hail Mary passes and just too much loose rugby.
The Stormers love to talk about their running DNA, but, and this was written after last week’s game too, so it is not drawing on hindsight, surely the DNA the Stormers’ many fans want is a winning DNA.
In this game, there was far too much play that wouldn’t have been out of place in a touch game on the beach and the Sharks, with their no-nonsense approach and their planning, feasted on it.
The Sharks exploited what looked like yet another soft start for the Stormers, with four mistakes made by the hosts in their own half before an excellent driving maul try to Jason Jenkins.
Phepsi Buthelezi scored another in the second half, and that capped a magnificent performance from the Sharks flanker, who came out easily the better in the clash with his opposition No 6 Paul de Villiers on the day.
The Sharks scored a third driving maul try in the last 10 minutes, their fourth of the game, with Andre Esterhuizen dotting down, and as always, the Springbok centre was outstanding.
Since Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has started using him as a flanker, his play has gone through the roof, and he was a big part of the reason the Sharks were such comprehensive victors against their coastal rivals − SuperSport.
