The Hollywoodbets Sharks went down to Connacht in Galway in a quite surreal opening Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash on Saturday evening.
In a game of two halves, the Hollywoodbets Sharks blew Connacht away in a commanding first half performance, but the Irish team fought back well in the second period to snatch what had appeared to be an unlikely victory given the events of the opening 40.
Connacht opened the scoring inside the opening five minutes, keeping the visiting Durbanites pinned in their 22 from the kick-off and ensuring their territorial advantage was turned into points off a driving maul that set up the opening seven pointer.
Connacht made life difficult for the Hollywoodbets Sharks in the ensuing period, before the Durban team started to build momentum, earning a couple of penalties that took them out of their 22 and deep inside enemy territory. A penalty kicked to touch and then the effective lineout saw the ball quickly recycled and spread to the midfield where a storming run from Andre Esterhuizen was simply too powerful for the defences and he cruised through for his team’s first try inside the second quarter, with Siya Masuku equalising with the conversion.
Connacht messed up the ensuing kick-off, handing the Hollywoodbets Sharks a scrum on the halfway line. Powering their way at the Connacht pack, a penalty was awarded and long-range expert Jordan Hendrikse had no trouble converting to give his side a 10-7 lead.
On the half hour mark, Esterhuizen powered his way over for his second try, a high intensity attack taking possession down the touchline and then the forwards rumbling the ball up and the big centre simply too strong for two defenders to stop. Masuku converted for a 17-7 lead.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks continued to heap on the pressure, Hendrikse striking a 63m penalty after the Connacht players were caught offsides and a 13-point lead with five minutes of the half remaining was just reward for their determined play.
The damage continued as Gerbrandt Grobler was next on the scoreboard, Connacht infringing at lineout time to hand the Hollywoodbets Sharks the perfect position from which to launch a driving maul and although the TMO was asked to rule, the referee was happy with the effort. Masuku was bang on target from out wide and there was only the kick-off to negotiate before half-time.
Taking a 20-point lead into the changerooms was a well-deserved, if somewhat unexpected result after the opening quarter hour when Connacht had dominated proceedings, but were blow away by the ferocity of the Hollywoodbets Sharks who took a three-try-to-one, 27-7 lead into the break.
Connacht started the second half as they had the first with an early try, a patient build-up before a chip and chase that saw them over for their second try under the posts to chip away at the 20-point lead.
Try number three came five minutes later, pressure applied in the Hollywoodbets Sharks 22 finally coming to fruition from a penalty sent to touch and then a patient maul to go over in the corner and reduce the deficit to 27-19.
Connacht struck for the third time, on this occasion an intercept of a long pass when the Hollywoodbets Sharks were close to scoring themselves and the successful conversion made it a one-point game with 25 minutes remaining.
Going into the final 10 minutes, Connacht had a TMO-referred try denied, but there had been penalty advantage for off-sides on defence of the tryline and from the ensuing tap-and-go, they managed to maul the ball over to take the lead they had relinquished in the first half. The conversion gave them a 33-27 lead.
With time almost up, Connacht earned a penalty which they sent through the posts to hand themselves an unassailable lead.
Masuku kicked a penalty in the last action of the game which reduced the gap to six points to earn his team a losing bonus point out of a tough clash.
