Sharks Blitz Lions
The Hollywoodbets Sharks XV consigned the Fidelity ADT Lions to their first defeat in the 2024 Carling Currie Cup with a 35-22 bonus point victory at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday afternoon.
The pressure game in the first half – both in terms of dictating where play took place as well as on the scoreboard – delivered exactly what coach JP Pietersen would have liked to see. The Hollywoodbets Sharks controlled the game, showing patience and maturity, and adding in speedy, exciting moments on attack to hurt the Joburg team that came into this game three from three.
The Durbanites took advantage of their scrum dominance in the second half to set themselves up for a wonderful victory that will serve this young side extremely well, the seven debutants adding their energy and excitement to a real team effort.
Great work on attack in the opening 10 minutes, but despite their intensity and patience, they were unable to break the Lions’ defences. But possession and territory eventually becomes points and Lionel Cronje got the scoreboard ticking over with a penalty to seal some advantage.
But the Lions cancelled it out with a penalty of their own, foraging into the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ half for the first time in the game and coming away with a successful penalty.
The Lions missed a 55m kick to go ahead before some individual magic from debutant, Junior Springbok centre Jurenzo Julius who beat four defenders en-route to a truly magnificent score, with Cronje converting for a 10-3 lead in the 24th minute.
The second try went the way of lock Reniel Hugo, chasing a grubber ahead from Lionel Cronje whose boot had been the difference in the territorial battle between the two sides and had the Lions turning around every time they thought the game might open up. The Hollywoodbets Sharks’ flyhalf converted and the lead was a healthy 17-3 with less than 10 minutes of the half remaining.
With a minute left to play, having dominated the territorial stats, despite training possession, it was the visiting Durbanites who scored again, Cronje bang on target with a drop-goal to push his team 20-3 ahead and that was how matters remained until the referee blew for half-time.
The Lions suffered an early blow to their aspirations with a red card for a dangerous clean-out on Reniel Hugo where there was clear head contact on the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ lock.
The Lions finally managed to convert possession into points, doing well to keep the ball alive for a long range attack that nearly broke down before the closed out in the 47th minute for the seven-pointer that cut the lead to 10 points.
Going into the final quarter, the Lions were under the pump, their scrum unable to withstand the pressure that came to bear and the stop-start nature of the preceding minutes not helping their cause.
When Julius went over for his second try, a well-crafted break and some quick hands keeping the ball alive in the process of the score, the Hollywoodbets Sharks took a well-deserved 25-10 lead.
A fourth scrum penalty in the half afforded Cronje the opportunity to wreck further misery on the home side and from 54m out, he was on target to push the lead to 18 points.
Another sneaky grubber from Cronje put the ball into space behind the attack, this after the Lions had been penalised for taking the man out in the air, and Yaw Penxe chased well and then carried two defenders over the tryline to complete the four try bonus point. Cronje closed out the move with the extra two points as the game headed for the final 10 minutes and a 35-10 lead.
The Lions cut the deficit with a driving maul try a few minutes later but 20 points behind would prove to be a bridge too far to successfully negotiate.
Scoring their third try with five minutes remaining brough a little more respectability to the scoreboard for the home team but they had been well and truly beaten by a dominant and later jubilant Hollywoodbets Sharks team.
