The Hollywoodbets Sharks XV ‘s convincing Carling Currie Cup form continued on Saturday when they were well-deserved 31-23 victors over DHL Western Province in Cape Town.
It brought the Durban’s recent run to four wins and a draw in their last five games and kept them firmly in the top four with the bonus point victory.
Stung by recent results reflective of a team struggling in the competition, Western Province came out fighting from the first whistle, playing positive rugby to open the scoring with a scrum penalty inside the opening five minutes.
The home side had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory to that stage, but as the game unwound, so the momentum changed hands and some enterprising play on attack was eventually rewarded when Bradley Davids took a quick tap penalty to put Reniel Hugo into space and when he offloaded to Tino Mavesere, there was no stopping the Zimbabwean international as he scored the opening try just shy of the quarter hour, with Lionel Cronje striking well from wide out to add the extras.
Province enjoyed a period of continuity as they looked to close the gap, but some brave defence of their line from the Hollywoodbets Sharks thwarted the home side’s stuttering attack.
Province’s defence had no answer to a Jurenzo Julius break as he took the ball 35m out and threaded his way to the tryline to score his team’s second try on the half hour, with Cronje having no trouble converting for a 14-3 lead.
Another attack shortly afterwards with Eduan Keyter making huge ground led to a yellow card to Province, and from the resulting penalty, captain Nick Hatton managed to twist his way over for a TMO referred try just shy of half-time, with Cronje kicking his team into a 21-3 lead and full value for their sizable lead.
Province stunned their visitors and the crowd as the ball went loose from the kick-off exit and managed to open their try-scoring tally with a minute left to play before half-time and that was how the first half closed out, the Hollywoodbets Sharks leading 21-10.
Province came out strong in the second half, threatening another score and while they did well to work their way close, their faltering lineout proved once again to be their achilles heel with some great work amongst the Hollywoodbets Sharks forwards in competing to disrupt the set-piece.
There was a penalty eventually but it wasn’t quite the reward they were pushing for as they cut the lead to eight points in the 45th minute.
With their tails up and confidence renewed, the home side threatened another score as they had possession and territory while the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ concentration saw them conceding a number of penalties. Another TMO referral was made, this time against what would have been the bonus point try as the game hit the final quarter.
A stray boot saw the ball fortuitously come out Province’s side while the Hollywoodbets Sharks were looking to attack and further on in the movement, the home side were awarded a penalty which cut the lead to five points with a quarter of an hour remaining.
But it stung the visitors into action, a convincing attack off the lineout saw Cronje making great strides before off-loading to Eduan Keyter and there was no stopping the speeding wing as he touched down in the 66th minute for the bonus point try, and with Cronje converting, the lead was opened up again.
Province weren’t ready to give up and from one of the few lineouts they executed successfully, managed to drive over for their second try, the conversion once again making it a five point game, 28 plays 23 with 10 minutes remaining.
Sensing the possibility of what would have been an upset had Province overhauled them, the Hollywoodbets Sharks threw everything into a late attack in pursuit of a score that would push them more then seven points in the clear.
A promising effort was held up in the final few minutes of the game, but Champion Player of the Match Cronje stepped up to the plate as he calmly struck the perfect drop-goal with less than two minutes remaining to send his team into a 31-23 lead to wrap up the game.
Not enough time remained for the home side to craft any meaningful attack and the game closed out with a fine away win for the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV.
“We came here wanting to put on a good performance, it wasn’t the prettiest of wins but we’re happy to go home with five points,” captain Nick Hatton said after the game.
