The Hollywoodbets Sharks delivered a quite incredible second half performance, showing character and belief to secure a 44-all draw against the Airlink Pumas in a pulsating Carling Currie Cup clash on Saturday afternoon.
Facing a 19-point half-time deficit, the Hollywoodbets Sharks showed great courage and fight in the second half to secure three log points from the game.
The hosts opened the scoring with a piece of individual excellence, the cross-kick perfectly sent to the wing who made no mistake securing possession and scoring in the sixth minute for a converted try lead.
The Pumas doubled their try count when the ball was taken from the halfway line and defences out of alignment, attacking space and successfully getting over after a quarter hour to build on their advantage in the possession stats for a 12-0 lead.
Lionel Cronje got the Hollywoodbets Sharks onto the scoreboard with a penalty a few minutes later as the Pumas infringed during a promising attack from the visiting Durbanites.
But the Pumas weren’t to be discouraged and built up a head of steam with a strong driving maul before getting over for their third try in the 23rd minute to compound the visitors’ woes.
At 17-3 down, the Hollywoodbets Sharks were in trouble, but it was the hosts who weren’t letting up, a well-worked, patient build-up, taking the ball down one side, then cross-field to the other before going over in the corner for the bonus point try three minutes later for a 24-3 lead.
With eight minutes remaining, wing Eduan Keyter showed why he is so highly rated when he powered his way through the defence to score his team’s opening try after a good build-up and some outstanding work from the outstanding Junior Bok Jurenzo Julius.
There was time for one last score, the Pumas kicking their first penalty on the stroke of half-time to take a 27-8 lead into the break.
The second half started on a perfect note, a quite brilliant break from Zimbabwean international Tino Mavesere who appeared to be held up, but then freed himself from the defence and made huge yardage before the ball was recycled and then sent to Jaco Williams for the youngster to score the second try, inside two minutes of the half, together with the conversion cutting the lead to 12 points.
The confidence was up and it resulted in the third try, Lili Bester chasing an attempted clearance kick, making the stop and then chasing the loose ball to score his first senior try for the Hollywoodbets Sharks. Cronje converted and the game had suddenly opened up completely at 27-22 in the hosts’ favour.
The educated boot of Cronje delivered the third try in just 11 minutes, a grubber through for loose forward Jannes Potgieter to run onto after Mavesere had once again made a barnstorming run and at 27-all, there was nothing between the two sides.
But the Pumas weren’t down and out just yet and crafted their fifth try off a scrum, their pacey attack landing the seven-pointer that took them back into the lead with 25 minutes remaining.
The home side went 14 points clear with a push-over try after the Hollywoodbets Sharks had lost Lionel Cronje to the sin-bin for a high tackle after the game had hit the final quarter, but Captain Courageous Nick Hatton showed great strength to drive his way over and Bradley Davids added the extras for the lead to revert back to seven points, 41-34 with 15 minutes left in the high-scoring match.
With eight minutes to go, the Hollywoodbets Sharks had somehow conspired to draw level, Dan Jooste managing to drive over after a sustained close-quarter attack, Davids converted and the teams were tied once more.
Going into the final two minutes, Champion Man of the Match Davids’ 100% success rate with the boot sent his team into the lead for the first time in the game, converting a tricky penalty to set up a thrilling final few moments with the Hollywoodbets Sharks leading 44-41.
Unfortunately, a scrum penalty saw the hosts kick themselves into a draw in the last action of the game, but what a game!
Captain Nick Hatton was full of praise for his side afterwards, saying, “That was great fight from us, but we’re disappointed because it looked like we were winning the game in the last 20; we showed great fight to get back into the game.”
