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Edinburgh end Sharks winning streak in wet Durban

Bongi Mbonambi of the Sharks in action during their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash against Edinburgh at Kings Park in Durban.
Bongi Mbonambi of the Sharks in action during their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash against Edinburgh at Kings Park in Durban.
Image: Gerhard Duraan/BackpagePix

Despite playing in terrible weather and a waterlogged pitch, the Sharks and Edinburgh were able to deliver a captivating United Rugby Championship (URC) match at Kings Park Stadium in Durban on a rainy Saturday night.

But in the end, it was not a good night for the hosts as they lost the match by 21-5 after being 7-0 down at halftime and saw their four-match winning streak being broken just like that.

The match produced four tries, with Blair Kinghorn (2) and Emilliano Boffelli scoring for Edinburgh while Thomas du Toit scored the sole try for the Sharks.

The clash also showed confidence for their primary flyhalf Curwin Bosch is still an issue as he missed crucial kicks that the enterprising pivot normally scores.

The match started with the hosts dominating the Scottish outfit until the 13th minute when the Sharks were reduced to 14 men.

Centre Marius Louw was sent to the naughty chair after he tackled Kinghorn in the air which allowed the visitors to take the game to the Sharks.

Edinburgh took advantage of having one more man compared to the Durban-based franchise when they scored the match’s first try on 20 minutes through Kinghorn with Boffelli adding the extras to make it 7-0.

In all honesty, the home team shouldn’t have gone to half time trailing by seven points as they were absolutely brilliant on scrums and had territory for most of the half.

The Shanks welcomed back Ox Nche to the team to join Bongi Mbonambi and Du Toit in the front row and the trio scrummed like World Cup winners that they are in the clash.  

The Durbanites should have at least gone to the break at least 7-6 down but Bosch missed two penalties which were not in bad angles.

In fact, one of the penalties’ straight in front of the poles but the 24-year-old somehow still managed to send it wide.

Edinburgh also had their lock Pierce Phillips being yellow carded on the stroke of halftime, but they managed to keep the Sharks at bay during those 10-minutes they had to play with him.

The Sharks finally got their first try in the 51st minute through Du Toit but Bosch’s kicking woes continued as he missed his third kick for the poles on the night as the score remained 7-5.

However, Edinburgh, who didn't have a lot of territory in the game but capitalised on every opportunity and mistake by Sharks, replied with two more tries in the second half to put the game beyond doubt.

Boffelli scored on 56 minutes while Kinghorn completed his brace with 11 minutes to fulltime.

Unlike Bosch, Boffelli of Argentina made no mistake in all his three kicks as the Scottish marched on for the 21-5 victory miles away from home.

The Sharks missed their influential fullback Aphelele Fassi, who is injured while the Bulls-linked Sbu Nkosi missed his third game in a row, with the franchise saying he is still recovering from a a gastric intestine virus.

Scorers:

Sharks — Tries: Thomas du Toit

Edinburgh - Tries: Blair Kinghorn (2), Emilliano Boffelli Conversion: Boffelli(3)