Sharks overcome discipline issues to beat Harlequins

The Sharks rose above their poor discipline to open their Champions Cup campaign with a thrilling 39-31 win over dangerous English Premiership side the Harlequins at Kings Park Stadium in Durban on Saturday afternoon. 

The Durbanites looked to be on course for a comfortable win as they led 22-14 at halftime but they become their own worst enemies, thanks to ill-discipline that saw them being reduced to 13 men in the final 20 minutes of the clash.

Bongi Mbonambi, Makazole Mapimpi (2), Werner Kok and Boeta Chamberlain all scored for the Sharks as they secured a bonus-point win.

The Quins will not return home empty-handed though as they got a losing bonus point for their five tries from Josh Bassett (2), William Evans and André Esterhuizen (2).

Apart from the discipline matter, it was an encouraging performance from the Neil Powell-led Sharks who have disappointed for a long time despite top players in their set-up.

They were probably the biggest disappointment in the previous United Rugby Championship (URC) season where their campaign ended in the quarterfinals.

The unsatisfactory performances which made a mockery of the Sharks’ US-based owners’ sizeable investment led to the sacking of head coach Sean Everitt.

With more than 10 Springbok players in his set-up, Everitt was fingered for failing to get the best out of them.

On Saturday, it was the Harlequins who drew first blood early in the game in Durban as it looked like it was going to be another tough day in the office for the hosts.

The visitors piled massive pressure on the Sharks which the home side struggled to deal with and Bassett went over the line for the first try of the match after six minutes of play.

However, the Sharks didn’t lose their composure as they took the game to the English side and dominated.

The hosts’ dominance resulted in them scoring three back-to-back tries courtesy of Mbonambi and Mapimpi, who completed his brace in a space of eight minutes.

Mapimpi’s second try was something of brilliance from Jaden Hendrikse who delivered a sublime pass to the scorer from a Sharks scrum.

The first half saw some excellent play from Sharks players such as Phendulani “Phepsi” Buthelezi, Curwin Bosch, Hendrikse, Kok and Ox Nche, who had a busy time in the scrums and outclassed fellow Springbok Wilco Louw.

It looks like the injury-forced break did Bosch a lot of good as he now looks to have regained his confidence.

In his first match back for the black and white last week, Bosch delivered a man of the match performance against the Ospreys in the URC and he was also good in the victory over the Quins.

Though the Sharks were up front in the first half, the Quins dominated possession and territory which was why they were able to score their second try through Evans to reduce the deficit heading into the final stanza.

The Harlequins continued to dominate possession and territory but it was the Sharks who managed to cross the whitewash first through an impressive Kok.

The former Sevens rugby man showed sheer brilliance when he kicked the ball from his own half and ran after it to score his try.

But the Sharks struggled with discipline as they lost Mbonambi to the naughty chair for repeated infringements on 58 minutes.

Two minutes later his front row partner Nche was shown red for a dangerous tackle and gave the Harlequins a crucial lifeline.

The English side did use the two-man advantage as Esterhuizen scored two tries against his former club while Bassett also completed his brace with three minutes to play.

With only one point separating the two sides in the last minute, the Sharks produced another great play as Chamberlain went over the line to give the hosts a 39-31 win.

SCORERS

Sharks: Try: Bongi Mbonambi, Makazole Mapimpi (2), Werner Kok, Boeta Chamberlain Conversions: Curwin Bosch (4) Penalties: Bosch (2)

Harlequins: Try: Josh Bassett (2), William Evans, André Esterhuizen (2) Conversions: Tommaso Allan (2), Will Edwards

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