Sharks accomplish their mission

It was mission accomplished for the Sharks at the ABSA Stadium in Durban on Friday night, as they recorded a comfortable 34-16 win over the Pumas in their Currie Cup Round Three encounter. It was also a victory for Sharks coach Dick Muir's dual-squad system, as this win was achieved without too much fuss by a team featuring eight new caps.

At five tries to one it looks like the Sharks were totally dominant and in many instances they were - but for a string of unforced errors that kept the Pumas in the game for 70 of the 80 minutes.

It was certainly not all positive.

The game produced lots of excitement, with both teams keen on running at every opportunity. But there was no sign of any constructive rugby from either side, certainly not in a very scrappy second half.

The Sharks in particular wasted nine kickable penalty goals. Add to that a string of penalties conceded, spilled ball and turnovers inside the Pumas territory and you have a good idea of how much possession they wasted.

The ankle injury of fullback Brett Hennessey will also be of some concern to Muir.

But as we stated, it is mission accomplished - a win, five points and first place on the standings for at least 24 hours.

From the outset it was obvious the Sharks were going to play and expansive game. But this helter-skelter approach didn't always bring the required results.

In fact the Pumas opened the scoring, a fourth-minute Casper Steyn penalty.

But a minute later the Sharks did score their first try - not from a flashy backline move, but through a big maul by the forwards that saw them carry the ball up 30 metres before it collapsed. From the heap of bodies it went left quickly where Craig Burden took the inside pass from fly-half Steve Meyer to barge over. Meyer added the extras.

Another Steyn penalty put the Pumas just one point behind, before new fly-half Pieter Benade went over for his team's only first-half try - when he found oodles of space with just forwards covering. He pinned his ears back and beat the big men for pace. Steyn added the conversion for a 13-7 lead.

The Sharks continued with their expansive approach and at times paid the price, as they kept turning over ball at crucial times.

The next try, for the Sharks, also came from a maul, with Wouter Moore benefiting from the Sharks pack's superiority.

Scrum-half Sandile Nxumalo scored the Sharks' next two tries, as they collected the bonus point before the break.

The first was from a turnover ball, with flank Keegan Daniel starting the counter and Nxumalo breaking from a subsequent ruck and beating the cover. The next was even better. From a scrum he broke on the inside, stepped inside another defender and then raced  over.

In between those two tries Steyn slotted a great drop-goal, while Meyer converted both the Nxumalo tries to see the half-time score stand at 26-16.

The second half did not start on a good note for the Pumas, with flank Duane Vermeulen being yellow carded in the 42nd minute for a very dangerous tackle - not just dangerous, nearly decapitating Brett Hennessey, but also very late.

And a Meyer penalty four minutes later further compounded the visitors' problems.

But now the Sharks' lost their focus and not only did their rate of turnovers conceded increased, they lost a tighthead in the scrums and gave away a string of penalties.

Instead of sealing the victory, they left the back door open for a Pumas comeback. The numerous unforced errors kept giving possession to the visitors.

The Pumas had their moments, but they too struggled to find some kind of finishing form.

And the game in general had lost any structure that may have existed.

Eventually, in the 72nd minute, the result was put beyond doubt through a second try by Burden. But this also came from a mistake, a poor Puma pass landed on the ground, Burden hacked ahead, followed up, kicked ahead twice more before getting a favourable bounce and racing over.

There was a bit more helter-skelter stuff from both teams in the final 10 minutes, but the game ended in the same sorry mess that marked most of the second half - knock-ons and turnovers on both sides.

The scorers:

For the Sharks:
Tries: Burden 2, Moore, Nxumalo 2
Cons: Meyer 3
Pen: Meyer

For the Pumas:
Try: Benade
Con: Steyn
Pens: Steyn 2
DG: Steyn

Teams:

Sharks: 15 Brett Hennessey, 14 Dusty Noble, 13 Okkie Vermeulen, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Craig Burden, 10 Steve Meyer, 9 Sandile Nxumalo, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jaco Gouws (captain), 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Steven Sykes, 4 Wouter Moore, 3 Danie Saayman, 2 Skipper Badenhorst, 1 Kees Lensing.
Replacements: 16 Jody Jenneker, 17 Sangoni Mxoli, 18 Nikolai Blignaut, 19 Conrad Stoltz, 20.Scott Mathie, 21 Gcobani Bobo, 22 Mzwandile Stick.

Pumas: 15 Casper Steyn, 14 Sasha Marot, 13 Sam Gerber, 12 Hendrik Meyer, 11 Hyron Thysse, 10 Pieter Benade, 9 Ashieq Wise, 8 Riaan van der Merwe (captain), 7 Danzel Manuel, 6 Duane Vermeulen, 5 Jacques Lombard, 4 Bokkie Swanepoel, 3 Johan Prins, 2 Ashton Constant, 1 Jacques Muller.
Replacements: 16 Frikkie de Jager, 17 Simon-Peter Blakeley, 18 Jonathan van der Schyff, 19 Corné Steenkamp, 20 Neil Cole, 21 Arno Coetzee, 22 Neil Visagie.

Referee: JC Fortuin (Western Province)
Touch judges: Johann Meuwesen (Eastern Province), Michael Cupido Golden Lions)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (Boland)