Sharks overpower Sunwolves

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The Sharks scored six tries as they claimed an emphatic 45-10 bonus-point win over the Sunwolves in Singapore on Saturday. CRAIG LEWIS reports.

The Durban-based side will be more than satisfied with this start to their season. Despite a scrappy opening quarter, the Sharks’ forwards soon established ascendancy, while snuffing out any fighting spirit from the Sunwolves.

The Sharks will face greater challenges as the season progresses, but traditional strengths such as their scrum and maul look as solid as ever, while there were some lovely pieces of play from a talented backline.

In front of a small crowd in Singapore, the Sharks made a shaky start to proceedings, with the Sunwolves striking the first significant blow when Shane Gates finished off a superb try in the 10th minute.

Errors kept creeping in from the Sharks, and although they did hit back with a try to Akker van der Merwe, a new-look Sunwolves side would have taken great heart from their efforts in the opening half an hour. Unfortunately for them, it didn’t last.

The Sharks were enjoying some good gains at the scrums and mauls, though, and repeatedly opted to kick penalties to the corner rather than the posts. It was a decision that paid off when Dan du Preez powered over the tryline in the 35th minute.

With scrumhalf Louis Schreuder also enjoying a solid first half, it was a lovely piece of wraparound play from him that created the space for Lukhanyo Am and S’bu Nkosi to combine for the latter to score a beautifully worked try. It allowed the Sharks to take a rather flattering 14-point lead into half-time.

Soon after the restart, the Sharks took further control of proceedings as Am once again did wonderfully to straighten the line, draw a couple of defenders and then put Makazole Mapimpi away for the team’s fourth try.

At 31-10 down, matters went from bad to worse for the Sunwolves as they were reduced to 14 men after repeated infringements. Van der Merwe added another try in the 65th minute, while Jeremy Ward went over soon after as the Sharks ran away with the result.

Sunwolves – Try: Shane Gates. Conversion: Hayden Parker. Penalty: Parker.
Sharks – Tries: Akker van der Merwe (2), Dan du Preez, S’bu Nkosi, Makazole Mapimpi, Jeremy Ward. Conversions: Rob du Preez (5), Rhyno Smith. Penalty: Du Preez.

Sunwolves – 15 Gerhard van den Heever, 14 Semisi Masirewa, 13 Shane Gates, 12 Phil Burleigh, 11 Rene Ranger, 10 Hayden Parker, 9 Kaito Shigeno, 8 Rahboni Warren Vosayaco, 7 Ed Quirk, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 James Moore, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Asaeli Valu, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Craig Millar.
Subs: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Sam Prattley, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Awe Helu, 20 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Michael Little.

Sharks – 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 André Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Louis Schreuder (c), 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Tyler Paul, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Hyron Andrews, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Akker van Merwe, Tendai Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Gideon Koegelenberg, 20 Phendulani Buthelezi, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Rhyno Smith, 23 Jeremy Ward.

Photo: EPA/Wallace Woon

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Craig Lewis