The Sharks surged back to the top of the Absa Currie Cup log with a memorable 34-25 victory over the Vodacom Blue Bulls in a pulsating clash at Durban’s Absa Stadium on Saturday evening. The Durbanites, with 38 points from 10 matches, are now three points ahead of the second-placed Vodacom Blue Bulls on the Absa Currie Cup log after an eventful weekend’s action.

In other fixtures on Saturday, Vodacom Western Province kept their faint semifinal chances alive with a 35-17 win over the Vodacom Cheetahs and the Wildeklawer Griquas moved further away from the bottom of the log with a 48-22 win over the Boland Cavaliers. On Friday night, the Xerox Lions secured fourth position on the log with an 83-14 massacre of the Valke in Brakpan.

But it was the Sharks who found themselves in a real dog-fight at the Absa Stadium this weekend. The home team led 10-7 at half-time – but had to put up with a vintage second-half display from the Bulls, who welcomed back skipper Victor Matfield and another four Tri-Nations Boks for this crucial clash.

Afterwards, Matfield admitted: “We certainly showed tonight that South Africans can carry the ball and defend. It was a hard game, but it’s nice to be back in the Currie Cup – a tournament which is getting more exciting with each passing week.”

Sharks skipper Johann Muller – who made his return to action after an injury lay-off – was understandably a happy man and found it hard to contain his delight at the final whistle.

“We’re ecstatic to have got five points against a fantastic team,” admitted Muller.

“We knew it would be a tough game,” he added. “Wikus (van Heerden) and Deon (Stegmann) made life difficult for us on the ground and we let ourselves down in the first 20 minutes. (But) after that we settled down nicely and even though they missed a few kicks and dropped a few balls, we’ll take the points.”

Both teams scored four high quality tries, but Man of the Match Ruan Pienaar’s 14 points – he missed just one kick at goal on the night – out-trumped Morne Steyn’s normally accurate right boot, with the latter missing five kicks at goal.

“It was a team effort, everyone was a Man of the Match,” said the modest Sharks No.9, who added: “We showed good courage to come back after conceding two tries in the second half.”

Saturday’s other big game saw Vodacom Western Province claim a 35-17 bonus point victory over defending champions, the Vodacom Free State Cheetahs, at Vodacom Park. Whilst this result did not cause any movement on the Absa Currie Cup, it has kept Vodacom WP’s play-off hopes on track for at least another week.

The visitors, buoyed by the return of seven Springboks that played against the Wallabies last weekend, led 18-17 at half-time, keeping the Vodacom Cheetahs scoreless in the second half as they ended their unbeaten record at Bloemfontein – the Free Staters having not lost an Absa Currie Cup match at home since August 5, 2006.

Fit-again Bok flyhalf Peter Grant – who missed the entire home Tri-Nations leg with a shoulder injury – impressed with the boot, slotting three conversions and three penalties as his team recovered from an early try by young Cheetahs winger Wilton Pietersen.

Vodacom WP skipper Jean de Villiers, leading his team in the Absa Currie Cup for the first time, scored WP’s all-important fourth try – a length-of-the-field intercept – shortly before the full-time whistle.

More importantly for WP, however, it also denied the Cheetahs any points on the day, despite the visitors being forced to finish the match with just 14 players when all-action Bok flanker Schalk Burger received his second yellow card in the match.

“To be honest, I don’t think the scoreline was a true reflection of the game,” said Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske. “WP scored some opportunistic tries, but we just didn’t take our chances on the day.”

All is not lost for the defending champions, however, with Drotske adding: “We’re actually in a fortunate position. Our last two league matches are against the Valke and Boland at home, teams we should be expected to beat as we look for that home semifinal, whilst WP have to play the Lions on the last weekend with a possible semifinal place up for grabs.”

Whilst Vodacom WP’s fourth win of the season kept their semifinal chances alive, it also saw them keep their noses in front of the Wildeklawer Griquas, who stretched their gap on the log over the Valke and the Boland Cavaliers with a 48-22 victory over the latter in Kimberley.

Springbok Sevens ace MJ Mentz – who scored a hat-trick against the Valke a fortnight ago – kept his try-scoring form up by collecting two more tries, whilst fellow winger Bjorn Basson racked up a hat-trick of his own.

Friday night’s Valke-Xerox Lions clash produced a scoreline of monumental proportions as the visitors put the home team to the sword by 83-14, scoring 13 tries to two against a side that had the potential to trip up their Gauteng neighbours.

The Valke actually started the stronger of the two teams, with right-wing Dewald Pretorius benefiting from a kind bounce to put his team ahead by 7-0. That was to be it, however, as the Lions answered back in emphatic fashion; Jaco van Schalkwyk, Michael Killian, Doppies la Grange, Ethienne Reynecke and Rayno Benjamin all scoring doubles.

But the Lions will be worried after losing lock Gerhard Mostert and scrumhalf Chris Jonck with injuries, whilst fullback Jaco van Schalkwyk was red-carded for a spear tackle in the 63rd minute.

“A big win is always nice,” said Xerox Lions coach Eugene Eloff, “but we always need to keep our feet firmly on the ground.

“We’re not even thinking about a home semifinal at this stage. Griquas are next for us and that’s what we’ll be concentrating on from Monday.”

Top points-scorers:

141 – Earl Rose (Xerox Lions)
125 – Morné Steyn (Vodacom Blue Bulls)
84 – Chris Rossouw (Vodacom Free State Cheetahs)
75 – Willem de Waal (Vodacom WP)
72 – Conrad Barnard (Wildeklawer Griquas)

Top try-scorers:

7 – Jacques Botes (The Sharks), MJ Mentz (Wildeklawer Griquas)

6 – Bjorn Basson (Wildeklawer Griquas)

5 – Earl Rose (Xerox Lions), Doppies la Grange (Xerox Lions), Keegan Daniel (Sharks), Wynand Olivier (Vodacom Blue Bulls)

4 – John Mametsa (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Tiger Mangweni (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Wikus van Heerden (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Willie Wepener (Xerox Lions), Jaco Pretorius (Xerox Lions), Rayno Benjamin (Xerox Lions), Dewald Pretorius (Valke), Fabian Juries (Vodacom FS Cheetahs)

3 – John Daniels (Boland Cavaliers), Danwel Demas (Boland Cavaliers), Chris Jordaan (Sharks), Waylon Murray (Sharks), Rouan Cloete (Valke), Ernie Kruger (Valke), Pedrie Wannenburg (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Wilton Pietersen (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Hendro Scholtz (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Wylie Human (Vodacom WP), Sarel Pretorius (Wildeklawer Griquas), Franco van der Merwe (Xerox Lions), Jano Vermaak (Xerox Lions), Jaco van Schalkwyk (Xerox Lions).

Source: sarugby.com