The Sharks scored a full compliment of log points when they beat the visiting Blue Bulls 34-28 at The Absa Stadium Durban on Saturday evening.
Last week's defeat goaded The Sharks into action as they came to their home ground itching for a big contest. And true to form, the Blue Bulls were up for them as much as they were up for the men from Pretoria.


As expected with matches between these two teams, the rugby was tough and uncompromising and there was no shortage of commitment from either side.

Although the visitors scored first, The Sharks, through Craig Burden and then Patrick Lambie took the lead after the first half hour as the fiery hooker side-stepped the defense to score under the posts after a protracted build-up of phase after phase of pressure play. The Sharks showed incredible patience for which they were duly rewarded.

Burden was denied a second try by the TMO moments after Keegan Daniel too was ruled out before dotting down in the other corner with The Sharks enjoying the ascendancy on attack.

Although the possession stakes were fairly evenly shared, territorially, a higher percentage of the game had been played in the Bulls half than The Sharks' and the home side went into the half-time break with a narrow 10-8 lead, but certainly the better side over the first 40 minutes.

Lwazi Mvovo showed great composure, pace and strength as he powered over for his team's second try early in the second half while The Sharks pack was pushing the Bulls off their own ball at the scrum, taking further ascendancy in the game.

The “experiment” of playing Patrick Lambie at centre paid off for The Sharks as he constantly kept the opposition guessing with his varied and intelligent play and his distribution providing the backline with impetus on attack.

With crisp service provided by Charl McLeod off the great platform provided by the forwards who were in no mood to be dominated, the backline was in sparking form.

With five minutes remaining, The Sharks were in a spot of bother after the Bulls had scored and pulled themselves to within three points, but a quick-fire brace of tries, firstly to Lwazi Mvovo and then Keegan Daniel (pictured) with the perfect chip and chase put paid to the best intentions of the visitors who had moments before had a sniff of victory, only to see it stolen from under their noses.

The Bulls scored a consolation try in the dying moments and then Jacques-Louis Potgieter kicked a pressure conversion to earn a bonus point for losing by less than seven.

Losing captain Gary Botha said afterwards that, “it isn't easy playing the Sharks here. You have to take your opportunities when get them and turn them into points and that's what The Sharks did tonight. We can feel we've been in a derby match.”

Sharks captain Stefan Terblanche said, “It was a typical derby and great to be back home. We were disappointed after last week but the boys did it tonight. At 24-11 up, the Bulls came back at us but we did enough at the end to win. They had the upper hand late in the game but I'm just proud of the boys that we did enough.”

Crowd: 25 573

Referee: Jason Jaftha

The Sharks: 34 (10)
Tries: Craig Burden, Lwazi Mvovo (2), Keegan Daniel (2)
Conversions: Patrick Lambie (3)
Penalties: Patrick Lambie (1)

Blue Bulls: 28 (8)
Tries: Gerrit-Jan van Velze, Dean Greyling, Gerard van den Heever
Conversions: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (2)
Penalties: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (3)

http://www.sharksrugby.co.za/news/ge.../Sharks_on_Top