Sharks outmuscle Cheetahs

Durban - At a rainy Kings Park, the Sharks opened their Super Rugby season with a workmanlike 24-9 win over the Cheetahs on Saturday evening.

It was a pretty unattractive encounter with the conditions not conducive to running rugby, but the Sharks will be more than happy to have claimed the four log points.

The Sharks opened the scoring early on when flanker Jacques Botes barrelled over from the back of a driving maul, but flyhalf Patrick Lambie missed the conversion.

Not long after, though, Lambie made up for the earlier miss by slotting a penalty to take the home team into an 8-0 lead after 10 minutes.

With the rain coming down just before kick-off, play was rather scrappy, and the only other points of the half came via the boot of Cheetahs' flyhalf Naas Olivier when he kicked a penalty in the 34th minute.

Olivier then opened the second half scoring as he easily slotted a penalty to cut the Cheetahs' deficit back to just two points.

Lambie quickly restored the five-point lead with an impressive penalty a few minutes later, though, and not long after added another three-points to give the Durban team an eight point cushion.

The game continued to meander along before Olivier slotted his third penalty of the night in the 64th minute.

However, the Sharks virtually sealed the match when hooker Bismarck du Plessis scored from a driving lineout, taking the hosts into a 12-point lead once Lambie slotted the conversion.

Lambie’s replacement, Jacques-Louis Potgieter then well and truly sealed the result with a late penalty.

Scorers

Sharks: Tries - Jacques Botes, Bismarck du Plessis.

Conversion - Patrick Lambie.

Penalties - Lambie (3), Jacques-Louis Potgieter

Cheetahs:

Penalties - Naas Olivier (3)

Teams

Sharks:
15. Louis Ludik, 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. Stefan Terblanche, 12. Meyer Bosman, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Patrick Lambie, 9. Charl McLeod, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 7. Willem Alberts, 6. Jacques Botes, 5. Alistair Hargreaves, 4. Steven Sykes, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. John Smit (captain)

Substitutes: 16. Tendai Mtawarira, 17. Eugene van Staden, 18. Anton Bresler, 19. Keegan Daniel, 20. Conrad Hoffmann, 21. Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22. Adrian Jacobs

Cheetahs:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Philip Burger, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Ryno Benjamin, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Kabamba Floors, 7 Philip van der Walt, 6 Frans Viljoen, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Francois Uys, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen

Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Kobus Calldo, 18 Waltie Vermeulen, 19 Ashley Johnson, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Riaan Viljoen