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Johannesburg - The Sharks XV led for the duration of their encounter against the travelling SWD Eagles and ran out comfortable victors at 27-10 (halftime 17-7) in the Vodacom Cup match played at Kings Park in Durban, Durban on early Saturday afternoon.
The difference between the two sides was quite stark as the hosts had two Springboks in their team alongside a number who have played Super Rugby.
Lock Marco Wentzel and winger Tonderai Chavanga both have played test matches in the green and gold while SWD had a few players who probably might have asked their autographs after the match.
Flyhalf Karlo Aspeling tried to get the visitors on the board with an early penalty attempt but his effort was unsuccessful.
After the spate of injuries suffered by senior players it was time for some of the younger players in the Sharks setup to put their hands up and young flyhalf Tim Swiel took his oppurtunity.
Swiel scored a penalty, try and conversion in quick session to take the home-side out to a 10-0 lead.
Captain and hooker Monde Hadebe added a second try for his team after 24 minutes and Swiel made it 17-0 with his conversion.
It seemed as if Aspeling had left his kicking boots back in George as he missed a penalty shortly thereafter.
The Eagles gave themselves a small chance when eightman Alwyn Bester scored just before halftime and Aspeling finally succeeded with a kick to make it 17-7 at the break.
Swiel missed a penalty before Aspeling narrowed the gap to 17-10 after 53 minutes of action.
The hosts took their lead back to seven points when Swiel slotted a second penalty and were looking to secure the match going into the final quarter.
A number of changes saw the match lose any semblance of form and it was only in the last minute that Neil Maritz went over for the third try.
The conversion by Swiel made it 24-10 and the Sharks kept their 100% start to the season with four victories in a row.
Scores:
Sharks XV: Tries: Monde Hadebe, Neil Maritz and Tim Swiel. Conversions: Swiel (3); Penalties: Swiel (2)
SWD Eagles: Try: Alwyn Bester; Conversion: Karlo Aspeling; Penalty: Aspeling.
