Vodacom Cup
Sharks XV through to semis
2011-04-30 19:34
Email | Print
Cape Town - The Sharks XV have gone through to the semi-finals of the Vodacom Cup
with a tense 21-19 (halftime 15-8) win over Western Province at
Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.
The semi-finals will see the Blue Bulls play Griquas, and the Sharks XV
play the Pampas XV. The venues and times are to be confirmed by SA
Rugby.
In a scrappy match that never truly got going, it was the Sharks XV who
opened the scoring in the 13th minute when right wing Mark Richards was
freed down the right-hand touchline and succeeded in breaking through
four would-be WP tacklers to dot down in the corner.
Province equalised four minutes later from a turnover on their 10-metre
line that saw the ball spun quickly to left wing JJ Engelbrecht, whose
long legs carried him past the Sharks’ cover defence for a try-scoring
run down the grandstand touchline.
Sharks flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter broke the deadlock on the half
hour when he slotted a penalty for the Sharks, cancelled out five
minutes later by WP ‘s debutant flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis, a late
call-up after Peter Grant failed a fitness test for the Stormers.
The Sharks XV gained some crucial breathing space just before the break
when eighthman Marcell Coetzee was given an armchair ride down the
right-hand touchline from a scrum before feeding unmarked scrumhalf
Cobus Reinach on his outside.
Potgieter’s touchline conversion made it 15-8 and the flyhalf extended
the lead to 10 points with a second penalty early in the second half.
Catrakilis also slotted a second penalty, with 21 minutes left, to cut
the deficit to a converted try and then nailed a third to make it 18-14.
But Potgieter was equal to the task in this tit-for-tat kicking display,
kicking his second penalty with 11 minutes left to restore the
seven-point buffer.
With three minutes to go, WP put together a string of phases that saw
right wing Danie Poolman dive over, but Catrakilis couldn’t convert from
an acute angle to in all likelihood force the game into extra time.
Scorers:
Western Province 19– Tries: JJ Engebrecht, Danie Poolman. Penalties: Demetri Catrakilis (3).
Sharks XV 21– Tries: Mark Richards, Cobus Reinach. Conversion: Jacques-Louis Potgieter. Penalties: Potgieter (3).