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Cape Town - The Sharks continued their fine start to the season with a 41-3 bonus-point victory over the Griquas at King's Park in Durban on Friday.
Tries from Jeremy Ward, Jacques Vermeulen, Juan Schoeman, Cameron Wright and a brace from Sbu Nkosi proved too much for the Griquas who scored through a sole George Whitehead penalty.
The Sharks made it two wins out of two so far this season while in contrast the Griquas have lost their opening two games of the campaign.
The home side opened their account with a Ward try after just three minutes. Nkosi did well to assist the centre with a nifty offload just before being dragged into touch on the left wing.
Bosch and Whitehead exchanged penalties with the score at 10-3 after 25 minutes.
Five minutes before the interval, the Sharks scored their second try. Good work from Kobus Van Wyk and Garth April in the build-up created an overlap as the ball was switched out to Lukhanyo Am whose decision to put the grubber-kick through was vindicated when Nkosi calmly collected and finished.
Bosch made no mistake with a difficult conversion from out on the left touchline.
Shortly after the break, the Sharks scored their third and once again it came down the left wing where they continued to expose the Griquas.
Am released Ward on the overlap with the latter being brought down just inches short. From the recycled ball, Vermeulen burst over from close range.
Soon after, The Sharks got their bonus-point try when Schoeman managed to manouevre his way over after a series of powerful carries from the Sharks forwards.
With a quarter of the game to go, Nkosi grabbed his brace with a clinical finish after great interplay from Tyler Paul and Tera Mtembu to release Jean Droste. Droste showed a good turn of speed and was halted ten metres out.
The ball was recycled left and Nkosi stepped inside off the left touchline skilfully, ducking, diving and twisting himself past three defenders to dot down.
Substitute Wright put the icing on the cake with Nkosi the main catalyst for the Sharks' sixth try with an excellent break before finding Ward.
Ward provided the assist for Wright who had a clear run over the whitewash to dot down.
Bosch slotted his fourth conversion out of six to give the Sharks a 41-3 victory.
Scorers:
Sharks:
Tries: Ward, Nkosi (2), Vermeulen, Schoeman, Wright
Conversions: Bosch (4)
Penalty: Bosch
Griquas:
Penalty: Whitehead
Teams:
Sharks:
15 Garth April, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 S’busiso Nkosi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Ruan Botha (c), 4 Tyler Paul, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Thomas du Toit
Substitute: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 John-Hubert Meyer, 19 Jean Droste, 20 Tera Mtembu, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Inny Radebe
Griquas:
15 George Whitehead, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Tertius Kruger, 12 Johnathan Francke, 11 AJ Coertzen (c), 10 Andre Swarts, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Jonathan Janse van Rensburg, 7 Shaun McDonald, 6 RJ Liebenberg, 5 Pieter Janse van Vuren, 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 AJ Le Roux, 1 Devon Martinus
Substitute: 16 Wilmar Arnoldi, 17 Nicolaas Oosthuizen,18 Wandile Putuma, 19 De Wet Kruger, 20 Sias Koen, 21 Renier Botha, 22 Eric Zana
