Sharks hold off Stormers

Durban - Patrick Lambie kicked all the points as the Sharks bagged their second straight win in the Super Rugby campaign, securing a narrow 12-6 victory in a drab encounter against the Stormers at Kings Park on Saturday night.

The scoreless first half of the South African derby was a dour affair, with both teams hesitant to run too much with ball in hand.

They instead opted to constantly boot the ball upfield, although the visitors did manage to breach the home 22 on a few occasions.

VIDEO: Sharks v Stormers, highlights

Neither team broke the deadlock before the break, and things marginally improved after the restart with Springbok flyhalf Lambie slotting four penalties in reply to two by Joe Pietersen.

That allowed the hosts to clinch the win that moved them to second in the local conference standings and fifth overall. The Stormers, meanwhile, dropped to 12th after a second consecutive defeat.

At the start, the visitors began the brighter of the two sides, but their handling in promising positions was poor early on, allowing the Sharks to turn over possession.

Bok winger Bryan Habana twice raced down the left after clever kick-aheads, but both times the ball beat him to touch as the hosts battled to find forward movement.

They did have the first attempt on goal, though, on the stroke of the first quarter when the Stormers were penalised for handling the ball on the ground at the scrum. Lambie’s attempt from 40 metres drifted to the right.

The Sharks had another attempt, albeit an ambitious one, in the 31st minute when Deon Fourie was punished for not rolling away at the ruck, but Francois Steyn’s shot from close to 55 metres out did not have the legs to carry over.

After the restart, an infringement from Pietersen gave the home team a third kickable penalty, and this time Lambie made no mistake.

But the Cape side were back on level terms within three minutes when the hosts were punished for not rolling away following a strong maul, with Pietersen making it 3-3.

Another ruck infringement, this time by the Stormers right in front of the posts, gifted the Sharks and Lambie three more points in the 53rd minute, before the number 10 immediately added another off-side penalty to extend the advantage.

Pietersen again replied, but some line-out interference by his team-mates allowed last year’s Super Rugby finalists to regain their six-point lead, which they held till the final whistle.

Teams:


Sharks:
15. Louis Ludik, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Paul Jordaan, 12. Francois Steyn (captain), 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Patrick Lambie, 9. Cobus Reinach, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 7. Jean Deysel, 6. Marcell Coetzee, 5. Franco van der Merwe, 4. Anton Bresler, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Craig Burden, 1. Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16. Kyle Cooper, 17. Wiehahn Herbst, 18. Pieter-Steph du Toit, 19. Jacques Botes, 20. Charl McLeod, 21. Meyer Bosman, 22. Odwa Ndungane

Stormers:
15. Joe Pietersen, 14. Gio Aplon, 13. Jean de Villiers (captain), 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Elton Jantjies, 9. Nic Groom, 8. Duane Vermeulen (vice-captain), 7. Rynhardt Elstadt, 6. Siya Kolisi, 5. Andries Bekker, 4. De Kock Steenkamp, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Deon Fourie, 1. Steven Kitshoff

Substitutes: 16. Martin Bezuidenhout, 17. Pat Cilliers, 18. Don Armand, 19. Nizaam Carr, 20. Louis Schreuder, 21. Peter Grant, 22. Gerhard van den Heever