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Durban - Marcell Coetzee scored a try at the death to give the Sharks a
bonus point along with their four for victory over the Lions as they
moved top of the Super Rugby table with a 37-23 scoreline at Kings Park
in Durban on Saturday night.
AS IT HAPPENED: Sharks v Lions
The hosts were full value for their win against a plucky visiting team that pushed hard, only for the men from Johannesburg to be outscored by four tries to two.
Paul Jordaan, Cobus Reinach and
Odwa Ndungane were the other scorers for the coastal side, while Frans
Steyn, shifted to flyhalf at the last minute due to Patrick Lambie
falling ill, produced a masterclass in kicking with 17 points.
Francois
de Klerk and Deon van Rensburg crossed for Johan Ackermann's side in
what turned out to be mere consolation points.
The Sharks began well from the outset with a try after only eight minutes, which came when Warwick Tecklenburg lost the ball in attack and it was spread wide to Lwazi Mvovo, whose grubber kick bounced kindly for Jordaan to gather after fumbling in the air on his way over.
The Lions hit straight back with two Marnitz Boshoff penalties - the first awarded when Bismarck du Plessis failed to release in a tackle and the second after Marcell Coetzee did not roll away quick enough for referee Jaco Peyper's liking.
However, an error by Willie Wepener allowed the Sharks to win three points straight back via a monster 40 metre Steyn kick as they lead by four after 21 minutes.
The Johannesburg franchise then conceded another three for not retreating 10 metres as another clean Steyn hit, this time from the halfway line, extended the advantage.
The remarkable Sharks number 10 again showed his excellent long-range kicking ability after the half hour when he landed a 55 metre kick when Ruan Combrinck was punished for a late tackle.
Boshoff won the three points back as Reinach entered a ruck from the side, but the home scrumhalf made amends in some style when he picked up the ball following a won lineout and danced his way through the defence to score on the right corner.
Ten minutes into the second half the Sharks had a third try when an attempted Elton Jantjies chip failed to clear Willem Alberts and the pieces were picked up by Coetzee as he spread wide to Ndungane to score in the right corner.
The Lions did manage to pull a try back with 17 minutes to play as De Klerk picked up at the base of a ruck and squeezed his way over.
Ryan Kankowski was subsequently sin-binned for repeated infringements during the build-up to the try and the visitors made full use of that advantage five minutes later when Van Rensburg latched onto Boshoff's well-weighted kick to set up a tense finish.
There was somewhat of an anticlimax for the Lions, though, with Corne Fourie yellow carded after 74 minutes handing the hosts a reprieve.
The Sharks made full use of that by scoring in the last minute when Coetzee drove over following a lineout.
Scorers:
Sharks
Tries: Paul Jordaan, Cobus Reinach, Odwa Ndungane, Marcell Coetzee
Conversions: Frans Steyn (4)
Penalties: Steyn (3)
Lions
Tries: Francois de Klerk, Deon van Rensburg
Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (2)
Penalties: Boshoff (3).
Sharks
15 SP Marais, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Heimar Williams, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Frans Steyn, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 Jean Deysel, 21 Charl McLeod, 22 Fred Zeilinga, 23 S'bura Sithole.
Lions
15 Marnitz Boshoff, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Deon van Rensburg, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Chrysander Botha, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley (captain), 7 Warwick Tecklenburg, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Franco Mostert, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Schalk van der Merwe
Substitutes: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 MB Lusaseni, 20 Willie Britz, 21 Ross Cronje, 22 Jacobus Jonker, 23 Coenie van Wyk
