Courageous Sharks hold on to defeat Bulls in Durban

The Sharks continued their march up the United Rugby Championship points table when they eked out a precious 20-17 win over the Bulls at Kings Park on Saturday.

They were forced to dig deep after suffering late withdrawals with several high-profile players unavailable through injury and illness.

It was a typically tense derby, with the Sharks crucially starting and finishing the stronger team. They were under the cosh in the set pieces but their superior game management helped them carry the day.

In that regard the Hendrikse brothers, Jordan and Jaden, played their part, as did hard-running inside centre André Esterhuizen.

The Sharks ran into a 10-0 lead by the 19th minute, with all the scoring coming through the Hendrikse brothers. Flyhalf Jordan got the ball rolling with a penalty in the sixth minute and the hosts went further ahead when scrumhalf Jaden scored a converted try in the 18th minute.

The Bulls' riposte was five minutes in the making. They eked out metres, eventually setting up a moment for loose forward Cameron Hanekom to show his bloody-mindedness in the carry before Embrose Papier stepped up to telling effect. That left the hosts exposed and Bulls flanker Cobus Wiese ran onto the Papier pass to score. Johan Goosen duly converted — but the Bulls weren’t done.

The visitors continued to forge ahead and few embody that exercise at close quarters better than centre Harold Vorster. He barged his way over the line in the 28th minute for another try that was converted by Goosen.

By then the visitors were firmly in the ascendancy. They were starting to boss the collisions, no more tellingly than in the scrum. It served to have an enervating impact on the hosts and by the break the Sharks had conceded seven penalties to the Bulls’ one.

The home team’s scrum continued to suffer despite a change in front-row personnel. Crucially in the 45th minute, however, Sharks centre Esterhuizen exacted a turnover on his own try line to repel an attack that might otherwise have proved a huge psychological blow to the hosts.

Though the Bulls nudged further ahead thanks to a Goosen penalty in the 47th minute, the Sharks were starting to make territorial inroads through their tactical kicking.

Their attacking endeavour and precision from the boot helped fashion an outcome in the 52nd minute they would not have believed possible in their wildest dreams. They surged up field from deep and the Bulls were scrambling in defence after Jordan Hendrikse chipped ahead towards the visitors’ try line.

Bulls winger Sebastian de Klerk was deemed to have denied Makazole Mapimpi a try-scoring opportunity when he knocked the ball dead with the Boks winger looming menacingly in the 52nd minute. That penalty try to the resultant red card proved crucial.

Bulls props Gerhard Steenekamp and Wilco Louw were withdrawn from the action in the 58th minute and suddenly the scrums were few and far between.

At 17-all the game became more tense as the battle for territory intensified.

Jordan Hendrikse missed two penalties in the final quarter before he landed one in the 70th minute to hand the hosts a telling three-point lead.

Goosen had an opportunity to level matters in the 72nd minutes but missed to the right from an acute angle.

The Bulls, however, maintained their dominance in the scrum and when the Sharks transgressed in that facet again, Goosen had another crack from long range. He hit the left upright, but the Sharks through Phepsi Buthelezi fluffed their lines in trying to exit. It handed the Bulls another opportunity — this time with greater promise. However, they came up short in the resulting mauls — and as a result, on the scoreboard.

Scorers

Sharks (10) 20 — Try: Jaden Hendrikse, penalty try. Conversion: Jordan Hendrikse. Penalties: Jordan Hendrikse (2).

Bulls (14) 17 — Tries: Cobus Wiese, Harold Vorster. Conversions: Johan Goosen (2). Penalty: Goosen.