Sharks' scrumhalf Grant Williams. Picture: Peter Fitzpatrick/Action Plus/Shutterstock via BackpagePix
Durban — Ultimately there was an air of unfortunate predictability about this United Rugby Championship quarter-final in Dublin which saw the Sharks put in a gutsy effort only to be outplayed and outclassed by a slick Leinster team, losing 35-5
The headline on the story could have been written before kick-off. Something like “Brave Sharks go down fighting” but that would have been too kind because the lack of creativity among the backs and the clumsy mistakes showed just how much work incoming coach John Plumtree has in front of him.
There was also some flimsy defence from a couple of the backs and two yellow cards — one near the beginning of the game and one towards the end — obviously did not help.
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To have a chance the Sharks needed to start well and they had an early moment of magic. It was almost inevitable that it came in the form of one of the quickest players in the gamem Grant Williams. The scrumhalf spotted a gap next to a ruck, exploded out of the blocks and left the defence for dead for a fantastic solo score.
It was a pity that Boeta Chamberlain couldn’t kick the fairly easy conversion but a 5-0 lead after seven minutes was an excellent start. However, the Sharks would not trouble the scorers again.
They held onto the lead for seven more minutes before No.8 Caelan Doris, off the back of lineout maul, crashed through an attempted tackle by Makazola Mapimpi and to add insult to injury the Sharks’ left wing was binned for a high tackle.
It was a very tough call even if in line with the letter of the inflexibly stupid law. Minutes later the 14-man Sharks conceded a second try. This time it was prop Michael Milne who smashed over from close quarters.
A minute later the Sharks were in deep trouble when right wing Jordan Larmour made the most of having no opposite number and scored his team’s third. That means the visitors conceded 14 points in the ten minutes they were a man down.
The one area where the Sharks were dominant was the set scrum and a second penalty was kicked to the corner only for the maul to be halted centimetres short and they then conceded a penalty.
Carlu Sadie came on early for injured Thomas du Toit and he made merry at every scrum.
The scrum penalties kept coming and when the Sharks were awarded one straight in front of the Leinster posts, just before half time, they opted to scrum once more but then criminally gave away a free kick.
That was twice the Sharks would have been better served by pointing points on the board via the boot.
Right on half time the Sharks won another penalty and this time Chamberlain kicked for goal, but missed to leave the score at 21-5.
Ten minutes into the second half it was all over bar more Leinster scoring when a typically patient build-up eventually put the wing Dave Kearney into space and he jogged home for his team’s fourth try.
A parlous situation for the Sharks deteriorated further when Chamberlain pulled up with a groin injury and rookie Nevaldo Fleurs had to come on at flyhalf for the final quarter.
It was feared that the flood gates would but the Sharks hung on and for minute or two it seemed they had been the next to score with eight minutes to go, when Williams created a gap for Rohan Janse van Rensburg to dart over. However, the TMO ruled that James Venter had entered a ruck dangerously and the try was disallowed and the flank sin-binned.
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Leinster then went to the other end of the field and scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park scored the easiest of tries.
Point-Scorers
Sharks 5 — Tries: Grant Williams.
Leinster 35 — Tries: Caelan Doris, Michael Milne, Jordan Larmour, Dave Kearney, Jamison Gibson-Park. Conversions: Harry Byrne (3), Ross Byrne.
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