Two late penalty tries helped the Stormers earn a draw from their United Rugby Championship clash against the Sharks on Saturday.
Durban — After the Stormers had beaten the Bulls last week, John Dobson spoke of a special camaraderie in the team that transcends the need for superstars and his charges duly underlined their coach’s words by somehow burgling a draw at Hollywoodbets Kings Park when for so long the Sharks seemed to have the game won.
The match ended 22-22 after the Capetonians had come back from the dead to forced two penalty tries, and while the Stormers will be celebrating the shared points in this United Rugby Championship fixture, the Sharks will be wondering how on earth they conspired to draw game when they had almost all of the momentum.
A super scrumming effort by the Sharks forwards should have ensured their team of a comfortable win over the Stormers but they did not convert domination into points while the Stormers doggedly held on and then snuck through the back door to snatch the draw.
Now breathe…
Incredible character from both teams 👏@SharksRugby 🆚 @THESTORMERS lived up to expectations #URC | #SHAvSTO pic.twitter.com/IJNqO1jAp6
— United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) January 29, 2022
The Stormers host the Sharks this week in Cape Town in a return fixture and foremost on their agenda will be how to arrest a set scrum that was in reverse gear most of the evening, and it was fully deserved when there was a standing ovation from the 2,000-strong crowd when the Sharks front row of Thomas du Toit, Bongi Mbonambi and Ox Nche came off late in the game.
As early as the fifth minute the rampant Sharks’ forwards turned over the ball near the Stormers’ line and then in a payback of sorts, Makazole Mapimpi came into the line from the blindside and flung a superb pass out to his usual provider, Lukhanyo Am, and the centre cantered over for the easiest of scores.
The first quarter almost completely belonged to the Sharks but their discipline was again questionable and after a series of penalties, including a yellow card for Am for a professional foul, Manie Libbok kicked his team’s first points of the match.
His opposite number, Boeta Chamberlain, kicked three points when the Sharks won their second scrum penalty after having missed an earlier conversion attempt.
At the half-hour mark, Chamberlain was pinged for taking too long to take a penalty attempt. His goal-kicking percentage is not the best, so this kind of setback is not going to do his confidence much good.
The Stormers’ scrum kept creaking, and another penalty was conceded but while Chamberlain this time made the time limit, his accuracy was once more no good.
The final five minutes of the first half saw a deluge of Sharks assaults on the Stormers’ line but they held firm before Chamberlain, who is so iffy with his goal-kicking, nailed a drop from a Stormers’ drop out.
Chamberlain has kicked three drop goals in a match overseas in the URC so maybe it is not overly flippant to suggest this should be his preferred method of taking shots at goal!
The Sharks opened the scoring in the second half thanks to a sensational combined effort by Aphelele Fassi and — inevitably — Mapimpi, with the fullback darting around the blind side of a ruck and grubbering through for the left wing to finish sweetly.
And when Chamberlain converted yet another scrum penalty into points, the Sharks should have been over the hills and far away at 19-3, with all the momentum behind them, only for Damian Willemse to snatch a try after neat work by Warrick Gelant, and the door was opened for the visitors.
Chamberlain edged the Sharks into a 22-15 lead but the final minutes were all about the Stormers pushing for a seven-pointer to draw the game and there was an inevitability about them doing it.
