A year is an eternity in rugby and it is hard to believe that the Sharks side that yesterday delivered a champion performance in defeating Munster 41-24 in Durban were rock bottom of the United Rugby Championship last year.
There were periods in this game were Eben Etzebeth’s team looked unstoppable and Munster, a team the Sharks had never beaten before and won the title in 2023, looked clueless.
This is what John Plumtree’s team can do when it is packed with current Springboks and it is reassuring for Sharks supporters to know that they will have Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, et al when the tournament resumes in December.
As Etzebeth said at the end of the game: “There was some excellent stuff from us today and two weeks in a row we have beaten teams that recently won the title.”
The Bok bruiser is referring to consecutive wins at Hollywoodbets Kings Park over current champions Glasgow and last season’s winners, Munster.
The displeasing aspect of the Sharks’ performances over the last fortnight has been the late flurry of scores by opposition that had been outclassed for 70 minutes of the game.
“It is disappointing how we finished the last two games but that is something we can work on. The main thing is that we won and we can grow from here,” Etzebeth said.
The Sharks could not have had better start when they scored after just 44 seconds. The electric scrumhalf Grant Williams had pierced the ruck defence in the middle of the field and offloaded to the equally fast Aphehele Fassi, who outpaced the cover defence.
The Sharks have the quickest ruck speed in the URC and in the fifth minute, quick ball again opened up space out wide and winger Makazole Mapimpi finished superbly. It was ominous signs for Munster, who had lost three of their previous four games and were short of some of their premium manpower because of injury.
It was 14-0 after five minutes and Munster had barely touched the ball. When they did get possession they immediately made it count and were unlucky to have Tadhg Beirne held up over the line from a maul.
There was a further cause for concern for the visitors when the current starting Springbok front-row won a scrum penalty for flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse to convert into points.
At 17-0, Munster needed a response and it came in the lanky form of Tom Ahern who cashed in when the ball squirted out of a ruck and he gathered and galloped 40m for a try.
The Sharks’ counter-attack is especially lethal because of the sheer pace of their back division and a perfect example was Fassie accelerating through a gap from deep and combining sweetly with Lukhanyo Am, who put away Williams for a try engineered at blistering speed.
Munster were living on scraps but they can make possession count with their passing game and it was efficient offloading that manufactured a try for Mike Haley to make it 24-10 after half an hour, with Jack Crowley failing to convert his team’s two tries.
The set scrum was becoming an increasing weapon for the Sharks, with the Munster pack nack-pedalling at every put-in. It was no surprise when the Sharks took a scrum when they were given a penalty near the Munster posts and the advancing scrum proved plenty of space for Williams to set up burly centre Andre Esterhuizen to crash over.
That made it a 31-10 halftime lead for the home side but it was Munster that bossed the third quarter. They forced the Sharks into six consecutive penalties but three times they were held up. Sharks openside James Venter was yellow-carded for one of the infringements but, still, Munster could not ground the ball and the only score of that quarter was a Hendrikse penalty.
That was Munster’s hopes of a comeback snuffed out and salt was rubbed into the wound when Sharks flank Vincent Tshituka charged down replacement flyhalf Billy Burns.
Beirne scored a last minute try to salvage a bonus point for the visitors.
Scorers
Sharks — Tries: Aphelele Fassi, Makazole Mapimpi, Grant Williams, Andre Esterhuizen, Vincent Tshituka. Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (5). Penalties: Jordan Hendrikse (2)
Munster — Tries: Tom Ahern, Mike Haley, Calvin Nash, Tadhg Beirne. Conversions: Jack Crowley (2).