How did we mess this up?
That was the thoughts of Stormers director of rugby John Dobson immediately after the Sharks took the lead in the dying moments of Saturday’s nail-biting United Rugby Championship (URC) clash in Cape Town.
The Cape outfit sealed a second local derby victory 24-20 and kept their winning record at home intact against their coastal rivals. But they almost chucked the victory away after initially leading in the final 10 minutes, before the visitors hit back to take the lead.
A strong rolling maul which led to the winning try saved them from blushes in front of a sold out DHL Stadium.
John Plumtree feels there should've been harsher consequences after the Andre Esterhuizen injury. Upon review, I definitely agree with him. JL du Plessis should've seen yellow at least #STOvSHA #URC
— Leighton Koopman (@Leighton_K) December 28, 2024
#URC Injury Sharks: Both Andre Esterhuizen and Aphelele Fassi are off - they both get driven off.
— EWN_Sport (@EWN_Sport) December 28, 2024
Masuku and Venter are on. pic.twitter.com/rLhEy5YaIK
My knee hurts. #STOvSHA pic.twitter.com/5FASAwDebJ
“If we didn’t win today, things would’ve become really tough,” Dobson said after the match.
“We created so much. But we were coughing balls up and it looked like the Lions game all over. Credit to the Sharks also for the fight they put up, we just couldn't bury them. They fought and I thought we chucked this one. We made it really difficult for ourselves.”
Sharks head coach John Plumtree lamented the injuries to his side with three players going off with suspected knee injuries. The Sharks lost Springboks Andre Esterhuizen and Aphelele Fassi in the second half and five-lock Emile van Heerden in the first forty.
Another outstanding player Jurenzo Julius cramped up and had to be withdrawn which led to a switchup of the Sharks’ backline.
“It was a tough day at the office,” Plumtree said.
“There were some big moments that we will look back on which we did not control well. We should never concede a try like that in the final minutes with our forwards. But the big one was when Ethan Hooker was yellow carded before half-time and we didn’t get a lot of possession at the start of the second half.”