Last gasp try sneaks Sharks into quarters

The Cell C Sharks saved their best for last in a frankly horrible game as Lukhanyo Am scored off the last move to propel the Durbanites into the Vodacom Super Rugby play-offs with a 12-9 win at Newlands in their final league fixture on Saturday.

The winning move, or build-up, had everything the game had lacked up to that point - efficient handling and recycling, patience in holding onto the ball and then the skill of the Springbok centre as he wrong footed a tired defence and weaved his way in from the left touchline to score.

It was a try that looked highly unlikely up to that point as the only try in the match before that had been courtesy of an intercept kick ahead that was an effective 12 point swing against the Stormers in the first half. The Sharks had seldom looked like scoring a try otherwise, with their one dimensional game plan playing into the hands of the Stormers’ defenders.

The Sharks had started the game like they finished it - they dominated possession from the kick-off and carried the first move of the match through multiple phases before finally it was held up. After 10 minutes the statistics reflected that the Sharks had enjoyed 95 per cent of the possession. The territory statistics would have reflected something similar.

But the Sharks didn’t score and perhaps the most significant steps towards them winning the match were two crucial injuries that the opposition team suffered during those minutes. The first was No 8 Jaco Coetzee, who went off for a concussion test. He came back later on but didn’t stay on the field very long before going off for good. He didn’t look himself.

The other injury was to lock Cobus Wiese. With Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, JD Schickerling and Siya Kolisi all absent, Wiese was effectively the last man left standing for the Stormers when it came to the physical ascendancy that is usually the death-knell to any Sharks chance of winning.

David Meihuizen actually did well as a replacement in only his second match, as did Chris Massyn, who came on for Coetzee. But they weren’t like for like replacements, although Pieter-Steph’s brother, Johan, stepped up to deliver one of his finest performances in a Stormers jersey to carry his team oh so close to play-off qualification.

That quarterfinal qualification though would have been a booby prize for the Stormers as much as it will probably prove to be for the Sharks. Both teams looked tired at the tail end of a league phase of competition that has started to resemble a survival course more than a sports event.

That was reflected in the abjectly poor rugby produced, with both teams making mistakes and the match seldom reaching any great heights until that fateful and decisive last move of the match. The Sharks have just returned from Argentina so that is an extra reason for them to look tired, and now they have to travel again for a play-off? That is some prize that was on offer, and in the end you may say it was a good game to lose in that the loser is put out of its agony a week before the other.

The Sharks lost Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira before the game, Makazole Mapimpi not long after the start, and Aphelele Fassi about 10 minutes from the end. The Sharks have a long injury list to deal with before they think of flying to whichever part of the world they will play next week’s quarterfinal.

As it turned out, it was one of their reserve backs, Rhyno Smith, who was on for Mapimpi, who produced the decisive moment of the first half. The Stormers had been building up impressively after recovering from their slow start. They were ahead 3-0 thanks to a 23rd minute Josh Stander penalty.

Skipper Steven Kitshoff was only inches short in trying to jam the ball down as the Stormers piled on the pressure a few minutes later, with a poor decision when there were two unmarked players on the overlap costing the home team a certain try. But they still had the ball and were hammering away, only for Stander’s decision to throw out a long pass to backfire when Smith hacked the ball through.

By the time he picked the ball up on the bounce there was no Stormers defender in sight and he romped over for an easy try at the other end of the field. Like the Makazole Mapimpi try against the Lions a few weeks before that, it was a score that came about through good defending, and that is one thing the Sharks definitely did get right on the day. Their defensive system has evolved to a point this season where it will be their best chance now of them advancing further than next week.

There were a lot of could have or should have opportunities that went against the Stormers, not the least of them when a forward pass was called when Seabelo Senatla went over shortly before the end. Had he scored there the game would have been out of sight for the Sharks. Instead though the Stormers were awarded a penalty at a scrum not long after that, and they elected to kick for posts.

There would have been some debate over that decision as there were less than four minutes left and kicking for the corner would have put the Stormers in with a chance to score the try that would wrap up the match. However they did kick it and the three pointer, taking a slender 6-5 lead to 9-5, meant the Sharks had to score a try to win.

That never looked likely until the Stormers, on attack with two minutes to go, gave away the penalty that surrendered possession and the Sharks put together the multi-phase attack that at least brought an exciting end to what had been an otherwise thoroughly forgettable game.

That these two injury ravaged teams were playing to retain a stake in the race for silverware underlines one of the biggest flaws in the competition. The old days when the top four went through was far fairer to the teams that have done the hard work of making it to the top after an 18 week league competition.

Make no mistake, injuries have impacted on both teams, particularly the Stormers, but you’d imagine the best advert for Super Rugby would be for the top teams to all have hands on deck at the closing end of the competition. That wasn’t going to be the case regardless of which of these teams advanced.

SCORES

Cell C Sharks 12 - Tries: Rhyno Smith and Lukhanyo Am; Conversion: Robert du Preez.

DHL Stormers 9 - Penalties: Josh Stander 2 and Jean-Luc du Preez.