Sharks have final bite

A CURRIE Cup gold medal remains an elusive dream for Western Province stalwarts Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger after their side was comprehensively outplayed by the superb Sharks last night.

A monstrous performance by the Sharks pack, spearheaded by brilliant 21-year-old lock Pieter-Steph du Toit, laid the platform for a memorable display that boosted the Durban side after a difficult year on and off the field.

Du Toit was central to destroying the WP lineout and with that aspect of the home team's game in tatters the Sharks won every contest except the scrums. They could even afford the luxury of an erratic kicking display from flyhalf Pat Lambie - at least from the tee - with the pivot missing four shots at goal.

But Lambie landed two drop-goals and was tactically astute throughout although on the back of the forwards' domination it would have been a crime if he didn't take advantage. In all Lambie contributed 23 points from five penalties, a conversion and two drop goals.

Scrumhalf Charl McLeod scored two tries and Lwazi Mvovo had what appeared to be a legitimate try disallowed for a marginal offside call against hooker Bismarck du Plessis that would have gone unnoticed in many other matches.

From the outset Province were always on the back foot with Lambie landing his first penalty in the third minute. Catch-up rugby is not what WP enjoy and again they were never able to work their way back to an even footing in the contest.

Bismarck du Plessis was also a colossus, even though he was lucky to be playing after a lenient decision at a disciplinary hearing last week cleared him of stamping during the semifinal.

The heavy artillery in the Sharks pack was ultimately too much for the Cape side in the crucial tight exchanges and the visitors won the territorial battle with ease.

The first try was a result of a sloppy pass from WP scrumhalf Louis Schreuder, who threw a tame intercept pass which McLeod snatched and raced 60m for the score to stun Newlands to near silence.

WP and the Stormers in Super Rugby are great frontrunners but they have never been as good chasing a game. At 10-0 down their mettle was about to be tested.

And they responded as defending champions should, with a try almost from the restart. A powerful scrum on Sharks ball inside the latter's 22, saw Schreuder rob McLeod of possession. Three phases later Damian de Allende skipped past Jannie du Plessis for a try that returned equilibrium to the contest.

But that was as good as it got for Province as they were out-muscled for an entire 80 minutes.

Sharks flank Willem Alberts made an immediate impact in his first Currie Cup appearance of the season, living up to his moniker of "Bone Collector". In the space of 10 seconds he made a huge and vital tackle on opposite number Siya Kolisi and then made another on fullback Gio Aplon. Had either been missed the Sharks would have been in serious trouble.

Centre Frans Steyn also enjoyed a timely high quality outing, making huge tackles and creating havoc with the ball in hand.

But it was Du Toit who announced his arrival as a senior player. He displayed the skill and power that will surely earn him a test cap in Britain next month.

Early on Du Toit poached two crucial WP lineouts, robbing the home side of attacking momentum at key moments. He also made some surging runs and put in big tackles. The thought of he and Eben Etzebeth in tandem is a salivating one.

The Sharks arrived with a clear tactic to use the boot to turn WP around with McLeod often dinking chips over rucks for well-prepped runners to attack. It caught the home team out initially but after the third attempt WP wised up but they could do little about it.

The home team hardly escaped their territory in a claustrophobic second half where the Sharks' dominance of the collisions took its toll on the home team.

When Mcleod scored his second try in the 58th minute it virtually secured the title even though there was more than a quarter to play.

SCORERS

Western Province 19 - Try: Damian de Allende. Conversion: Demetri Catrakilis. Penalties: Catrakilis (3). Kurt Coleman.

Sharks 23 - Tries: Charl McLeod (2). Conversion: Pat Lambie. Penalties: Lambie (5). Drop goals: Lambie (2)..

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