French international Frederic Michalak played a key role as the Coastal Sharks earned a place in the Super Rugby playoffs with a stunning 26-23 win over defending champions the Northern Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Michalak was selected at flyhalf ahead of in-form Patrick Lambie, who moved to fullback as the Sharks rung the changes after showing mediocre form in recent weeks.
Michalak’s quick passing and unpredictability, and Lambie’s incursions from the back kept the Bulls under pressure and the home team were never in front in what was effectively a knock-out game for the sixth and final playoff place.
Photo: EPA
For the Bulls it could be the end of an era.
Captain Victor Matfield thanked supporters in the 50,000 crowd for what he said had been a “fantastic 10 years,” as he and fellow stars Bakkies Botha and Fourie du Preez may have played their last games for the Pretoria franchise.
The loss ended a six-match winning streak by the Bulls, who have won three of the last four southern hemisphere championships.
Not even a laser-wielding Bulls fan could stop the Sharks.
Lambie said he had noticed a laser being shone into his eyes as he lined up place-kicks, but said the distraction was not to blame for him missing three out of six kicks, which resulted in Michalak taking over the kicking in the final quarter.
Both teams scored two tries and the Bulls struck back twice within three minutes of the Sharks crossing their line.
The Sharks went into a 16-6 lead three minutes before halftime when J.P. Pietersen came in from the blindside wing and made a searing break, which led to a try by Sharks captain Stefan Terblanche.
However, the Bulls pulled it back to 16-13 when winger Gerhard van den Heever went over in the corner after the halftime hooter and flyhalf Morne Steyn converted.
The Bulls threatened to take a familiar ascendancy early in the second half, but the Sharks tackled ferociously and made probing attacks when in possession.
They seemed to have wrapped up the points when Lambie came into the line from fullback and the ball was fed to winger Lwazi Mvovo, who dove over in the corner.
Michalak landed the conversion to put the Sharks 26-16 ahead with six minutes left.
Once again the Bulls came straight back. Francois Hougaard, who had started at scrumhalf but moved to wing when du Preez came on, scored and Steyn’s conversion reduced the margin to three points.
It set up a tense finish to a bruising match because the Bulls would have reached the playoffs had the match been drawn, so they only needed a penalty or a drop-goal to squeeze past their rivals.
However, the Sharks held on to earn an away match against the Canterbury Crusaders next weekend.
Stormers 44, Cheetahs 34
AFP, BLOEMFONTEIN
Western Stormers secured an automatic Super Rugby semi-final place by defeating fellow South Africans the Central Cheetahs on Saturday in the final regular-season match.
Flyhalf Peter Grant returned after a lengthy absence to kick 24 points for the winners whose tally was completed by a try each from fullback Gio Aplon, center Juan de Jongh, replacement Nick Koster and left wing Bryan Habana.
Table toppers the Queensland Reds of Australia are also straight through to the semi-final stage of the southern hemisphere championship and will enjoy home advantage along with the Cape Town franchise.
The Reds completed the 16-match schedule with 66 points followed by the Stormers (63), the Canterbury Crusaders (61), the Auckland Blues (60) and the New South Wales Waratahs and Coastal Sharks with 57 each.
New Zealand will host both quarter-final matches next weekend with seven-time title holders Crusaders confronting the Sharks, while the Blues tackle the Waratahs from Australia.
“We were in the privileged position of knowing what was needed to secure direct entry to the semis and now we can put our feet up, have a few beers and then start preparing,” Stormers skipper and flank Schalk Burger said.
“Cheetahs are a great attacking side and we did well to secure a bonus-point victory over them. Having a bye next weekend will allow sore bodies to recover although it does not look too good at the moment for Duane Vermeulen,” he added.
No. 8 Vermeulen, a strong contender for a place on the Springboks World Cup squad, was driven off the field injured during the second half, before a large crowd at a chilly Free State Stadium.
Official man-of-the-match Grant joked that he had considered not wearing the No. 10 jersey given the number of injuries suffered by Stormers flyhalves this season.
Left wing Rayno Benjamin scored three tries for Cheetahs and No. 8 Davon Raubenheimer one with flyhalf Sias Ebersohn providing the rest of the points from four conversions and two penalties.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was