The Western Stormers went top of the Super 15 table on Saturday after an ultimately comfortable 29-13 victory over fellow South Africans the Coastal Sharks in Cape Town.
There was nothing between the teams after a frenetic opening half at the Newlands Stadium, which finished 13-10 in favor of the Stormers.
However, the Sharks rarely got out of their half after the break, managed to add just three points and were sunk by a penalty try midway through the second half.
Photo: EPA
Victory took the Stormers from third to first in the combined southern hemisphere inter-provincial championship standings.
The Cape Town outfit have 16 points after four rounds, Australia’s ACT Brumbies 15 and New Zealand’s Wellington Hurricanes 14.
A third loss in four outings for the Durban-based Sharks saw them drop one position to 10th overall.
Powerful scrummaging was a key factor in the Stormers’ success with loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff winning the official man-of-the-match award.
He gave the Sharks and former England tighthead prop Matt Stevens a torrid time to the delight of most in a 40,000 crowd.
“Our tight five were magnificent,” winning captain Duane Vermuelen said. “To see those guys training this week in 42oC heat was awe-inspiring.
Losing captain Bismarck du Plessis pinpointed the Sharks’ downfall to a scarcity of first-phase ball.
“We did well at the collisions, but not at first-phase time. Cape Town is generally drier than Durban now and this enabled us to run the ball more,” he said.
Flyhalf Patrick Lambie struck an early penalty for the visitors before a stroke of luck turned the tide in favor of the hosts.
The Sharks’ Lwazi Mvovo appeared to have a long kick from flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis covered, only to be caught out when the ball bounced away from him.
The Stormers’ Johnny Kotze raced forward to grab the ball and dive over between the posts for his first Super 15 try that Catrakilis converted.
The Sharks regained the momentum when home scrumhalf Nic Groom was sin-binned and Lambie dotted down for a try he converted.
A couple of Catrakilis penalties nudged the Stormers to a three-point half-time advantage and that stretched to nine points when he slotted two more penalties. A Lambie penalty after a rare attack cut the gap to six points, but one minute later the match ended as a contest.
South African referee Jaco Peyper awarded a penalty try to the Stormers after ruling that the Sharks’ scrumhalf Cobus Reinach was offside and preventing a probable try by winger Dillyn Leyds.
Replacement flyhalf Kurt Coleman kicked the conversion and added a penalty to complete the scoring. The Sharks’ Francois Steyn was sin-binned for a late tackle with seven minutes left.
In Bloemfontein, the Northern Bulls beat the Central Cheetahs 39-20.
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