It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means, but with the Sharks XV winless after two rounds of Currie Cup Qualifying action, Saturday’s victory of the Namibian Welwitschias was just what coach Michael Horak would have wanted. The hosts, playing in Umlazi township for the first time, scored six tries in a 48-18 victory.
UKZN Impi flyhalf Tristan Tedder, enjoying his first start at this level, turned in a good individual performance, including a try in his personal haul of 23 points on the day. Tedder opened the scoring with a penalty, before Namibian fullback Riaan van Zyl scored the first try within the opening ten minutes.
Sharks center Marius Louw was another who featured prominently on the score sheet, adding the first of his three tries not long after. Tedder converted and added a try and conversion of his own (against a penalty to the visitors) and Louw’s second (also converted) just before the break saw the Sharks XV take a handy 24-8 at half time.
If fans were expecting a big hiding in the second half, they were left disappointed, though. Defensive lapses just after half time allowed the Namibians to score twice in quick succession and it was only thanks to some poor goal-kicking that the Sharks XV remained more than a score ahead, 24-18 with half an hour to play. Louw got things moving again not long afterwards with his hat trick score, ably converted by Tedder. The flyhalf added a penalty immediately afterwards to restore a sixteen point lead. Further tries went to replacement hooker Stephan Coetzee and Curwin Bosch as the game wore down, Tedder converting both to maintain his 100% record off the tee.
Sharks XV (48) – Tries: Curwin Bosch, Marius Louw (3), Tristan Tedder, Wian Vosloo; Conversions: Tedder (6); Penalties: Tedder (2).
Welwitschias (18) – Tries: Russell van Wyk, Rohan Kitshoff, Riaan van Zyl; Penalty: Shaun Kaizemi.
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Finally they get a win. By all accounts it was pretty scrappy but the Sharks were clearly the better quality side but the win was more about individuals doing well than anything good from a whole team perspective. But hoping this win can kick start a few other wins. Tedder seems to be having a good year.
Well done, men…
Well done guys. Nice to get that win under the belt.
Rob, where’s Marcel ‘one L’ Coetzee these days?
@vanmartin (Comment 4) : he’s in the mix, just not getting a game yet. Personally, I wish they wouldn’t pick Heimar Williams here and would rather let the young centres play
@vanmartin (Comment 4) : haha we should call him One L Coetzee form now on 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 5) : I know where Williams should be getting game time 😉
@robdylan (Comment 5) : when does heimar’s contract expire?he is not getting a look-in this sr season it seems.
@50shadesofshark (Comment 8) : He must surely get a look in soon. Cant play only one 12 the entire season.
Any idea how these games in the townships have been received by the locals.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 10) : My mate went on Saturday and judging by the photos there was a reasonable crowd. The Sharks did put on a nice day in that they offered free transport to the ground from Kings park, took the people on a bit of a tour and took them for some chow etc at one of the favourite spots there.
@SheldonK (Comment 11) : That sounds good, clearly involving the community and making a day of it.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 12) : Yeh by the sounds of it, it was a good fun day with Sharkie there etc. Not sure of actual crowd numbers though. Ive been to princess Magogo stadium, although was a few years back, and if there is a decent crowd it can get quite festive
@robdylan (Comment 5) : think they’re keeping him fit for the Canes game.