Sharks feast on yellow Dragons

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The Sharks returned to winning ways in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship with a resounding bonus-point victory against the Dragons at Kings Park on Friday night.

After a disappointing defeat at home to Edinburgh in torrential rain on Saturday, Sean Everitt’s men powered to a 23-3 halftime lead against the Dragons, before shifting into high gear after the interval to cruise to an impressive 51-3 triumph.

The Sharks picked up where they left off before the break when Werner Kok scored what would be the standout try of the game. The winger weaved past several defenders, twisting and turning into space before sliding into the endzone. Curwin Bosch, who was flawless from the kicking tee on the night, duly converted.

Bosch slotted another conversion, this time after a penalty try following a TMO review, with Josh Lewis seeing yellow for a deliberate knock-on of Marius Louw’s pass to Ben Tapuai en route to the tryline.

The Sharks soon secured the bonus point with another penalty try, Lewis Jones joining his teammate in the sin bin for a similar blocked pass, before Anthony Volmink notched his name onto the scoresheet after the hosts exploited massive amounts of space from their 10-metre line to the whitewash in a matter of seconds.

Both teams were relatively equally matched in the first few minutes before Dragons gave away a penalty, allowing Bosch to open the Sharks’ account. The flyhalf made it 6-0 after the visitors were blown up for a scrum infringement, before Lewis got the Welsh side on the scoreboard with a 41m penalty. Then Bosch tucked away his third shot in front of the uprights.

The Dragons then suffered a massive blow as Ross Moriarty was stretchered off with a serious knee injury after a tackle by Phepsi Buthelezi. With the visitors clearly rattled, the hosts extended their lead as Ox Nche bulldozed his way over the line with a few tacklers still hanging onto him, Bosch adding the extras.

The Sharks struck again just before the interval when Bongi Mbonambi scored from close quarters, following a powerful maul off a 5m lineout.

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Devin Hermanus