Lions, Sharks at each other's throats

The Lions and the Sharks battered and bruised each other as if locked in a heavyweight contest of old here yesterday.

It was devilishly delightful in its brutality. With so much body bashing the order of the day mistakes were inevitable, but the crowd was utterly enthralled by the gladiatorial viewing on offer.

The errors served up penalties which were delivered like body blows by the impeccable Curwin Bosch and Elton Jantjies as the match drew to a climax but it took a bit of inspiration from Lions substitute Kwagga Smith and a determined surge for the tryline by Jaco Kriel to separate the sides.

The Lions will be mightily relieved they got through this contest. They have proved themselves adept front-runners when they dictate the pace of a match but they were forced to come from behind, although the Sharks did contribute to their own demise.

It was frantic and frenetic but despite the blur what was discernible, in the first half at least, was that the Sharks went into the collisions with greater urgency and they seemed more alert to opportunity.

They scrambled, they harangued and hustled and it all served to knock the usually fluid Lions out of their stride.

If the Sharks' forwards were responsible for the wrecking ball activity upfront, it was left to Bosch to masterfully apply the finishing touches with another accomplished display at flyhalf.

Jean-Luc du Preez and Coenie Oosthuizen were huge in the collisions and the Lions blinked before dusting themselves down before the break.

Lions captain Warren Whiteley displayed marvellous composure as his team gradually sunk their claws into the Sharks. They used their set piece to make advances on the scoreboard and they gained that foothold while Ettienne Oosthuizen was banished to the sinbin either side of the break.

The Lions went back to basics. Their maul had been repelled earlier in the half but they deployed it successfully on the stroke of half-time. The Sharks' close-range defence splintered allowing Malcolm Marx to crash over. Jantjies added the conversion and the hosts were back in a game that seemed to be drifting tantalisingly from their grasp.

The much anticipated showdown between Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach never escalated into the adversarial contest everyone had hoped for. By the 50-minute mark they were both benched, and while he was by far the busier of the two scrumhalves, De Klerk's service was at times a little iffy. Reinach was far from his incisive self but to be fair the cauldron around which both scrumhalves operated was scorching hot.

Both will eye a spot in the Bok team in June and they would have been mightily pleased to have been part of a game of test match quality.

Lions (34) — Tries: Malcolm Marx, Courtnall Skosan, Jaco Kriel. Conversions: Elton Jantjies (2). Penalties: Jantjies (4). Drop goal: Andries Coetzee.
Sharks (29) — Tries: Coenie Oosthuizen, Kobus van Wyk. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (2). Penalties: Bosch (4). Drop goal: Bosch.