Sharks coast to an easy win despite being down to 14 men in Craven Week
The highly fancied Eastern Province sides disappointed while Namibia and the Leopards put in big performances.
However‚ the Sharks put down a massive statement against the Bulls and will look at Wednesday's game with keen interest.
They are highly likely to play the winners of the Western Province v Lions game that will headline the third day of the 54th edition of Craven Week.
Sharks 53 – 33 Blue Bulls A powerful first half from the coastal side allowed the Sharks to coast to an easy win despite being down to 14 men.
The Sharks went into the break leading 38-7 with scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba‚ number eight Phendulani Buthelezi and wing Cham Zondeki showing their class.
When flank Dylan Kruger was sent off for a shoulder charge‚ the Bulls roared back with three quick tries to reduce the score to 38-28 but the Sharks pulled away with two more tries to cross the 50-point mark.
The Bulls scored a late consolation try but the Sharks announced themselves as a team to be reckoned with.
It shouldn't come as a surprise if they are taking part in the main game on Saturday afternoon.
Griquas 42– 20 Eastern Province Country Districts A highly fancied Eastern Province Country Districts side were well beaten by a well drilled and disciplined Griquas side.
The Northern Cape side dominated the physical exchanges and were better conditioned.
At times the EPCD side walked from ruck to ruck and battled to live with Griquas' pace and tempo.
With the Griquas side leading 25-8 at the break‚ they turned on the screws early in the second half despite EPCD's Clyde Jacobs scoring one of the tries of the day with his jinxing 75m run.
South-Western Districts 27 – 22 Eastern Province The unheralded South-Western Districts side put themselves in line for a shot at Saturday's main game with a hard-fought five-point win over their much fancied neighbours.
They outscored Eastern Province by four tries to three.
However‚ it was the defence of the Eagles that saw them through as a better structured second half from Eastern Province saw the Eagles having to defend their 24-10 advantage.
They conceded two tries in the second half but did enough to win the game despite a late try by Juandre Sabbat to rescue Eastern Province.
Falcons 32 – 56 Namibia Gershwin Mouton's hattrick was at the heart of Namibia's surprising but deserved 24-point win over the Falcons.
The big outside was a handful for the Eastern side to deal with and Mouton's trio was part of the eight tries dotted down by Namibia.
The Falcons fought back with five of their own but the extras added by Gilad Plaatjies‚ Denna Bruwer‚ Le Roux Booysen and Justin Muir ensured the Namibians went off to a sound start while Bruwer also converted six of the eight tries.
Thabo Ndimande and Ruben Beytell shared braces with Wesley Noeth contributing the other try.
Leopards 72 – 17 Zimbabwe On the back of Hanru van Rooyen's 27 points that included two tries‚ seven conversions and a penalty‚ the Leopards routed the hapless Zimbabwe side.
It was one-way traffic for most of the game as Betru Jones also added a hattrick while Lohann Janns‚ Dirk Kotze‚ Arno Gustafson‚ Mitchelle van der Merwe‚ Gerald Nokama and Ruwald van der Merwe also picking off the other tries.
Mazvitaishe Nyamarebvu‚ Tadiwa Muchemwa and Tapiwa Marimira gave Zimbabwe a semblance of pride with the three tries they contributed.
- TimesLIVE