John Cooney stars as Ulster sink Sharks in Durban

The Sharks continued to look shabby without their Springbok stars in their 31-24 United Rugby Championship (URC) defeat to Ulster at Kings Park Stadium in Durban on Saturday.

Third-placed Ulster led 17-12 at the halftime break of the rescheduled fixture and went on to win it to minimise the gap between themselves and the top two teams, Leinster and the Stormers.

The match was supposed to take place in October, but had to be postponed after Ulster players fell ill with a stomach bug.

The match produced eight tries, with each side scoring four apiece.

Tom Stewart (2), Stewart Moore and Harry Sheridan all crossed the whitewash as player of the match John Cooney starred with the boot.

The Sharks’ tries came from Grant Williams, Thaakir Abrahams, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Boeta Chamberlain.

The Durbanites are still without at least nine of their national team stars and also the injured Aphelele Fassi.

There were a few individual moments of brilliance from Sharks players, but their forward pack let them down.

Ulster were eager to bounce back to winning ways, while the Sharks needed the victory at all costs as they were desperate to improve their position on the log table.

A victory in their backyard would have seen them move into the top five and put them in a good position to qualify for the URC quarterfinals. But the defeat has left them in position seven.

The Sharks had a strong start with Williams bursting through the Ulster defence to score the opening try in just two minutes.

But that try didn’t put pressure on or shake up Ulster who stuck to their plans for the game.

The Irish side built slowly and were able to score their first point when Cooney scored a penalty on 19 minutes.

The Sharks struggled when it came to defending mauls as the visitors' two tries in the first half by Stewart in the 24th and 33rd minutes were a result of strong maul drives by Ulster.

The men from KwaZulu-Natal also conceded too many turnovers, about 16.

Abrahams also scored a great try but the Sharks went into the halftime break trailing by five points.

A poor start to the second half by the Sharks put Ulster in the driving seat as the hosts were left to chase for the rest of the game.

Ulster scored two more tries in the second half through Moore and Sheridan to secure a bonus point for the travellers.

The Sharks tried to stage a comeback but all they could manage was to secure a bonus point for being able to cross the try line four times.

Mchunu and Chamberlain’s second half tries were not able to inspire the Sharks to maximum points.

If they are to finish in the top four and secure a home quarterfinal, the Sharks will need to pull out all the stops in their remaining four games in the pool stages.

They have the Stormers, Scarlets, Benneton and Munster coming up in their final four clashes.

The good thing is that they will have their Boks players after the Stormers outing, which is next week.

SCORERS

Sharks: Tries: Grant Williams, Thaakir Abrahams, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Boeta Chamberlain Conversions: Curwin Bosch (2)

Ulster: Tries Tom Stewart (2), Stewart Moore, Harry Sheridan Conversions: John Cooney (4): Penalty: Cooney

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