Sharks sink Cheetahs

Jacques Botes and Bismarck du Plessis both scored tries as the Sharks made a winning start to the Super Rugby season with a 24-9 win over the Cheetahs in Durban.

Botes and du Plessis grabbed the only two tries of the South African derby with all the other Sharks points on a rainy day at Kings Park coming from the boots of Patrick Lambie and his late replacement Jacques-Louis Potgieter.

Naas Olivier kicked all of the points for the Cheetahs, who did close the gap to just 8-6 after half time, but errors meant they could not get any closer during a game dominated by the Sharks forwards.

The pack dominated the opening passages of play and they were rewarded when a line-out 10 metres out was followed by a maul that took Botes over.

Lambie hooked the subsequent conversion wide, but made amends by landing a 35-metre penalty after 10 minutes to extend the hosts' lead.

Wide

Cheetahs fly-half Olivier came close to putting the visitors on the board but his attempted drop-kick drifted narrowly wide in the 18th minute.

Between then and the next score 16 minutes later, the hosts continued to dominate possession. But, with heavy rain sweeping over the ground, both sides found difficulty in controlling the ball.

Olivier finally put his side on the board shortly before half-time, converting a penalty after the home side were penalised at the breakdown.

There was still time for Stefan Terblanche to waste two long-range attempts on goal as the Sharks went into the break 8-3 ahead.

Straight after the restart, Keegan Daniel was penalised for tackling a man without the ball, allowing Olivier to cut the gap to two.

Penalties

But Lambie struck right back, landing back-to-back penalties to hand the initiative back to the home side.

Another quiet passage of play followed, but the men from Bloemfontein refused to give in as Olivier landed another three-pointer to cut the gap to five.

However, any hopes of a shock victory were extinguished 12 minutes from the end when another powerful maul by the Sharks pack enabled Du Plessis to score.

Lambie adding the extras and replacement Jacques-Louis Potgieter kicked a penalty to seal a deserved win.