The Cell C Sharks won an arm wrestle against a courageous Airlink Pumas in the dying seconds of the match with 24-22. The Cell C Sharks earn the much-needed five Currie Cup Premier Division log points.
The Cell C Sharks started like a house on fire and scored a try after just two minutes of play. The Airlink Pumas answered with three converted penalties to lead 09-05 at the halftime break. The loss of the Pumas prop with a yellow card could make things interesting in the second half.
The Airlink Pumas came out in the second half ready to slow the game down, forcing the Cell C Sharks into an arm wrestle. The Airlink Pumas were seemingly on their way to a well-deserved win, however, two late tries by the Cell C Sharks were just enough to achieve the seemingly impossible 24-22 win.
A magical offload from Lionel Cronje sees James Venter beat three defenders to score the Cell C Sharks' first try after just two minutes of play to lead 05-00.
The Airlink Pumas regroup following the early Venter try, and started to aplly some pressure on the Cell C Sharks which led to two converted Tinus de Beer penalties. The Airlink Pumas led 06-05 after seventeen minutes of play.
Lionel Cronje (Cell C Sharks) was shown a yellow card which led to Tinus de Beers' third converted penalty, which extended the Airling Pumas lead to 09-05 and 20 minutes left to play in the first half.
Njabulo Gumede (Airlink Pumas) was sent off with a red card with twelve minutes left to play in the first half.
The rest of the first half lost most of its urgency and Airlink Pumas led 09-05 at the halftime break.
Tnus de Beer added a fourth penalty after twelve minutes of play in the second half as the Airlink Pumas are slowing the match down to soften the effect of being one man short.
The Airlink Pumas continued to pick and drive, controlling the pace and possession of the match. Tinus de Beer dropped back and converted a dropgoal to extend their lead to 15-05.
With fifteen minutes to play Airlink Pumas' captain Shane Kirkwood was yellow-carded for illegally collapsing a maul. The Cell C Shark's Dan Jooste used the numerical advantage to score from the back of a 5m lineout maul and reduce the Airlink Pumas' lead to 15-10.
The thirteen-man Airlink Pumas continued to put pressure on the Cell C Sharks when Giovan Snyman took a quick tap from a penalty to score the Airlink Pumas' first try from seven meters out.
Dylan Richardson bulldozed his way over the Airlink Pumas tryline for the Cell C Sharks' third try. The Airlink Pumas lead was reduced to just 5 points (22-17) and three minutes to play.
The Cell C Sharks attacked from the kickoff with Dylan Richardson scoring his second try to secure the bonus-point 24-22 win for the Cell C Sharks.
Scorers:
Airlink Pumas: Try: Giovan Snyman. Conversion: Tinus de Beer. Penalties: Tinus de Beer (4). Drop goal: Tinus de Beer.
Cell C Sharks: Tries: James Venter, Dan Jooste, Dyllan Richardson (2). Conversion: Lionel Cronje (2).
Teams
Airlink Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Lundi Msenge, 13 Diego Appollis, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Andrew Kota, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Chriswill September, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 7 Anele Lungisa, 6 Andre Fouche, 5 Shane Kirkwood (c), 4 Malembe Mpofu, 3 Njabulo Gumede, 2 Llewellyn Classen, 1 Cameron Dawson. Replacements: 16 Pieter Jacobs, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Simon Raw, 19 Deon Slabbert, 20 Ruwald van der Merwe, 21 Giovan Snyman, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Etienne Taljaard.
Cell C Sharks: 15 Nevaldo Fleurs, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Josh Jonas, 12 Murray Koster, 11 Aphelele Fassi, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Tiaan Fourie, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Jeandre Labuschagne, 6 James Venter, 5 Reniel Hugo (c), 4 Corne Rahl, 3 Khutha Mchunu, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Khwezi Mona. Replacements: 16 Dan Jooste, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Marco de Witt, 20 Dylan Richardson, 21 Celimphilo Gumede, 22 Bradley Davids, 23 Marnus Potgieter.