The Cell C Sharks secured a home-semifinal when they beat the Fidelity ADT Lions 29-21 on Saturday in Durban in a tense match.
The first forty minutes of the match was initially dominated by the Fidelity ADT Lions who opened up a 14-00 lead after twenty minutes of play. The Cell C Sharks clawed their way back into the match and dominated the second twenty minutes, levelling the score to 14-14 which was the halftime score. The second half was balanced on a knife's edge with the Cell C Sharks scoring their bonus point and winning try with minutes to go.
The Fidelity ADT Lions' Emmanuel Tshituka scored the first try of the match following the Fidelity ADT Lions' patience on the attack until Tshituka found the space to bulldoze over the tryline to lead 07-00 after eleven minutes of play.
The Fidelity ADT Lions continued to apply pressure with Ruhan Dreyer barging his way over the Cell C Sharks tryline to extend the Fidelity DT Lions lead to 14-00 after twenty minutes of play.
The Cell C Sharks clawed their way back into the match and started to dominate and launched wave after wave of attacks until Fez Mbatha barges over the visitor's tryline after twenty-eight minutes of play.
Aphelele Fassi intercepted a loose pass and ran 50 meters plus to level the scores (14-14) with two minutes to go in the first half.
The Cell C Sharks started the second half launching attack after attack on the Fidelity ADT Lions tryline and eventually, Ntuthuko Mchunu forced his way over the tryline for the Cell C Shrks' third try to lead 21-14 after five minutes of play in the second half.
The Fidelity ADT Lions replied almost immediately when Sanele Nohamba sniped from behind a loose scrum to score the equaliser.
With minutes to go the Cell C Sharks opted to kick for the corner, and following several attempts to cross the Fidelity ADT Lions tryline it was Ntuthuko Mchunu who eventually barge over for the Cell C Sharks bonus-point try.
With two minutes to go Nevaldo Fleurs converted a penalty to secure a 29-21 bonus-point win.
Scorers:
Cell C Sharks: Tries: Fez Mbatha, Aphelele Fassi, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Conversions: Lionel Cronje (3). Penalty: Nevaldo Fleurs.
Fedility ADT Lions: Tries: Emmanuel Tshituka, Ruan Dreyer, Sanele Nohamba. Conversions: Sanele Nohamba (3).
Teams:
Cell C Sharks: 15 Nevaldo Fleurs, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Murray Koster, 12 Alwayno Visagie, 11 Aphelele Fassi, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Tiaan Fourie, 8 Henco Venrter, 7 James Venter, 6 Dylan Richardson, 5 Reniel Hugo (c), 4 Ockie Barnard, 3 Ntuthukho Mchunu, 2 Dameon Venter, 1 Dian Bleuler. Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Marco de Witt, 20 Vincent Tshituka, 21 Bradley Davids, 22 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 23 Marnus Potgieter.
Fidelity ADT Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Boldwin Hansen, 13 Rynardt Jonker, 12 Marius Louw (c), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Morne Brandon, 1 Rhynardt Rijnsburger. Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Margan Naude, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye 19 Raynard Roets, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Morne van der Bergh, 22 Rynhardt Jonker, 23 Andries Coetzee.