The Hollywoodbets Sharks edged Saracens 28-23 at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday in extremely wet and challenging conditions.
The Sharks started like a house on fire, and Siya Kolisi scored off the back of a five-meter lineout maul. George Whitehead added the extra two points to edge the Sharks 07-00 in the lead after just three minutes of play in the first half.
Thereafter, Saracens took control and scored two tries. One off the back of a lineout maul by Theo Dan while Sam Spink pounced on a mistake made by Aphelele Fassie to secure a 12-07 lead following the conversion by Fergus Burke.
Burke converted a penalty, extending Saracens’ lead to 15 -07 with nine minutes left to play in the first half.
The Sharks started to claw their way back into the match, and when Aphelele Fassie scored an easy converted try, the Sharks trailed 15-14 with three minutes still to play in the first half.
With time running out in the first half, brilliant passing and interplay opened up space for Edwill van der Merwe to score in the corner, sealing a 21-15 lead for the Sharks at the end of the first half.
The first half of the second half was even until Fergus Burke converted a penalty to cut the Sharks' lead to 21-18.
Four minutes later, Grand Williams cut the defence of Saracens in two to score the Sharks' fourth and bonus-point try. Whitehead converted to extend the Sharks' lead to 28-18 with seventeen minutes to play.
However, Saracens started to wrestle the momentum away from the Sharks and the try by Tom Willis with fifteen minutes to play cut the Sharks lead to 28-23 with fifteen minutes to play.
The rest of the second half belonged to Saracens; however, the Sharks held on for an extremely important 28-23 win.
Teams:
Hollywoodbets Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Ethan Hooker, 12 Andre Esterhuizen (c), 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Hanro Jacobs, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Phatu Ganyane. Replacements: 16 Eduan Swart, 17 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 18 Mawande Mdanda, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Matt Romao, 21 Nick Hatton, 22 Jaden Hendrikse, 23 Jordan Hendrikse.
Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Rotimi Segun, 13 Sam Spink, 12 Olly Hartley, 11 Angus Hall, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Charlie Bracken, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Andy Onyeama-Christie (c), 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Harry Wilson, 4 Nick Isiekwe, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Eroni Mawi. Replacements: 16 James Hadfield, 17 Alex O Driscoll, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Hugh Tizard, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Gareth Simpson, 23 Alex Lozowski.