The Sharks squeezed home with a 16-11 Currie Cup victory over the Lions in Durban, sealing a hard-fought encounter that saw a plethora of missed opportunities from both sides.

Locked at 6-6 at half-time, the Sharks' sole try of the game finally came from Keegan Daniel in the 74th minute, and proved just enough to steal four log points off an exceptionally competitive Lions outfit at the Absa stadium.

With the Sharks welcoming back three Springboks into their starting line-up, there was great expectation that they would provide the coastal franchise with a spark that has thus far been missing this season.

But in the first half the Sharks still battled to find their feet or their form as it proved a tough, hard grind for both sides — who on several occasions managed to find themselves in good field positions, but opportunities just seemed to go begging.

Sharks flyhalf Ruan Pienaar slotted the first penalty in the 5th minute to open the scoring. Pienaar started at pivot in place of French international Frederic Michalak who failed to come through a late fitness test on Friday due to a hip injury sustained in last weekend's match against the Cheetahs.

Moments later, Lions flyhalf Earl Rose evened things up in the 12th minute with a penalty of his own but the Sharks immediately restored their three-point advantage with Pienaar slotting another penalty in the 14th minute.

A dull 20 minutes followed before Rose leveled the score in the 34th minute. Rose consistently looked for attacking opportunities in the pivotal number 10 position, but the Sharks defence stood notoriously firm all afternoon.

In the dying minutes, Lions number eight Willem Alberts nearly took the visitor's into a half-time lead as he slipped out of a Pienaar tackle to make 50 metres and almost go over in the corner before being well tackled into touch.

Thus, the scores remained locked at 6-6 as both teams headed into the interval.

With the Sharks having to make twice as many tackles as the Lions in the first half, one felt that an upset victory for the Gauteng side was imminent — as captain Grobbelaar led from the front and dominated at the breakdown for his side.

The hard-fought nature of the match continued in the opening ten minutes of the second stanza, as both sides went at it hammer and tong in an attempt to assert some ascendancy.

Gordon threatened the Sharks goal-line within minutes of kick-off, though once again the execution was poor.

In the 56th minute the Beast bashed towards the Lions try-line in an attempt to claim the first try of the match, but lock Albert van den Berg was just held up over the line.

Nevertheless, referee Jonathan Kaplan had been playing advantage and Pienaar duly slotted his third penalty.

Against the run of play in the 65th minute, Alberts eventually got his try, picking up a loose ball on the Sharks 10m line to run down the left touchline unopposed.

The try took the Lions into the lead for the first time in the match at 11-9.

With just minutes to go however, Sharks replacement Keegan Daniel picked up a loose ball and showed some great pace to score the first try for the hosts, much to the relief of the partisan crowd.

Pienaar easily slotted the conversion to take the Sharks into a 16-11 lead. A desperate fight-back then ensued from the visitors, but the Sharks defence was solid as a rock — eventually winning them the advantage and a late victory after the final whistle.

Scorers:

For the Sharks:
Try: Daniel
Con: Pienaar
Pens: Pienaar 3

For the Lions:
Try: Alberts
Pens: Rose 2

Teams:

Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Chris Jordaan, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Odwa Ndungane, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Scott Mathie, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Johann Muller (captain), 4 Albert van den Berg, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Skipper Badenhorst, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Riaan Swanepoel, 22 Monty Dumond.

Lions: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Heini Gordon, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Doppies la Grange, 11 Ryno Benjamin, 10 Earl Rose, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Franco van der Merwe, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar (captain), 5 Gerhard Mostert, 4 Dewald Senekal, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Ethienne Reynecke, 17 Gert Muller, 18 Anton van Zyl, 19 Justin Wheeler, 20 Chris Jonck, 21 Michael Killian, 22 Dusty Noble.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Touch judges: François Veldsman, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Johann Meuwesen

365