The final South African derby match of this year’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship saw the Hollywoodbets Sharks downed by the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus on Saturday evening.
Having lost the first-round clash 21-12 at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, the Vodacom Bulls emerged 41-12 victors.
The first quarter hour was very much about sizing up the respective opposition, plenty of high balls to test the aerial battle with no clear winner. The home side contested well at lineout time, while the Hollywoodbets Sharks were dominant at scrum time.
A well-constructed try for the home side gave them a 5-0 lead and they doubled it 10 minutes later with a patient multi-phase attack that was all about good control and finally finished in the corner.
Sadly, in the build-up, Jaden Hendrikse suffered a match-ending injury and had to be stretchered off the field, a double blow the Hollywoodbets Sharks could ill-afford to suffer.
Five minutes later they had the hat-trick, a breakthrough the middle and acceleration towards the tryline getting them the points, with Pollard getting his first conversion of the game to push his team into a 17-nil lead on the half hour.
The home side’s dominance continued as they scored the bonus point try a handful of minutes later, another pin-point chip over the defence and regather to get the ball behind the defence to set up a 22-nil lead, with Pollard uncharacteristically missing his third conversion of the game.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks had a last gasp opportunity to score as half-time approached, a penalty kicked to touch and the lineout mauled strongly towards the line, only to be repelled into touch, closing out a frustrating first half.
A strong start from the Hollywoodbets Sharks saw them score first, Edwill van der Merwe going over in the corner following a good break from Vincent Tshituka who gave the perfect flip pass outside for his wing to do the business under pressure.
Having dominated the entire third quarter, it was only fitting that the Hollywoodbets Sharks scored again, this time Hanro Jacobs smashing his way over after some hard running from captain Andre Esterhuizen as he bull-dozed his way through the defence to get his team on the front foot and build gees. Jordan Hendrikse converted to cut the lead to 10 points with the final quarter left to play.
But the confidence the home team were playing with helped to build pressure off a mistake at the kick-off and then score almost immediately, taking them into a 29-12 lead which they extended with a sixth try moments later, the momentum having swung completely back in the home side’s favour.
Jason Jenkins should have finished off his team’s third try of the game, but the TMO ruled that it came off a forward pass to deny a late score in the 71st minute.
The Vodacom Bulls closed the game out with a try in the 78th minute, with captain Andre Esterhuizen saying afterwards, “Very disappointed. We started the game well. Put some pressure on the Vodacom Bulls and gained territory, playing in their half, so I was happy with the first 20 minutes.
“But there were soft moments on defence and we let them in, gave them two easy tries, and from there we were under the pump.
“We started well in the second half, started getting momentum, but couldn’t contain the kick-offs and we were under pressure again and feeling like we had to chase again.
“We have a lot to work on and a lot to learn. It’s very disappointing.”