The Cell C Sharks’ Vodacom United Rugby Championship ambitions came to a sad end on Saturday evening when they went down 35-5 to log leaders Leinster in their quarter-final clash at Aviva Stadium.
A dominant Cell C Sharks scrum set the tone for the first try early in the game, a penalty at the set-piece and then Grant Williams showing his sublime pace as he caught the defence out and no-one could touch him for a seventh minute try in the corner.
Leinster hit back with their first score of the game, a try in the 13th minute off an attacking lineout and with the successful conversion, took the lead. Sadly, Makazole Mapimpi was yellow carded on defence for indirect contact to the head.
Leinster doubled their score with a series of pick and drives in the 20th minute and then three minutes later had their third in an explosive attack that took them 16 points ahead in the 24th minute.
At 21-5 down with 16 minutes of the half remaining, the Cell C Sharks had a big hurdle to overcome, finding themselves trailing Leinster by three tries to one. They pushed hard in the final XX minutes of the half, forcing the home side to work hard on defence, but no more points were forthcoming and Leinster had a 16 point lead as the teams went into the changerooms.
Leinster were given a final warning for repeated scrum infringements, as the dominance continued for the visiting Durbanites, but it was in vain as Leinster delivered a strong attack, quick ball out wide and their fourth try, with the sideline conversion taking them into a 28-5 lead with just under half an hour left to play.
The earlier yellow card was compounded by the loss of Thomas du Toit and Boeta Chamberlain either side of half-time and missing Siya Kolisi and Curwin Bosch to injuries meant the team wasn’t as settled as they would have liked to be for a game of such importance.
But there was something to cheer when Williams was again involved in a try, this time bursting at the defence and sending Rohan Janse van Rensburg in for the team’s second try, with replacement Nevaldo Fleurs adding the extras.
Sadly, the TMO brought the referee’s attention to an act of foul play in the build-up to the try and a second yellow card and a reversal of the score. Instead, Leinster struck back two minutes later off turnover ball, the conversion giving them a 35-5 lead with the last five minutes left to play.
There were two opportunities late in the game but Leinster’s defence stood firm and thus closed out the season.