An enthusiastic Durban crowd welcomed the Hollywoodbets Sharks back to Hollywoodbets Kings Park in their first home game of their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign and the one point margin laid testament to how close the game was.
Connacht Rugby eventually prevailed 13-12, but it could so easily have been a Hollywoodbets Sharks win, the home side having played all the rugby but not finishing off the result in the end of an exciting and entertaining game.
The message coming out of the camp has been consistently one of exciting times to come from this team and they certainly delivered on their promise to play attacking rugby. They showed encouraging signs of the kind of style of play they have embraced and while it’s still early days in the competition, the excitement is there.
Although the opening five minutes of the game were played in Connacht’s half, once they managed to get into opposition territory, they showed patience on attack to eventually force their way over the tryline following an attack off a 50-22 kick, the conversion taking the Irish side into an early 7-0 lead.
A lovely passage of play from the Hollywoodbets Sharks ensued, a multiphase attack from one side of the field to the other placed the visitors under enormous pressure, with Dylan Richardson carrying strongly but denied millimetres short of the tryline in the most exciting phase of play in the game.
There were a number of opportunities that couldn’t be closed out and Connacht hung on grimly, possession and territory favouring the Hollywoodbets Sharks throughout the second quarter of the game. Emile van Heerden continues to impress and it was his quick-thinking and strong-running that set up his team’s try, closed out by eighthman Sikhumbuzo Notshe after a strong build-up close to the Connacht line.
With five minutes of the pulsating half remaining, Connacht converted a penalty to push them into a 10-5 lead. The half finished in 48 minutes of extended play with the Irish defending for their lives, but somehow managing to keep the Hollywoodbets Sharks out and taking their five point lead into the half-time break.
The second half was a tight affair, and after defending their tryline through numerous phases and conceding penalty after penalty, Connacht lost a man to the sin bin with half an hour remaining.
From the ensuing play, Werner Kok scored under the posts with the Irish remonstrating with the referee who upheld his decision to award the try. Bosch converted and the Hollywoodbets Sharks had the lead.
Connacht took a 13-12 lead with just over 10 minutes of the game remaining, a penalty pushing them back in front.
There were some exciting moments in the closing stages, and the performance, while ending in a disappointing result, was certainly filled with thrills and much to enthuse about. This is a side that does not give up, that is showing passion and commitment and which wants to win.
Don’t write this team off.