The Cell C Sharks made a grand statement in blowing away Union Bordeaux Begles 32-3 in an utterly dominant Heineken Champions Cup clash at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday.
It was frenetic but also composed, the mark of a team with experience and stature and an ability to control the flow of the game. The French had no answer and will leave Durban knowing they were well beaten.
A big crowd descended on Hollywoodbets Kings Park and the 22784 spectators were treated to a wonderful game of rugby from the Cell C Sharks.
Lionel Cronje, a late replacement for Curwin Bosch before the match started, converted an early penalty after the Cell C Sharks had spent the opening five minutes dominating. They would lead for the remainder of the game.
With barely a sniff of possession, the French found themselves under constant pressure and quick thinking from Jaden Hendrikse to send the ball into space for Makazole Mapimpi to chase almost resulted in a second score. The defence managed to hold out, but at the resulting scrum, Hendrikse was again the man with a plan as he took a quick tap before wriggling through the defence for the opening try on the quarter hour.
Hendrikse scored his second try just shy of the 25th minute, Bordeaux having no answer to the Cell C Sharks’ dominance at scrum time where they conceded a third penalty, the lineout drive was strong before the scrumhalf broke away and scored in the corner, with Cronje adding the extras for a 15-nil lead.
Eh half hour mark and following their fifth penalty at scrum time, Bordeaux lost a prop to the sin bin to compound their woes as they simply couldn’t get into the game. That was mostly because they were denied any momentum by the hostile Cell C Sharks who added a third try, the impressive Gerbrandt Grobler finishing off a concerted run of pick and drives. Cronje’s conversion gave his team a 22-nil lead with eight minutes of the pulsating first half remaining.
Bordeaux had a second opportunity to put their first points on the board on the stroke of half-time, but like the earlier penalty, it wasn’t on target and they went into the changerooms scoreless, denied by a rampant and utterly ruthless Cell C Sharks who were full value for the 22 point lead.
After finally managing to string a period of possession together, Bordeaux earned their first points of the game in the opening five minutes of the second half with a regulation penalty and despite the large margin, they strangely opted for another kick at posts, but missed. Bereft of ideas, their attack lacked energy and ambition as they wilted in the heat and under pressure from the home side.
With the final quarter left to play, there was simply no stopping the surge from the Cell C Sharks who were pushing hard for the bonus point try, which came after a creative effort on attack that had some deft handling and strong running, with Siya Kolisi held up short but having the awareness to pop the ball up to Marnus Potgieter who crashed over for a 27-3 lead.
Two mutes later Potgieter had his brace and the Cell C Sharks’ fifth, scoring in the corner after wonderful work on attack from Kolisi and Mapimpi to extend their lead to 29 points.
Hendrikse earned the Man of the Match award, but this was a victory built of a team effort and the win keeps them unbeaten with next week’s away clash against Harlequins the final game of the pool stages.