Two wins, two very different games. The numbers behind the Hollywoodbets Sharks' opening fortnight show an attack that strikes when it matters and a set-piece that hasn't lost a scrum yet.
Two rounds into the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, the Hollywoodbets Sharks have already given us two very different-looking performances.
There was the 41-24 opening-round win over Ospreys, full of carries, metres, clean breaks and attacking intent. Then came the 26-20 victory over reigning champions Leinster, a very different examination - one in which the Sharks spent just 36% of the match in possession and 30% in territory, yet still found a way to win.
Put the two matches together, though, and a clearer picture starts to emerge.
There is the flash.
And there is the grunt.
And the numbers suggest the Sharks have plenty of both.
THE FLASH
Against Ospreys, the Sharks carried the ball 110 times for 403 metres, beat 17 defenders and made 10 clean breaks.
Against Leinster, the volume changed dramatically. The Sharks made just 62 carries for 266 metres, but still beat 18 defenders and produced seven clean breaks.
That distinction matters. The Leinster victory wasn't built on simply having more ball or running more metres. The Sharks were more selective and, when opportunities presented themselves, dangerous.
Andre Esterhuizen led the way with five defenders beaten, while Edwill van der Merwe made the most of his opportunities, finishing with 62 carry metres - the most of any Shark in the match.
And then there were the moments that decide matches. Manu Tshituka opened the scoring for the Sharks against Leinster. Lili Bester followed early in the second half, before Esterhuizen and van der Merwe crossed in the final quarter to seal the victory.
The attacking numbers weren't identical across the opening two rounds. But the threat was there in both.
THE GRUNT
This is where the first two rounds become particularly interesting.
The Sharks' scrum was 100% in both matches. Against Ospreys, they won 9/9 scrums. Against Leinster, they won 10/10.
The lineout followed the same trajectory. The Sharks won 10 of 11 against Ospreys - an impressive 91%. Against Leinster, they were perfect: 14/14.
That means that through two rounds, the Sharks have won 19 of 19 scrums and 24 of 25 lineouts. Their total set-piece win rate went from 97% against Ospreys to 100% against Leinster.
That isn't decorative data.
It's a platform.
WINNING WITHOUT OWNING THE BALL
The Leinster match perhaps tells us more about this Sharks side than the 41-point opening round.
The Sharks had just 36% possession and 30% territory. Leinster had the ball for more than 17-and-a-half minutes compared with the Sharks' 12-and-a-half, and made 13 visits to the Sharks' 22 compared with 10.
And yet the Sharks scored 2.6 points per visit to the 22, compared with Leinster's 1.3. That's efficiency.
The Sharks didn't need to own the match territorially to win it. They needed to make their moments count.
THE DEFENCE HAS BEEN BUSY
There is another thread running through both victories: work without the ball.
Against Leinster, the Sharks made 172 successful tackles from 193 attempts, an 89% tackle success rate. And the workload was spread across the pack.
Thomas du Toit made 19 tackles in 54 minutes. Jason Jenkins made 21, Vincent Koch 18 and Sethu Mnebelele 15.
It was a match in which the Sharks were forced to defend for long periods - and ultimately held their nerve. That is the grunt.
TWO WEEKS. ONE IDENTITY.
The first two rounds have produced different statistical profiles.
Against Ospreys:
110 carries.
403 metres.
10 clean breaks.
17 defenders beaten.
9/9 scrums.
10/11 lineouts.
Against Leinster:
62 carries.
266 metres.
7 clean breaks.
18 defenders beaten.
10/10 scrums.
14/14 lineouts.
Different games.
Different demands.
Same result.
Two matches. Two wins.
And perhaps the most encouraging number of all is the one sitting underneath the highlights. The Sharks' flash is producing tries, breaks and metres. Their grunt is giving them a platform from which to produce it. The sexy stuff gets the applause. The set-piece gets you there. And after two rounds, the Hollywoodbets Sharks are showing they can do both.
One game at a time, gentlemen.
