Luan Giliomee scored twice and was named Vodacom Man of the Match as the Hollywoodbets Sharks ran in five tries to open their Vodacom United Rugby Championship season with a 41-24 bonus-point win over the Ospreys.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks kicked off their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign with a well-deserved and somewhat emphatic 41-24 bonus point victory over a game Ospreys side at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday.
The opening 10 minutes were testy from both sides, with the Hollywoodbets Sharks looking to score early but for some determined defence from the visitors, but as the game hit the 12th minute, the action set the crowd alight as quick hands and excellent support play saw Nick Hatton put into space and the captain made no mistake as he raced to the tryline, with Vusi Moyo adding the conversion for a 7-nil lead.
With momentum on their side, the Hollywoodbets Sharks struck again through Manu Tshituka after Janco Purchase had combined perfectly with centre partner Jurenzo Julius who fed his rampaging flank team-mate and there was no stopping him. Moyo added the extras for a 14-nil lead after 23 minutes of exciting play.
Try number three came less than five minutes later, scrum penalty advantage was unnecessary as Julius fed Luan Giliomee and the fullback showed why he’s such a huge talent as he delivered a mazy 50m run from the halfway line, bamboozling the defence and going over untouched, with Moyo converting for a 21-point lead.
The Welsh struck back almost immediately, sending the ball from one side of the field to the other as they found space out wide to score in the corner, the touchline conversion cutting the lead to 14 points.
With four minutes remaining, Vusi Moyo grubbered the ball ahead after the Ospreys had lost possession on attack, and Giliomee chased well, with a defender hot on his heels. An early tackle was referred to the TMO, but Litelihle Bester had supported well and he managed to dot down, so no knock-on and the bonus point try stood. Moyo converted for a 28-7 lead.
The Ospreys hammered away three minutes into extra-time as they looked to maul the ball over, eventually getting over with the backs adding extra bulk to cut the lead, with the successful conversion closing out an entertaining half with the Hollywoodbets Sharks leading 28-14.
After sustaining possession and pressure for the opening five minutes of the second half, Ospreys scored for the third time in a row, finding a gap and exploiting space to go over for their third, the conversion going awry and the lead cut to nine points.
The first penalty of the game went the way of the hosts in the 52nd minute when, sensing that they needed to put daylight between themselves and the Ospreys, opted for the three-pointer from 45m out to extend their lead to 31-19.
Moyo struck another long-range penalty a few minutes later to extend the lead to 15 points as head coach JP Pietersen rang the changes off the bench.
With momentum back in the Hollywoodbets Sharks favour, Suleiman Hartzenberg had his try on debut denied by an earlier infringement in the movement, but they didn’t have long to wait for Vodacom Man of the Match Giliomee to go over for his second and the team’s fifth try, the ball mauled up by the forwards before being sent wide, with Siya Masuku converting and at 41-19 up with 11 minutes left to play, the result looked secure.
But the Ospreys had come to play and a break in the midfield was initially cut down before they recycled the ball and scored in the corner to cut the deficit to 17 points, meaning they had to score three times with eight minutes remaining if they had any hopes of causing an upset.
However they had left the counter fight too late and would leave Durban having lost and the Hollywoodbets Sharks earning five valuable log points out of the game.
