'Tahs battle past Sharks' ; Planet Rugby

The Waratahs got back to winning ways with three tries in Sydney to down the Sharks 33-18 and move top of the Australian conference.

Tries from Adam Ashley-Cooper and Taqele Naiyaravoro got them on their way before Bernard Foley's late breakaway score sealed the win and handed the Sharks a sixth straight defeat for the first time in their Super Rugby history.

Despite tries from Odwa Ndungane and Frans Steyn, the visitors paid the price for their indiscipline, with Foley kicking 18 points for the Tahs.

The hosts had the first try within a minute after a great set play off a lineout. They went off the top and Foley's inside ball put Michael Hooper through a gap. He then played the simple two-on-one with Ashley-Cooper to send the centre under the posts. Foley converted to make it 7-0 in no time at all.

In an entertaining opening quarter the Sharks twice came close to their first try, with first Lwazi Mvovo, and then Stefan Ungerer failing to hold on with the tryline at their mercy.

The Tahs had a chance of their own when Hooper went clean through, and while he probably didn't have the legs to run the length of the field, he didn't have the chance to find out after losing control of the ball with no-one close to him.

The Sharks cut the deficit with a penalty from Steyn after a scrum infringement, but Foley matched him after the Sharks were caught holding on just in front of their own line after a dangerous Waratahs attack.

Having been dominated at the scrum early on, the Tahs were able to turn things around, and Foley made it three from three with a penalty just before the half-hour to make it 13-3.

With five minutes to go in the half Stephen Hoiles handled in a ruck, giving Steyn a shot at goal from the left and the Springbok centre made no mistake to make it a one-score game.

That was how it stayed until the break, despite a little scuffle to close out the half after Israel Folau had been stopped just short of the line by some desperate Sharks defence. The visitors managed to turn the ball over before earning a penalty to close out the first 40 minutes.

The start of the second half of was dominated by the Tahs but the Sharks held out, forcing their hosts backwards before earning a penalty on halfway. With the Waratahs caught napping, Lionel Cronje fired a low cross-kick towards the home 22 and Ndungane was far too quick for Tolu Latu and went over on the right. Steyn missed the conversion but the Tahs' lead was cut to 13-11.

The response from the home side was instantaneous, with Naiyaravoro somehow getting over in the corner. After a Tahs maul, the ball was spread wide, and the powerful winger just about held off the challenge of Mvovo to force it down, after adjudication from the TMO. Foley converted from the touchline to make it 20-11.

The lead didn't last long, with the Sharks coming straight back up the pitch and scoring their second try. Quick hands set up an overlap out wide and after Kurtley Beale sprinted out of the defensive line, Cronje offloaded to Steyn for the simple run-in. With the extras the lead was just two.

A high tackle from Cronje on a slipping Beale gave Foley an easy shot at three points, and he made no mistake to stretch the hosts' lead once again, before adding three more when JP Pietersen produced an intentional knock-on, to make it 26-18.

The Sharks almost got back into it with ten minutes remaining when S'bura Sithole looked to have crossed acrobatically in the corner, but after consultation with the TMO it was deemed that he had just put a knee in touch before dotting down.

It was cruel on the Sharks, who were on the wrong end of a lot of decisions on the night, and their evening finished in disappointment when a loose ball in midfield was hacked forward by Foley, who then scooped it up and sprinted over unchallenged for the final try of the game two minutes from time, adding the conversion for a 23-point haul.

While the win pushes the 'Tahs ahead of the Brumbies in the Australian conference, they will need to improve a great deal next week when they take on the fast-finishing Crusaders in a rematch of last year's final.

The scorers:

For Waratahs:
Tries: Ashley-Cooper, Naiyaravoro, Foley
Cons: Foley 3
Pens: Foley 4

For Sharks:
Tries: Ndungane, Steyn
Cons: Steyn
Pens: Steyn 2

The Waratahs should have adopted an old Beatles song as their anthem in Sydney on Saturday as their 33-18 Vodacom Super Rugby win over the Cell C Sharks was certainly a case of them getting by with a little help from a friend, the friend in this case being referee Rohan Hoffmann.

The Sharks’ defence again let them down on occasion, and one of those occasions was the first minute of the game, which was how long it took for the Waratahs to score their first try. Michael Hooper burst through some ineffectual Sharks tackling to put Adam Ashley Cooper in for the score, which was timed at 55 seconds.

Sharks fans would have had some nightmare recollections then of what happened to their team on Easter Saturday. On that occasion it was the Crusaders who scored early, and then they scored again soon after that, and again and again and again. Would that happen again?

Fortunately for the Sharks and their fans it didn’t, but what did happen was a refereeing horror show that evoked uncomfortable South African memories of that arch villain of all time, Bryce Lawrence (Worst ref peformance ever seen but nz ref of year earned by eliminating Boks). Poor Hoffmann surely isn’t a cheat, no-one would accuse him of that, but for goodness sake, his indecision and lack of consistency just turned the game into something approaching slapstick comedy on occasion.(Mistakes made consistently against one side and he is not biased!!!!!!!)

And that was never more so than when, with 30 seconds left on the television timer, he was asked by Sharks captain Marco Wentzel when the Sharks were awarded a penalty on their own tryline whether the half was over. Viewers would have clearly heard Hoffmann say yes, as did Wentzel, so instead of looking for ground up the right touchline, flyhalf Lionel Cronje kicked the ball out parallel to where he was standing – in other words, next to the Sharks line.

Wentzel remonstrated with Hoffmann who suffered a memory lapse – or maybe he was pre-occupied with thoughts of auditioning for a role in a Woody Allen movie – and ordered the lineout to form a few metres out from the Sharks line. Thank goodness for Hoffmann that the Sharks held their own throw just after the hooter did sound, and it never came to anything.

However other calls that went against the Sharks did cost them, such as when Cronje was harshly called for a high tackle to enable Foley to stretch the Waratahs lead at a crucial stage. There will be unhappiness in Durban that Kurtley Beale was not penalised for a shoulder charge when S'bura Sithole went over in the corner with nine minutes remaining.

That may have been the one call that Hoffmann and the TMO got right, as it did look like there was arm involved in the Beale challenge. But the Sharks will feel that the call that Sithole's knee was touching the line was marginal, and even a member of the Australian commentary team muttered the comment that “The Sharks don’t believe it, and frankly I don’t believe it either”.

Phil Kearns, after the game, stated that while it was well done to the Waratahs, who pulled away to a flattering 15 point winning margin with a soft try from Foley towards the end, he thought the Sharks had been ‘stiffed’ in many of the marginal refereeing calls (Typical nz reffing - ozzies are going bad as well). In a close game, which this one was for most of the way, that could have made all the difference, and this was one day that the Sharks could feel unjustly done by.

Steyn, who looked slick in midfield and capped his own promising performance with a try of his own in the second half, kicked a penalty after 18 minutes to stabilise the Sharks after conceding that early try, and then the forwards took quite comprehensive control of several aspects of play, most notably the scrums, where the Waratahs were under constant pressure, though they were periodically helped out of their predicament by their ‘friend’.

The Sharks were in the game mainly because they dominated possession in territory, for if the truth were to be told, the Waratahs did get over the advantage line far too often when they did get a proper feel of the ball, and came close to scoring a try shortly before halftime off a searing break from Israel Folau that was held up just short. Had the try been scored, it would have been against the run of play.

The Waratahs led by seven at the break (13-6) after Foley had added two penalties and Steyn another one to go with his earlier effort, and then, nine minutes in the second half, came a moment of sheer ingenuity from Sharks flyhalf Cronje, who quickly spotted the opportunity after his team won a penalty and kicked into a vacant right hand corner and Ndungane ran through to dot down.

Steyn missed the conversion to make it a two point game, but then came one of those questionable moments that went against the Sharks, with the visitors complaining about Waratahs illegality at the lineout that led directly to the line movement which big wing Taqele Naiyarovoravo rounded off by sliding over in the corner to be awarded the try courtesy of the TMO.

Foley’s conversion made it 20-11, but the Sharks weren’t finished. Steyn’s try came in the 57th minute, with a good little inside pass from Cronje to Ndungane creating the initial thrust before it was spun away from the recycle and some good offloading resulted in the powerfully built inside centre being set free down the left touchline.

The move that led to Mvovo’s disallowed try later was equally impressive, and it does seem that the Sharks are starting to get aspects of their attacking game right. They are going to have to cut down on the mistakes though, with one of those leading to the Foley try that drummed in the final nail in the coffin, and they will have to work on their defence too, though by now that surely goes without saying.

What the Sharks would prefer not to be mentioned is that they haven’t moved from 21 points in the log for three games now – the Highlanders, Hurricanes and Waratahs. The last time they picked up a log point was the bonus point they earned for losing by less than seven in their last home game against the Vodacom Bulls.

And the last time they won – well, when was that? – was so long ago. In fact, you have to go back to before the Easter weekend, to their trip to Bloemfontein. Back then they topped the log. Now their chances are done. But it has to be said that while they have conspired against themselves often, some of their opponents have also got by with a little help from their friends.

I felt the Sto rmers were shafted even more against the Hurricanes.

Its all too pathetic for words.