The Sharks held on with everything they had in their United Rugby Championship encounter against the Bulls in Durban on Saturday to edge the Pretoria side 20-17 in a humdinger of a clash at Kings Park.
Springbok flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse opened the scoring for the Durbanites in the sixth minute with a penalty, and his brother Jaden added their first try 12 minutes later to hand the hosts a 10-0 lead.
The Bulls fought back with intent with Cobus Wiese and Harold Vorster scoring back-to-back tries within four minutes and the successful conversions handed them a 14-10 lead.
Had it not been for mistakes at crucial moments before the break, the visitors could have added two more tries, but these errors combined with an effective Sharks defence denied them.
The second half was particularly hard-fought, but a penalty try for the Sharks, after the Bulls infringed over the try line – which saw them lose Sebastian de Klerk to the sin bin for 10 minutes – levelled the scores at 17-17 with 28 minutes to play.
Jordan eventually scored the winning points of the game with a 69th-minute penalty.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks hold on for a vital victory against the Vodacom Bulls 💪💪#VURC pic.twitter.com/N5LiMpSycC
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) December 21, 2024
Sharks – Tries: Jaden Hendrikse, Penalty try. Conversion: Jordan Hendrikse. Penalty goals: Jordan Hendrikse (2).
Bulls – Tries: Cobus Wiese, Harold Vorster. Conversions: Johan Goosen (2). Penalty goal: Goosen