Sharks and the Crusaders turned on a Super Rugby classic yesterday

THE Northern Hemisphere had a reverberating jolt of reality in their backyard yesterday when the Sharks and the Crusaders turned on a Super Rugby classic that signposted the direction in which the Rugby World Cup is headed.

The New Zealanders prevailed 44-28, but the try count was closer at 5-4, and while the first half was an exhibition of Kiwi precision finishing, the second half mostly belonged to the tenacity of a Sharks team that at one stage had looked in danger of getting an embarrassing hiding.

It truly was a memorable match that was befitting of the historic first of a regulation Southern Hemisphere competition fixture staged to the North. The 40 000 patrons at Twickenham will hope it is not the last.

The occasion certainly got all the bells and whistles of a Test match, national anthems and all, and the only thing missing was the Haka.

An element of this game was about the Red Cross appeal and in the first half the Sharks seemed to have charity ever present in their minds.

Their backline defence was disturbingly poor, especially around the 10-12 axis and the Crusaders’ flamboyant showman, Sonny Bill Williams, created try-making havoc.

The Crusaders’ first points came from a Dan Carter penalty that was earned when the Sharks slowed the ball down following a clean break from Williams, who brushed off a weak tackle effort by Jacques-Louis Potgieter.

That should have been negated three minutes later by Potgieter, who missed a sitter after the Crusaders were penalised at a ruck.

It did not matter at that stage because Willem Alberts bulldozed over the line following a passage of clinical driving from the forwards. Potgieter converted and the Sharks led 7-3, only to concede a penalty shortly after the restart for Dan Carter to convert into points.

And the Kiwis took the lead a few minutes later in exhilarating fashion when Williams again broke through the Sharks’ midfield with ease to set up winger Sean Maitland for a try.

The Crusaders’ second try was very worrying for the Sharks. On 20 minutes their set scrum was demolished, the ball was scooped up from a fumbling Charl McLeod and once more Williams broke clean through to make the try for Carter.

At 20-7 the Sharks were faltering in the face of the red and black storm and there was brief respite when Potgieter kicked a long-range penalty in the 23rd minute.

But fullback Israel Dagg scored a minute later, again off the back of a dominant scrum that saw outside centre Robbie Freuan making the telling break.

It was 27-10 and the Sharks were facing a hiding.

That seemed a reality five minutes before half time when that man Williams picked up the ball at the back of a ruck, danced through the defence and ultimately set up winger Zac Guildford for a try.

From the restart, the Sharks enjoyed momentary cheer when Potgieter brilliantly broke through from the halfway line to score a wonderful individual try. He missed the conversion but in the last play of the half kicked a difficult penalty to give the score-line a degree of respectability at 34-18.

Ominously the first points of the second half went to the Crusaders when the Sharks were penalised after their scrum had disintegrated, but the Durbanites revealed strong character when they fought their way up field through well controlled phases that culminated in Alistair Hargreaves doing extremely well to get over in the corner from a ruck.

And it was game on when the Sharks capitalised on a moment of madness from Dagg, who took a quick lineout throw that was never on. The Sharks turned the ball over on the Crusaders 22 and Odwa Ndungane finished superbly.

It was four tries apiece at 37-28 and the Sharks would have trailed by less had they not been missing their conversion attempts.

The momentum was all with the Sharks but the killer blow came with 15 minutes to go when Guildford, against the run of play, scored his second try.

Scorers

Sharks: Tries: Willem Alberts, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Alistair Hargreaves, Odwa Ndungane. Conversions: Jacques-Louis Potgieter. Penalties: Potgieter (2).

Crusaders: Tries: Sean Maitland, Dan Carter, Israel Dagg, Zac Guildford (2). Conversions: Dan Carter (5). Penalties: Carter (3)