Sharks 36-30 Edinburgh: South Africans dump Edinburgh out of Europe
- Published
Watson scored his eighth try in his 31st Challenge Cup appearance
European Challenge Cup: Sharks v Edinburgh |
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Sharks: (14) 36 |
Tries: Am, J Venter, Mbonambi Pens: Masuku 4, Bosch Cons: Masuku 3 |
Edinburgh: (16) 30 |
Tries: Schoeman, Watson, Cherry Pens: Healy 3 Cons: Healy 3 |
Edinburgh's revenge mission to South Africa ended in defeat as the Sharks beat the Scottish side in the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
Two weeks after losing in the United Rugby Championship, Sean Everitt's side returned to Durban seeking to secure a first European semi-final since 2015.
They led at the break but were undone by five Sharks penalties.
Two late tries could not reduce the gap and the Sharks will now face Clermont Auvergne in the semi-finals.
Both sides struggled with their discipline throughout, but it was the penalty count in the second-half that allowed the Sharks to pull away from their opposition.
Edinburgh began the scoring in the fifth minute, with Ben Healy nudging over the first of three penalties from the tee. He got his second 10 minutes later, sandwiching a missed penalty from Siya Masuku - one he missed from 10 yards out, almost in front of the sticks.
The Sharks fly-half would not make another such mistake, turning lethal from the tee in the second half as he kicked four penalties and a conversion, and was subsequently named player of the match.
After Edinburgh had gone 6-0 up, the Sharks responded quickly when Makazole Mapimpi chipped over the top and fielded his own kick, handing the ball inside to fellow Springbok back Lukhanyo Am to canter home.
Ewan Ashman did then cross the line for Edinburgh, but his dive over the whitewash was held up and the Sharks punished Edinburgh by scoring three minutes later when Eben Etzebeth fed an unmarked James Venter out wide to score.
However, the first half ended with Edinburgh in the ascendancy as Etzebeth was sin-binned for persistent infringements, and Pierre Schoeman dummied from the base of a ruck to spin over the line. Healy added the conversion, then another penalty, to give the visitors a two-point lead at the break.
They wouldn't score another point until the 74th minute though. In that time, the Sharks put 19 unanswered points on them - a gap too big for Edinburgh to bridge.
Two penalties gave the Sharks a four-point advantage while Edinburgh still appeared to be in the changing room, before Bongi Mbonambi spotted a gap following a line-out maul, with the hooker swan-diving over to add insult to injury.
Another two unanswered penalties and the game was all but lost. Hamish Watson went over from the back of a maul to give Edinburgh a glimmer of hope, but Curwin Bosch quickly snuffed that out as he nudged over another penalty.
Dave Cherry crossed from another line-out maul with the clock in the red to add a little more respect to the scoreline, but all that will be remembered is that the Sharks will go to the semi-finals.
Line-ups
Sharks: Fassi, Kok, Am (c), Hooker, Mapimpi, Masuku, Hendrikse; Nche, Mbonambi, Koch, Etzebeth, Van Heerden, J Venter, Tshituka, Buthelezi.
Replacements: Jooste, Mchunu, Jacobs, Rahl, Labuschagne, Williams, Bosch, F. Venter.
Sin bin: Etzebeth (31)
Edinburgh: Goosen, Henry, Bennett, Currie, van der Merwe, Healy, Vellacott (CC); Schoeman, Ashman, Nel, Skinner, Gilchrist (CC), Ritchie, Watson, Mata.
Replacements: Cherry, Venter, Rae, Hodgson, Crosbie, Price, Lang, Dean.
Match official
Referee: Matthew Carley (ENG)