Former Captain John Smit got his name on the scorecard with a try as did the now veteran Shark Stefan Terblanche.

 

The Sharks overturned a 10-0 halftime deficit to beat the Stormers.  

 

It took until the 46th minute for the Sharks to get on the board when Rory Kockott kicked a penalty from almost the halfway line.

 

A real concern for the Stormers will be the loss of Captain Jean De Villiers who was stretchered off after being knocked out in a tackle on Frans Steyn.

 

The Stormers were full of running straight from the kick-off and their midfield in particular ran hard at the opposition, even when passing looked like a better proposition.

Keeping the ball in hand also made for frequent breakdown points where the Stormers were a mixture of good and bad. More than often they managed to look after their possession but it never came quick enough to lend momentum to their surges.

On occasions they infringed and referee Mark Lawrence blew them up at least five times in the opening minutes.

This should have cost the Stormers dearly but the Sharks' place-kicker and flyhalf Ruan Piennar missed three kicks at goal. The Sharks also committed numerous errors at the breakdowns, mostly after they had managed to break into the Stormers' 22m area.

The Sharks seemed unable to wrest the initiative from the Stormers who persevered with their hard-running tactics and they were rewarded in the 19th minute when their centre Gcobani Bobo barged his way over from about four metres out with three opponents trying to halt him.

Stormers flyhalf Peter Grant converted (7-0). Sharks scrumhalf Rory Kockett sparked off a great upfield sortie with a quick drop-in in the 29th minute and the initiative took play to up to 10 metres from the Stormers' tryline.

There followed pressure spell by the Sharks but the Stormers' defence stood firm.

As the first half closed in halftime Stormers captain and centre Jean de Villiers put his side in attacking position which they only just failed to convert to points as the Sharks' defence thwarted three close-in attempts to cross the tryline.

However, the Stormers did make this raid partially good when Grant converted a penalty on the stroke of halftime (10-0).

Disaster struck for Stormers four minutes into the second half when De Villiers was injured and taken off the field on a mobile stretcher. His place was taken by Joe Pietersen in midfield.

The Sharks were looking far better on attack and they managed to pin the Stormers down in their opposition in their own 22m area but again the Stormers scrambled brilliantly on defence even when fully stretched.

Kockett took over the kicking duties from Pienaar and he was twice on target in the space of 11 minutes to reduce the deficit for the Sharks (10-6).

The Sharks finally made their breakthrough on the hour when John Smit crashed over after a 5m free-kick and Kockett added the conversion to give the Sharks the lead for the first time in the match (13-10).

Just when it seemed the Stormers could halt the Sharks' surge they suffered a 7-point setback from which they were never able to recover from.

The Sharks ran their way out of trouble from a scrum five metres from their own tryline and the move was splendidly rounded off by fullback Stefan Terblanche who ran untouched some 30 metres down the grandstand touchline before dotting down under the posts in the 65th minute.

Kockett added the conversion to give the Sharks a commanding 20-10 lead.

Seven minutes from the end Grant crashed over an try unconverted try, which secured the Stormers a bonus point for losing less than seven points.

 

Final Score Stormers 15 Sharks 20

Stormers
Tries - Bobo, Peter Grant
Penalties - Grant
Conversions - Grant
Drop Goals -

Match -Stormers v Sharks
Venue - Cape Town
Time pm -17.00
Referee - M Lawrence (SA)
Ass Ref. 1 - P Legoete (SA)
Ass Ref. 2 - C Wessels (SA)
TMO - S Veldsman/ JC Fortuin (Tr.) (SA)
Performance Reviewer - W Erickson
Last year: Sharks 12, Stormers 10 at Durban
Head to Head: Played 11: Stormers 6, Sharks 5

Teams

Stormers: Conrad Jantjes, Tonderai Chavhanga, Gcobani Bobo, Jean de Villiers (c) Nick Koster, Peter Grant, Enrico Januarie, Duane Vermeulen, Francois Louw, Schalk Burger, Andries Bekker, Adrian Fondse, Brian Mujati, Schalk Brits, JD Moller.

Reps: Deon Fourie, Wikus Blaauw, AJ Venter, Luke Watson, Bolla Conradie, Joe Pietersen, Percy Montgomery.

Sharks:15. Stefan Terblanche, 14. Odwa Ndungane,, 13. Adrian Jacobs,12. Francois Steyn, 11. JP Pietersen, 10. Ruan Pienaar, 9. Rory Kockott, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 7. Jean Deysel, 6. Keegan Daniel, 5. Johann Muller (Captain), 4. Steven Sykes, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. John Smit, 1. Deon Carstens

Reps: 16. Bismarck du Plessis, 17. Melusi Mthethwa, 18. Alistair Hargreaves, 19. Jacques Botes, 20. Ross Cronje, 21. Riaan Swanepoel, 22. Luzuko Vulindlu.