The Sharks extended their Super Rugby winning streak over the Stormers to four straight wins with a 24-17 victory at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.
Cape Town’s Stormers have now not tasted victory over their South African rivals from Durban since March 2015.
The Sharks outscored the Stormers by three tries to two but they needed a big second half performance to beat an opportunistic Stormers side.
It took almost twenty minutes for the first points to be scored but Sharks number 10 Robert du Preez eventually opened the Sharks account in the 19th minute with a penalty having hit the post earlier.
The Sharks missed an opportunity to extend their lead two minutes later but Curwin Bosch took the kick and missed.
The Sharks dominated territory in the opening half and appeared destined to go in for the break with a 3-0 lead.
The Sharks opened the scoring with a Stormers scored the only try of the opening half
Three minutes before the break though the Stormers made the most of a rare opportunity that came their way. The Cape Town side moved the ball wide in their half from a ruck and it went to Siya Kolisi who offloaded to Raymond Rhule who ran in the opening try in the match.
Damien Willemse added the conversion which meant that even though the Sharks had dominated the first half they were trailing by four points at the break.
The Sharks made a determined start to the second half by unleashing Makazole Mapimpi who chased the ball from a chip kick, gathered the ball and passed to Lukhanyo Am who had to reach but managed to control the ball and score.
Du Preez converted and the Sharks were back in front on the scoreboard.
Willemse slotted a penalty to level scores but then after an intercept which got the visiting side into the Sharks 22 Ramone Samuels scored in the corner.
The Sharks came close to levelling but after several reviews Sbu Nkosi was ruled to have knocked on as he attempted to score for the hosts.
The turning point in the match came in the 58th minute as Dewaldt Duvenage was sin-binned for an intentional knockdown. With an extra player the Sharks capitalised and Robert du Preez set up his brother Jean-Luc du Preez for a try under the posts.
Robert du Preez added the conversion which levelled the scores.
The Stormers managed to keep the Sharks contained for the rest of Duvenage’s sin binning but when they got back to 15 players the Sharks moved through several players and Thomas du Toit crashed over to put the hosts into the lead.
Du Preez added the conversion and although the Stormers finished the match in the Sharks red zone the hosts held on in defence and the Stormers had to settle for a losing bonus point.
The Sharks have now won three matches (and a draw) from nine matches, while the have three wins to show from nine matches.
The Stormers have played 5 matches away from home this season and have yet to secure a victory on the road.
Next week in the eleventh round the Sharks have a by while the Stormers return home to Cape Town where they will host the Rebels from Melbourne.
Final Score Sharks 24(3) Stormers 17(7)
Scorers
Sharks
Tries -L. Am, J- du Preez, T.du Toit
Pen – R.du Preez
Con – R.du Preez 3
Drop –
Cards –
Stormers
Tries – R.Rhule, R. Samuels
Pen -D.Willemse
Con -D.Willemse 2
Drop –
Cards – D.Duvenage (58th min yellow)
Match Officials
Referee: Glen Jackson
Assistant Ref 1:Egon Seconds
Assistant Ref 2:Cwengile Jadezweni
TMO :Marius Jonker
Teams
Sharks
15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Philip van der Walt, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Ruan Botha (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Juan Schoeman
Replacements :16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Tyler Paul, 20 Jacques Vermeulen, 21 Louis Screuder, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Lwazi Mvovo
Stormers
15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Craig Barry, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Chris van Zyl, 4 Jan de Klerk, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Kobus van Dyk, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 SP Marais, 23 JJ Engelbrecht.
