Edinburgh centre James Lang surrounded by Sharks. Image: © Craig Watson –
www.craigwatson.co.uk 
DAVID BARNES @ Hive Stadium
SEAN EVERITT would have been forgiven if he had stood in the middle of the Hive Stadium playing surface at full-time and bellowed to the full-house crowd: ‘Are you not entertained?’ There was surely a sense of vindication at the way his players had gone toe-to-toe with this star-studded Sharks outfit and been the better team for 78 minutes. If only there had been a happy ending.
The long-suffering capital support were treated to everything they could have hoped for in terms of Friday night entertainment … except, alas, the final outcome they desired.
The will have disappeared into the night flushed by the high-energy 80 minutes of rugby they had witnessed, and proud of their team for the way they had clearly rattled Eben Etzebeth and co, but lamenting the fact that the Sharks had been allowed to steal the win at the death, meaning a losing bonus-point was all Edinburgh have to show for their heroics.
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Of course, Everitt is not the sort of character to invoke the spirit of Maximus Decimus Meridius in his post-match musings, and he settled instead for a rather more sober analysis of the match.
“A couple of basic errors at the end of the game. We had opportunities in the 22 tonight. We weren’t clinical enough, but I suppose after a loss like this, you’ve got to find the positives, and the positives are the fight that the guys showed defensively,” he reflected.”
“They hardly fired a shot at us until the last movement of the game. I thought the guys put in a lot of effort on the field and they were determined and came out confident.
“We trained well during the week, knowing that we could win the game and that’s what I’m happy about, but gutted for the boys, obviously.
“I think we did enough to [win], except on the scoreboard. We’ve got to take a look at where we were probably two months ago and where we are now. We’re obviously a much improved team and we’ve made a lot of progress. We’ve just got to keep building, knuckle down and win the next three games [to give themselves the best possible shot of making the URC play-offs].
“This team, Edinburgh, is a physical rugby team,” he addded. “We know that we have to front up when we’re playing against a South African team, particularly. They pride themselves on physicality and overpowering you. Our guys were up for the fight tonight and well done to the forwards. They really put in a good performance.
“I thought we handled the territory well in the first half and we handled the game well and we were firing shots. We had two tries scored at half-time. It was never going to be enough.”
Jordan Hendrikse edged Sharks into a third minute lead with a tricky penalty struck from wide on the left when Harry Paterson was forced to hold onto the ball on the deck after collecting a high ball and being swallowed up by an excellent chase from Makazole Mpimpi.
And the South African stand-off tried to double-up on that with an even tougher effort from 10 yards inside his own half after a side entry from Ewan Ashman attempting to rescue the isolated Mosese Tuipulotu, but this was right at the edge of his range and his effort floated harmlessly to the right of the posts.
Instead, it was Edinburgh who struck next in the 11th minute, with James Lang delivering a spectacular high-diving finish over the last despairing tackle on the right following some slick hands and hard running.
Some similarly abrasive and accurate work sent Ross McCann scampering up the left a shirt while later, but the winger was closed down just before reaching dramatic diving range, and although Edinburgh bombarded the Sharks line with a couple of forward carries, there was no way through on this occasion.
But Edinburgh kept their focus and continued to match Sharks physically, with Thompson – apart from one missed touch from a penalty – pulling teh strings.
Anither slick attack going right saw Thompson open up space for Jamie Ritchie with a well-timed pass under pressure, and after an exchange of passes with Tom Currie, the Scotland flanker thundered in for try number two.
Hive Stadium was bouncing, Ritchie and Eben Etzebeth renewed acquaintances in similar fashion to their vigorous exchange of views in the 2023 World Cup, and you couldn’t help feeling that the home side underdogs were enjoying this much more than their illustrious guests.
But they couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard, and a penalty against Ben Muncaster for illegally slowing the Sharks recycle down allowed Jordan Hendrikse to reduce it to a four-point game just before the break.
Would seven points be enough against a team with the power and depth of the Sharks? It seemed like a tall-order for the home side who have shown definite signs of progress in recent weeks, but have struggled to maintain their first half attacking momentum after the break against both Lions and Bulls during the last fortnight. And when Lukhanyo Am slipped between Ritchie and Sam Skinner then sent Aphelele Fassi home less than two minutes after the restart, the omens were not promising.
But Edinburgh showed they are made of sterner stuff than has often been evident in recent years by bouncing right back. Thompson turned Sharks with a well-judged toe poke, Fassi went from hero to zero by making a complete pig’s ear of tidying up and Ali Price sent Magnus Bradbury thundering for the line. The big No 8 was scragged just short by Andre Esterhuizen and Am came in at the side to kill the move.
A 12-man scuffle ensued, initiated by Pierre Schoeman pushing Bongi Mbonambi, and the outcome was eventually a yellow-card for Am.
Edinburgh kept the pressure on with a quick tap and cavalry charge from Schoeman, and after four more ferocious skirmishes on the Sharks line, there was an offside and an even bigger eruption of fisticuffs than the first one. This time instigators Etzebeth and Skinner were sent to the bin, chirping at each other all the way to the sidelines before the South African delivered a pantomime villain finish to the episode by pushing the Scot in the back right in front of an incensed home support. Edinburgh tapped again, and finally got their reward when Ashman powered over.
Sharks rallied and Edinburgh dug deep to keep them out, with Jordan Hendrikse doing the hosts a favour when he missed another penalty shot at goal.
This seemed to initiate another swing in momentum back towards the home team, with Ritchie winning an excellent jackal penalty over Siya Masuka, which Thompson ent to the corner prompting a breathless pursuit of the bonus-point try.
Now Sharks demonstrated that they were down but not out of this contest. They had not come all this way from Durban fully-loaded to get turned over by a midtable team, and an incredible tackle from Esterhuizen stopped Dave Cherry on the line. Edinburgh kept grinding away until the ball was eventually rather dubiously dislodged from Price’s hand at the base of a ruck allowing Grant Williams to activate the pressure-release valve.
Both teams continued to throw the kitchen sink at each other, and there was inevitably errors on both sides given the ferocity of the battle, and for the most part it was Edinburgh who made the better job of controlling possession and territory during a breathless final 15 minutes.
They came agonisingly close to that fourth try on 76 minutes, which would have surely secured a statement bonus-point win, when Thompson picked out 19-year-old Jack Brown with an inch-perfect cross-kick. The 19-year-old – who was a colossus after coming on for McCann midway through the first half – gathered without breaking stride then skipped inside one tackler on his way to the line, only to be turned on his back as he dived for the line by Ethan Hooker and Makazole Mapimpi, meaning he couldn’t manage to get the ball down.
Then came the cruellest of climaxes for the Scottish side when a mix-up between Ashman and Glen Young straight after the goal-line drop-out handed Sharks a scrum on halfway, which was squeezed into a penalty by the formidable visiting pack, followed by a sensational kick into the corner by Masuka.
The Sharks could smell blood, and they bombarded the hme line, then sent a looping pass out to the left for the unmarked Mapimpi to snatch victory.
The final whistle sounded, but the niggle continued into the post-match handshakes with sharks replacement hooker Fez Mbatha remonstrating with Ritchie first then Grant Gilchrist, which underlined just how ferociously contested this match had been.
Teams –
Edinburgh Rugby: H Paterson; M Currie (J Brown 24), M Tuipulotu, J Lang, R McCann; R Thompson, A Price (C Shiel 69); P Schoeman (B Venter 56), E Ashman (D Cherry 55-74), D Rae (A Williams 79), S Skinner (G Young 67), G Gilchrist, J Ritchie, B Muncaster (F Douglas 50-56, 67), M Bradbury.
Sharks: A Fassi (S Masuka 60); E Hooker, L Am, A Esterhuizen, M Mapimpi; Jordan Hendrikse, Jaden Hendrikse (G Williams, 49); O Nche (N Mchunu 55), B Mbonambi (F Mbatha 46), V Koch (H Jacobs 55), E Etzebeth, E van Heerden (J Jenkins 56), P Buthelezi (J Venter 65), V Tshituka, S Kolisi.
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Scorers –
Edinburgh: Tries: Lang, Ritchie, Ashman; Con: Thompson.
Sharks: Tries: Fassi, Mapimpi; Con: Hendrikse; Pen: Hendrikse 2.
Scoring sequence (Edinburgh first): 0-3; 5-3; 10-3; 10-6 (h-t) 10-11; 10-13; 15-13; 17-13; 17-18.
Yellow card –
Edinburgh: Skinner (46 mins)
Sharks: Am (46 mins), Etzebeth (46 mins)
Attendance: 7,774
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