Sharks stay in the hunt

The Sharks kept their Super 14 play-off hopes alive with a 33-14 bonus-point victory over the Cheetahs in Durban on Saturday.

The win ends a three-game losing streak for the Sharks, who appeared happy to be back on home soil after their troubles on their recent tour of New Zealand and Australia.

The home side thought they had opened the scoring when a horrible bounce from a kick confounded both Ryan Kankowski and Eddie Fredericks, allowing Odwa Ndungane to run in for the try, but television replays showed a push by Kankowski on Fredericks and the try was disallowed.

The Sharks were nevertheless the first on the scoreboard when Jacques Botes got the ball from a close lineout drive and hung onto the back of the maul as his team rumbled over the goalline.

Botes was again in the thick of the action from a lineout drive eight minutes later, this time the ball was spread to JP Pietersen, and when he was stopped short Botes was on hand to pick up the ball and dive over the line.

The Cheetahs got back into the match on the stroke of half-time.

A quick break by Heinrich Brussouw created the chance for the score, the youngster offloading to Hennie Daniller who sent the ball out to the wings for Jonghi Nokwe to go over.

After the break the Sharks went on the attack early, and after Frans Steyn drew the defence, he sent Botes away for his third try and a 19-7 lead.

The Sharks suffered a setback on the hour when lock Albert van den Berg was sinbinned for a professional foul.

The Cheetahs immediately capitalised on their numerical superiority as Meyer Bosman collected a loose ball and ran the length of the field for a try.

The Sharks settled the game with two late tries from Ndungane, the first of which came when Steyn took on two defenders and offloaded to the winger, who beat two more tackles to score.

A late break by Kankowski opened up an overlap for Ndungane, who went in for an easy score to secure the hosts a bonus-point win.

Sharks 33 (Jacques Botes 3, Odwa Ndungane 2 tries; Rory Kockott 4 con)

Cheetahs 14 (Jonghi Nokwe, Meyer Bosman tries; Conrad Barnard, Tewis De Bruyn con)

HT: 14-7