It was a heavyweight tilt in game two of opening day, as the mighty Bulls faced off against Jake White’s latest project at the Shark Tank in Durban. Strangely it was one of the reserves who had garnered the most attention heading into the match, with former Springbok great Victor Matfield returning to first class rugby after a two-and-a-half year hiatus. That said, with more than a dozen current Boks on offer at kickoff, there was still plenty to hold the interest of outside observers until his grand re-admission.

The first thing to notice was sheer size of the two packs. South African forwards have always been on the larger end of the spectrum, and these specimens were absolutely massive. Matfield has never been the heaviest bloke but he looked like an emaciated schoolboy compared to the men alongside him.

A penalty to Patrick Lambie opened the scoring, and was soon matched by a fine drop goal from Louis Fouché. It was the guile of the Sharks, however, that struck the first real blow. A simple but perfectly executed first phase attack from a lineout saw Lwazi Mvovo burst through virtually untouched, and he timed his scoring pass to Paul Jordaan to perfection.

Fouché knocked over a penalty to bring the score back a bit but a sloppy lineout and a mistake from François Hougaard gifted a try to Cobus Reinach. After a period of stalemate it was Hougaard again the culprit, a poorly hit box kick resulting in a penalty shot for Lambie, who made no mistake to take the lead out beyond a single score. Fouché got one back but then it was Pierre Spies who softly coughed up the ball to Reinach, and two passes later Frans Steyn put a marvellous cross kick to wide open Odwa Ndungane to touch down in the corner.

Lambie put the game out of sight with his third penalty goal shortly after the break, and both sides appeared to run out of gas. Jono Ross scored a consolation try from a rolling maul with Jean Deysel in the bin, but it was Lambie again who put an end to proceedings with a try on fulltime to hand his team the bonus point. It was a real statement of intent by the resurgent Sharks.

Sadly it will take more than the return of Matfield to spark the Bulls this season. Their game plan remains limited and predictable and without the class of Morné Steyn at no10 it isn’t as effective. The big boys up front will win them a few games against the lesser forward packs in the competition, but they won’t come close to title contention. Early days yet but the Sharks look the most likely of the South African franchises, though the Stormers may well have something to say about that.

SCORING
04 mins – P. Lambie pen 3-0
08 mins – L. Fouché drop 3-3
10 mins – P. Jordaan try 8-3
14 mins – L. Fouché pen 8-6
21 mins – C. Reinach try 13-6
32 mins – P. Lambie pen 16-6
37 mins – L. Fouché pen 16-9
40 mins – O. Ndungane try 21-9
40 mins – P. Lambie con 23-9
47 mins – P. Lambie pen 26-9
72 mins – J. Ross try 26-14
73 mins – H. Pollard con 26-16
80 mins – P. Lambie try 31-16

CARDS
66 mins – J. Deysel yellow (team infringements)
79 mins – B. Basson yellow (professional foul)

SHARKS
S.P. Marais; O. Ndungane, P. Jordaan, F. Steyn, L. Mvovo; P. Lambie (H. Williams 70-77), C. Reinach (C. McLeod 62); T. Mtawarira, B. du Plessis (capt.), J. du Plessis (L. Adriaanse 56); A. Bresler (S. Lewies 58), P.S. du Toit; M. Coetzee (W. Alberts 77), W. Alberts (J. Deysel 58), R. Kankowski.

BULLS
J. Visser; A. Ndungane, J.J. Engelbrecht, J. Serfontein, B. Basson; L. Fouché (H. Pollard 56), F. Hougaard (P. van Zyl 56); D. Greyling (M. van der Merwe 48), C. Visagie (B. Mbonambi 56), W. Kruger (F. Kirsten 48); P. Willemse (V. Matfield 46), F. van der Merwe; J. Ross, J. du Plessis, P. Spies (capt.) (J. Engelbrecht 56).

Referee: J. Peyper (SARU)
Assistants: S. Berry (SARU) & M. Jonker (SARU)
TMO: D. van Blommestein (SARU)