For many fans watching the drab derby between the Sharks and the Bulls at Jonsson Kings Park last night, the load shedding at half time was almost a welcome relief, but it was the home team that switched on when the lights were restored to end a nine-game losing streak against the men from Pretoria.
Incredibly, the Sharks had lost eight matches and drawn one against their Super Rugby bogey team but they dug deep to accelerate to a victory which has given them a shot in the arm ahead of their overseas tour.
Sbu Nkosi, a World Cup Bok who would have wanted more than a fringe role in Japan, pounced on a loose ball just after the break to push the Sharks into the lead after a first half where the respective flyhalves traded penalties in a boring arm wrestle.
It was to be expected given that this game was played in the debilitating humidity of January in Durban. In the olden days this was cricket season but the demands of Super Rugby insist that the competition begins earlier, and this is the soonest in the year that a competitive rugby match has ever been played in South Africa.
Both the Sharks and the Bulls have designs on playing running rugby this year but neither could be expected to move the ball in suffocating
conditions.
The Sharks head overseas today on a four-week tour that begins in the extreme south of Dunedin, and earlier this week coach Sean Everitt said that the cool environs of New Zealand and later Australia would better suit the attacking rugby his charges want to play.
The Bulls now head to Cape Town to play the Stormers in what should be a far more attractive derby.
The first half was hard on the eye of the spectators as the forwards battled each other in the trenches, with Bulls veteran Morne Steyn over-shadowing opposite number Curwin Bosch.
Two penalties and a well taken drop goal by Steyn just before half time gave the Pretoria men a slim advantage at the break, which was lengthened by five minutes because of a power cut.
Not long after Nkosi’s opportunistic score, Bosch nailed a long range penalty and at 16-12 the Bulls were chasing the game.
The frustrated spectators witnessed error after error as the teams slugged it out, and the Sharks were fortunate that Steyn was not on song as he missed two shots at goal that he would have expected to nail.
But with five minutes remaining in the tense struggle, the Sharks went offside at the breakdown and Steyn stepped up to make it a one-point game.
But the sharks would not be denied, with replacement scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba scampering home for the match-clinching score.
Scorers
Sharks:
Tries: Sbu Nkosi, Sanele Nohamba. Penalties: Curwin Bosch (2). Conversions: Bosch (3)
Bulls:
Penalties: Morne Steyn (5). Drop goal: Steyn