Bosch stars as Sharks leap to top of Super Rugby
Curwin Bosch kicked two early second-half penalties to set up a 33-19 win for the Coastal Sharks over the Jaguares Saturday, which took them to the Super Rugby summit.
The six points from the South African fly-half widened a 22-12 half-time lead to 16 points and hooker Kerron van Vuuren added a try on 52 minutes to leave the Argentines on the back foot.
The visitors did wrest control during the closing stages in Durban and substitute back Sebastian Cancelliere scored a try, but they were a beaten team long before the end.
Victory lifted the Sharks to 20 points from six matches and from sixth to first in the combined standings.
The Waikato Chiefs and the ACT Brumbies have 18 points each with the New Zealand outfit second because of a superior points difference.
Early-season pacesetters the Western Stormers dropped four places to fifth behind the defending champions the Canterbury Crusaders.
At the other end of the table, the Northern Bulls climbed four places from the bottom to 11th after trouncing fellow strugglers the Otago Highlanders 38-13 in Pretoria.
After receiving the man-of-the-match award in the Sharks game, 13-point Bosch said "it was very satisfying to succeed against a quality team like the Jaguares".
"Our forwards deserve special praise as they performed well against a Jaguares pack full of internationals.
"Thanks to my coach (Sean Everitt) for giving me an extended run at fly-half, which is my favourite position, after being moved around the backline last year."
Apart from being a key figure for the table-toppers, Bosch is the leading points scorer after round six with 72 -- 26 more than Jaguares' Domingo Miotti.
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- 'Made it difficult for ourselves' -
Jaguares substitute hooker Santiago Socino said "we made it difficult for ourselves by conceding a couple of early tries".
"We have been erratic this season and I do not know why. A lot of penalties were conceded by us this evening and that certainly did not help."
Lock Hyron Andrews gave the Sharks a fourth-minute lead with a try and number eight Sikhumbuzo Notshe burst clear after a tap penalty to score another, which Bosch converted.
Wing Santiago Carreras caught a cross kick from fly-half Joaquin Diaz Bonilla to score at the other end, but the Sharks hit back with centre Andre Esterhuizen diving over in the corner.
Bosch, who had earlier slotted a penalty, converted for a 17 -point lead that was cut to 10 by half-time thanks to a try from full-back Joaquin Tuculet that Bonilla converted.
The two Bosch penalties and the Van Vuuren try effectively put the game beyond the Jaguares, who completed the scoring when substitute Miotti converted the Cancelliere try.
Both teams had a player yellow-carded in the second half with scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou sent to the sin bin after 61 minutes, followed by full-back Aphelele Fassi 12 minutes later.
Meanwhile, wing Rosco Specman scored a hat-trick of tries as the Bulls put four consecutive defeats behind them with a first victory this season after trailing 10-5 at half-time.
The Highlanders were superior in the opening half and should have built a wider lead before collapsing after falling behind on 56 minutes when Specman struck for the first time.
He claimed the next two tries as well before fellow wing Cornal Hendricks completed the rout with a final-minute try in the bonus-point victory.
Hooker Jaco Visagie and full-back Warrick Gelant were the other try scorers for the Bulls and fly-half Manie Libbok kicked three conversions and his replacement, Morne Steyn, one.
Centre Josh Ioane scored all the points for 13th-place Highlanders from a try, conversion and two penalties.