Sharks put in brilliant display to dominate Challenge Cup final

The Sharks dominated the Challenge Cup final against Gloucester for much of the game and fully deserved their first major trophy with a 36-22 win.

The Challenge Cup final was always set to be a shot at redemption for both sides.

Weathering the storm

Neither the Sharks nor Gloucester have had the domestic season or URC they would have hoped for this term.

Gloucester started brighter with the Sharks discipline letting them down early as they tried to hold out the Premiership side. 

They held on through a tough ten minutes even though they lost Aphelele Fassi to a yellow card early on after persistent infringements.

In fact it would be Siya Masuku who opened the scoring with a penalty kick from about 40 metres out and at a tricky angle.

Santi Carreras missed a shot at goal but soon after Englefield nailed a 55-metre penalty kick to lift Gloucester.

However, Phepsi Buthelezi proved the gamebreaker in the first half with a powerful run to score the opening try for the Sharks.

Soon after the Sharks won another penalty and Masuku made no mistake from the tee to give the Sharks a 13-3 lead just past the half hour.

The Sharks dominant scrum won penalty after penalty even on the Gloucester feed and the pack set up the next kick for Masuku to stretch the lead out to 13.

A late Gloucester surge couldn’t break the Sharks defence down and they would take that 13-point lead into the break.

Gloucester would change their entire front row at half time to try and stop the rot in the scrums.

Scrum dominance proves Sharks’ biggest weapon

It seemed to work well as Gloucester won the first scrum penalty but the Sharks got out of trouble thanks to an intercept from Williams although they couldn’t turn that moment of magic into points.

The next scrum saw an overeager Gloucester infringe which allowed Masuku to slot the goal kick after the penalty.

Masuku was dead on again with another penalty for the Sharks moments later.

When Fassi dived over to score the Sharks second try it seemed as though the men from Durban had one hand on the trophy.

With the conversion the Sharks led 29-3 and Gloucester needed to respond.

Respond they did as Tuisue went over to score after the maul from a lineout deep in the Sharks 22.

The Sharks power to Challenge Cup win

However, the Sharks would find a response of their own and Masuku found Mapimpi with a brilliant cross-kick that saw the winger go over in the corner.

Masuku nailed the kick again to put his hand up for the Springbok No 10 jersey.

A rare miss from Masuku meant the Sharks still had some nerves as the match approached the last ten minutes.

The Sharks forwards continued to be dominant at setpiece and in the loose.

Jonny May thought he had scored to give Gloucester late hope but the score was chalked off for the winger being in front of the kicker and they were crestfallen.

They would get their consolation in the form of tries for Santi Socino and Freddie Clarke but it would come far too late.

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