It was the late, late show for the Sharks in Edinburgh as their class ultimately prevailed to secure them a last-second, 18-17 defeat of Edinburgh in the Scottish capital.
The Durbanites had been on the back foot for the entire game, but dogged defence kept them in the game, and when it mattered the most, in the last dramatic seconds, they showed patience on attack to squeeze the ball out to Makazole Mapimpi to nail the match-winning try
A few hours before the Sharks kicked off, Bulls coach Jake White had prophesised that the Sharks might struggle because their flood of returning Springboks had not played together for months, and so it came to pass, but they shrugged off the rust to pull off a famous win.
Tshituka’s VS Hendrikse brothers 🙌
— The Sharks (@SharksRugby) April 14, 2025
Full video of the sibling battle on our YouTube channel!
🔗: https://t.co/VC1jAkGmy2 pic.twitter.com/YUX58aNAcE
Sharks boss John Plumtree had also said that a virtual Springbok team on paper was just that, and that the pedigreed players had to gel sooner rather than later.
It would have been easier if this game had been played in Durban because, as White testified the week before when the Bulls team lost to Edinburgh, the Hive Stadium, and its 4G surface, is no friend to South African teams.
Just one area where the artificial surface is a leveler is the set scrums, where the powerhouse Sharks forwards could not get the traction they would have enjoyed on grass.
The Sharks’ first points would have warmed Plumtree’s heart. There had been a well-weighted up-and-under from the returning fullback Aphelele Fassi, and Mapimpi put the pressure on the defenders to force the penalty. Jordan Hendrikse turned it into three points after three minutes.
But the home team ruled their roost from that point onward. The Sharks never saw the ball again for 20 minutes. The Scots are masters at keeping possession and winning quick ruck ball, and a lengthy series of phases saw the Sharks run out of defenders out wide, and centre Matt Currie dived over in the corner.
The story of the first half an hour was the Sharks finding themselves repeatedly on the wrong end of referee Andre Brace’s whistle.
The home team had all the possession and, again, repeated attacks over multiple phases eventually caught the Sharks short on defence, and the industrious flank Jamie Ritchie went over in the corner.
The Sharks were fortunate that the Edinburgh kicker Ross Thompson was off target with his conversion attempts, and 10-3 after 35 minutes could have been worse.
It was five minutes before half time that the Sharks scrum won their first scrum penalty, and not long after Ox Nche won a turnover penalty at a ruck. Hendrikse kicked the three points, and the Sharks went into half-time just four points behind at 10-6 despite having played almost no rugby.
That momentum the Sharks engineered just before half time continued strongly into the new half. They kept possession from the kick-off, they showed patience through the phases, and then Lukhanyo Am superbly dummied through the defence to put Fassie away for the try.
Hendrikse’s conversion had the Sharks in the lead for the first time at 13-10.
The Sharks needed to kick on from that position but Fassi could not control a kick-through to the Sharks’ line and that forced Am to go offside. The Springbok was yellow-carded for his transgression.
This sparked a right royal rumpus, with both sets of players charging in for some amusing rough and tumble. The Edinburgh lock, Sam Skinner, tried to rip the shirt off Etzebeth, and the fall-out saw both players sent to the bin.
Etzebeth had been wronged, and as the pair walked to the bin, the Bok bruiser gave Skinner a shove while warming his ear with some choice Afrikaans. Skinner was lucky it wasn’t more than that.
If you will pardon my parochial language, Skinner had caused the kak and deserved a klap.
It meant that the Sharks were down to 13 men for a period.
As Etzebeth simmered in the bin, Edinburgh scored via hooker Ewan Ashman off the back of a ruck. It was 17-13 to the home side, and the Sharks had a good opportunity to claw three points back but Hendrikse fluffed an easy penalty attempt.
Edinburgh threw themselves at the Sharks, but their attacks were repeatedly held up by resolute defence. At one point, Andre Esterhuizen — that huge slab of Klerksdorp beef —held up half the Edinburgh pack on his own, to force a drop-out.
Young Ethan Hooker was another who single-handedly stopped a “certain” Edinburgh try with heroic defence.
Scorers
Sharks — Tries: Aphelele Fassi, Makazole Mapompi. Penalties: Jordan Hendrikse (2). Conversion: Hendrikse.
Edinburgh —Tries: Matt Currie, Jamie Ritchie, Ewan Ashman. Conversions: Ross Thompson