South African teams have only been involved in European club rugby for two seasons, but their first cutlery is already hidden. If it wasn’t quite comparable to the Springboks’ victory at last year’s World Cup, it was still a small piece of history that needs to be reinforced where the balance of oval ball power currently lies.
Not for the first time either, it was a competition that was decisively shaped by a superior South African crowd. The destructive first line of the “Bomb Squad”, which has made such an impressive name for itself at the test level, was once again key figures, with attempts from Phepsi Buthelezi, Aphelele Fassi and Makazole Mapimpi and 21 points of the boot of the opening half Siya Masuku sealed the deal.
Ultimately, this was another frustrating experience for the Cherry and Whites, who couldn’t build a cohesive platform from which their pacy backs could have potentially caused problems. At least this time they were not at the reception of a hidden 90-0, but there should be no happy ending to their difficult home season on a mild evening at the state-of-the-art Tottenham Stadium.
It was a completely different world than the hangar, the slightly more woven viewpoint in Gloucester’s house in Kingsholm and the first five sharks with four Springbok World Cup winners in Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Vincent Koch and Eben Etzebeth also remain significantly above average. “That first line has dominated some of the best scrimmages in rugby in the world,” admitted their director of rugby George Skivington. “When they dominated there, it made things quite difficult. In the end, they pressed us, as they do very well.”
Gloucester knew they would need points at the start of the game but, despite a hectic period of initial pressure, they were unable to find any. A stretching Chris Harris was denied a try when Etzebeth’s knee moved the ball a few inches from the line, and despite the sin of full-back Fassi, it was the Sharks who took the lead thanks to a Masuku penalty.
It took a monster long-range effort from flame-haired scrum-half Caolan Englefield to get them back into the draw, but the first try of the game went to the Sharks thanks to an electric damn from their number 8 at the fast-footed Buthelezi. A transformation and a second penalty from Masuku brought the gap to 13-3, leaving Gloucester serious work ahead.
There was even a 50-22 for the tight-head chef, who also had an influential night in his lead role. The first four scrimmages of the game all resulted in penalties against Gloucester, and despite the occasional stolen ball from the lineup, a 13-point lead at halftime reflected a game that was quickly moving away.
Gloucester needed a flash of inspiration somewhere, since Zach Mercer was closely watched and rarely could move freely through the wider channels. Englefield is a player with a growing reputation, while Adam Hastings did his best to shake things up, but the dominance of stuttering and the Sharks’ enthusiastic defense made life more and more uncomfortable.