Bonus point for the Sharks

The Sharks cruised to a bonus-point victory over the Leopards on Friday, winning 51-6 in a dominant display at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.

The Sharks were up 32-6 at half-time with the four-try bonus point already in the bag.

While they might relinquish the tournament lead to Western Province on Saturday, the Sharks are enjoying a strong run as one of the form

teams in the competition.

The Sharks outscored their hosts seven tries to none, running the ball from all over the park.

The Leopards, on the other hand, were unconvincing, and without a win from the first six rounds of competition are flailing in bottom spot.

The hosts took the early lead thanks to a Neill Jacobs penalty but the Sharks had come to play exciting rugby and it took just ten minutes for Lwazi Mvovo to score the first try and put the Durbanites ahead.

Pat Lambie added the extras from the touchline but Jacobs soon added his second penalty to make the scores 7-6 after fifteen minutes.

Lambie replied with more penalties of his own at the end of the first quarter to give the Sharks a 13-6 lead.

With the back running rampant, the Sharks forwards also got into the act with a textbook line-out and drive to push prop Patric Cilliers over on the half-hour mark.

Willem Alberts scored the Sharks third try after 35 minutes, using to power to cross the line from short range.

The Sharks secured the bonus point just before half time when full-back Louis Ludik rounded off a flowing movement.

A sniping run from Rory Kockott handed the Sharks their fifth try as the scrum-half spot a gap around the fringes of a ruck and sprinted home untouched.

Number six came from captain Stefan Terblanche, who showed he still has a finishers instincts as he showed a neat step to score.

Terblanche added number seven as the Leopards could not keep up with the pace with which the Sharks moved the ball.

The scorers

For the Leopards:
Pens: Jacobs 5

For Sharks:
Tries: Mvovo, Cilliers, Alberts, Ludik, Kockott, Terblanche 2
Cons: Lambie 3, Kockott 2
Pens: Lambie 2

Leopards: 15 Danie Dames, 14 Deon Scholtz, 13 Jovan Bowles, 12 Walter Venter, 11 Dumisani Matyeshana, 10 Neill Jacobs, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Riaan Swanepoel, 7 Wilhelm Koch (c), 6 Christo van Niekerk, 5 Rynard Landman, 4 Anthonie Gronum/Brad Mockford, 3 Barend van der Walt, 2 Marthinus van der Westhuizen, 1 BG Uys.
Replacements: 16 Gavin Williamson, 17 Johan Coetzee, 18 Edrich Linde, 19 RW Kember, 20 Jean Tiedt, 21 Clayton Durand, 22 Jan van Zyl.

Sharks:15 Louis Ludik, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Stefan Terblanche (c), 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Keegan Daniel, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Ross Skeate, 3 Eugene van Staden, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Patric Cilliers.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Michael Rhodes, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Monty Dumond, 22 Riaan Swanepoel.

Venue: Royal Bafokeng Stadium
Referee: Jaco Peyper