Sharks v Clermont: Five takeaways including Springbok wildcard Siya Masuku as big names secure Challenge Cup final spot
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The Sharks claimed a dramatic 32-31 win over Clermont at the Stoop, booking their spot in the Challenge Cup final to be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
With the final whistle having been blown we put together five takeaways from a frenetic semi-final at the Sharks’ home away from home.
Top line
Wow! Everyone needs a moment to get their breath back after what was a wild match that was almost a game of two halves.
Clermont were clinical in the first period, scoring their three tries before the break, with only the boot of Siya Masuku keeping the Sharks in the game as the Durban side kicked for goal whenever the opportunity arose.
The Sharks were fortunate to still be in the game at the start of the second period and that is when their Springboks came to the party. The South Africans started to win more and more 50/50s which in turn grew belief within the side.
The ‘hosts’ had to wait a whole hour to get their first try through Vincent Koch before Makazole Mapimpi scored the crucial try that was only made decisive by Masuku’s boot.
The Sharks now march on to the final where they will be desperate to prevail and walk away with something from their season. It is a brutal one to take for Clermont, who in many ways were the better side but ultimately came up short.
Siya Masuku’s accurate boot makes him Springboks wildcard
We saw it in the Rugby World Cup through Handre Pollard and now we have seen it again through Masuku; pinpoint goalkicking is imperative in knockout rugby.
Six penalties and two conversions resulting in a 22-point haul for Masuku and the man-of-the-match award speaks volumes about the fly-half who has taken the Sharks from a battered disjointed side to the finalists of the Challenge Cup.
It may not have been the kind of game where Masuku could pull the strings but he did exactly what was required by kicking everything he was offered including the critical touchline conversion to win the game.
Fly-half is not a dead-set position for the Springboks with Manie Libbok’s kicking woes a real concern while Pollard is a master of control but slightly injury prone, which opens the door for Masuku in a big way. This is especially true for the clash against Wales where Pollard is unavailable due to the Test being out of the international window and Libbok potentially tied up with the Stormers.
Masuku’s influence on the Sharks has been undeniable and now his big game temperament has come through its first test with flying colours. If he inspires a title win in the final for the Durban side it could force the hand of Dr Rassie Erasmus.
Black might not be the only colour Masuku wears this year.
Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks save the day
When your team is down and very nearly out the biggest players are required to stand up which is exactly what happened. There must have been some honest words said at half-time because after the break the Springboks showed their calibre.
Eben Etzebeth got his hands on the ball more and began breaking tackles, even making a burst down the right-hand side. Suddenly Ox Nche was putting his hand up more for Grant Williams to hit and in the backline Lukhanyo Am started playing more narrowly to get his hands on the ball more.
All of those elements combined with the attacking audacity of Aphelele Fassi and Masuku clawed the Sharks back into the game. It was not pretty but when the side finally scored it was Springbok Koch who was last up with the ball.
Then in the final try, Vincent Tshituka’s lovely offload unleashed Am who played in his old mate Mapimpi for the crucial try.
The Sharks will know the game could very easily have gone against them but credit must go to the senior Springboks who stood up when most needed.
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Sharks not the finished product
Now that the positives are squared away for the Sharks there are still negatives to be addressed. They are far from a finished product and were saved by their star-powered individuals but their fundamentals need polishing.
Take the set-piece for example, how is it possible that a front-row of Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Koch can only muster 67% success in a game where they in truth were squashed by Clermont. Add to that the 77% line-out success and there is one of the key areas where the Sharks crippled their own progress.
The quality of that forward pack is far better than those numbers and if they can fix that in the build-up to the final they will have a much more successful time in leveraging their penalties into tangible progress in either territory or points.
Another concern was their defence which was very disjointed with the player neither deploying a rush or connected system, particularly in the first period. That is exactly why it looked so simple for Clermont to slice them open.
To the Sharks’ credit the defensive effort was dramatically improved in the second half but there was still a strong sense that Clermont could have torn them apart from just about anywhere.
The Durban side does not need to have all the answers right away but they will not win the final if there is not marked improvement in both facets of the game come the final.
Baptiste Jauneau headlines a spectacular Clermont effort
As mentioned it would have been a tough loss to take for Clermont, who on the whole were the better side. They did so well to depower the Sharks forward pack by squashing them with their own and when they had a sniff they scored tries.
Key to the performance was scrum-half Jenaud, who ran the game with aplomb whether he was picking the right runners or testing the edges himself. The starlet is a serious talent and has clearly been watching Antoine Dupont.
Peceli Yato, the bruising Fijian, was another player on absolute fire as he proved so difficult to bring down and played a key role in multiple tries.