Pietersen miss hands Bulls a draw

The two teams had to make do with a share of the spoils, but it could have been a different result in the end.

That kick. Nobody who saw it will forget that kick. The Sharks and their supporters will not forget that kick. Joe Pietersen will not forget that kick. Despite whatever successes he has, whatever records he breaks, he will not forget that dramatic kick when glee faded in an instance and relief was dressed in bright blue.

He is, of course, not the first kicker to miss a straightforward kick to win a match. In fact his team believed that from the moment that the referee signalled a penalty, they believed they had won the match and celebrated with much glee.

Replacement flyhalf Tian Schoeman of the Bulls had just kicked a penalty to tie the scores at 16-all. There was less than a minute to play. The Sharks kicked off deep and the Bulls tried to run the ball up for a better chance to clear, but Arno Botha was tackled and in big, predatory Marcell Coetzee went in to get the ball, legs wide, strong in resisting Bulls' attempts to dislodge him, and Botha was penalised for holding on. The place of the kick was well inside the Bulls' 22 and just to the right of the posts - an easy kick for Joe, easier than all four that he had goaled. The ball soared high but wide, too wide. It was not over and the final whistle went.

The week before it was the same Joe Pietersen who had scored the try that beat the Stormers and it was just before the end of that match at Newlands. This time he missed. Perhaps it was the ghost of Loftus past that rose up to waft the ball away!

The Sharks stayed unbeaten but how they would have loved the win.

It was a night game at Loftus and the rain wet players, field and ball. That may have played a role in the many turnovers in the match, preventing teams from developing an attack, persuading them that kicking was the better option.

It started fast enough and the first attack was initiated by Willie le Roux as he caught a box kick and started running, in this match back to his creative best. His opposing fullback, 20-year-old  Gelant, did in like manner and the match seemed set fair for running excitement, despite the rain. But it was not really to be though it remained absorbing.

When Daniel du Preez was penalised at a tackle, Francois Brummer, who had missed and earlier penalty kick at goal, goaled this one and the Bulls led 3-0 after eight minutes. Four minutes later the Bulls were penalised at a collapsed scrum and Joe Pietersen levelled the scores.

The scrums in the match were not happy. There were 14 scrums with eight collapses, five resets, four penalties and two free kicks. That is not fun.

The Bulls went through phases but were not making headway against the Sharks' defence and so Brummer slotted over a drop. 6-3 after 18 minutes.

The Bulls were on the attack and had a penalty near the Sharks' 22. For once the ball went in and came out quickly. No.8 Arno Botha passed to scrumhalf Rudy Paige, who gave to Brummer who was also on the blind side. Brummer rounded Andre Esterhuizen and straightened. Brummer passed inside to Gelant who ran with easy strides around to the posts, and the Bulls led 13-3 after 33 minutes and they were well on top. But then just at the break Joe Pietersen goaled a long, angled kick to make the score 13-6.

The Bulls won the first half by 10 points. The Sharks won the second half by 10 points.

They had a great chance to score when Joe Pietersen attack down the right and gave to JP Pietersen who, with a try imminent, passed inside to the unmarked Paul Jordaan but the pass did not reach Jordaan because between the two, you see, there was Gelant who intercepted the pass and hoofed it deep into Shark territory.

The try when it came was a delightful bit of Le Roux genius. Going left near the half-way line he chipped delicately towards the wing where Lwazi Mvovo managed under pressure from Jumba Ulenga, to foot the ball infield. Le Roux footed it on into the Bulls' in-goal, chased, dived and scored. 13-13 after 51 minutes.

Now the tempo of the match lifted.

The Bulls had mauled without effect in the match and then the Sharks got one going well. Jannes Kirsten was penalised for the way he went about trying to stop it and Joe Pietersen goaled the angled kick. For the first time in the match the Sharks' led 16-13 after 54 minutes.

Both sides made substitutes at this stage and one of them, Jesse Kriel, broke sharply with Ulenga on his outside. A try looked certain but Roelf Smit was penalised for banging into Joe Pietersen to help to form the gap for Kriel.

The Sharks had a great chance to score from an innocuous-looking line-out on their left. With the referee playing advantage, Joe Pietersen kicked a high diagonal to the far right where JP Pietersen caught the ball, ran and passed inside to Le Roux who was at the corner when he bowled the ball inside but Jordaan could not hold onto the high ball and knocked on in in-goal. In fact it seemed that if Le Roux had dropped to ground instead of passing would have scored a try.

With two minutes to play the Sharks were penalised at a ruck near the half-way line and substitute flyhalf, from 51 metres out, goaled to level the scores.

Then came the kick-off and Super Rugby 2016's most spoken-about kick at goal.

By the way the Sharks played in red which made them clearly distinct from the Bulls' blue but they did not have numbers, which is an anachronism.

Man of the Match: The most obvious individual candidates were probably Marcell Coetzee and Joe Pietersen of the Sharks and Rudy Paige of the of the Bulls. But the ones who added moist skill and interest to the match were the fullbacks, each of whom scored a try, each of whom was brave and adventurous - Warrick Gelant of the Bulls and Willie le Roux of the Sharks, our Men of the Match.

The scorers:

For Bulls:

Try: Gelant

Con: Brummer

Pens: Brummer, Schoeman

DG: Brummer

For Sharks:

Try: Le Roux

Con: Joe Pietersen

Pens: Joe Pietersen 3

Teams:

Bulls: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Rudolph Snyman, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Trevor Nyakane.

Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Nic de Jager, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Sharks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Philip van der Walt, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Tendai Mtawarira (captain).

Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Keegan Daniel, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Garth April, 23 Odwa Ndungane.

Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)

Assistant referees: Stuart Berry (South Africa), Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)

TMO: Willie Vos (South Africa)