DURBAN — Patrick Lambie kicked all the points as the Sharks bagged their second straight win in the Vodacom Super Rugby campaign, securing a narrow 12-6 victory in a drab encounter against the Stormers at Kings Park on Saturday night.
Reuters
The scoreless first half of the South African derby was a dour affair, with both teams hesitant to run too much with ball in hand. They instead opted to constantly boot the ball upfield, although the visitors did manage to breach the home 22 on a few occasions.
Neither team broke the deadlock before the break, and things marginally improved after the restart with Springbok flyhalf Lambie slotting four penalties in reply to two by Joe Pietersen.
That allowed the hosts to clinch the win that moved them to second in the local conference standings and fifth overall. The Stormers, meanwhile, dropped to 12th after a second consecutive defeat.
At the start, the visitors began the brighter of the two sides, but their handling in promising positions was poor early on, allowing the Sharks to turn over possession.
Bok winger Bryan Habana twice raced down the left after clever kick-aheads, but both times the ball beat him to touch as the hosts battled to find forward movement.
They did have the first attempt on goal, though, on the stroke of the first quarter when the Stormers were penalised for handling the ball on the ground at the scrum. Lambie’s attempt from 40 metres drifted to the right.
