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The Sharks were far from their fluid best but they got the job done with a 29-7 win past Benetton at the Stadio Communale di Monigo in Treviso on Saturday.
After the Stormers narrowly lost on the same day, the Sharks used the opportunity to climb past their compatriots on the United Rugby Championship (URC) ladder into eighth.
Benetton was without 24 players who were on Six Nations duty for Italy and the Sharks were expected to put them to the sword, despite the heavy South African contingent in Treviso.
SCOREBOARD | Benetton 7-29 Sharks
The Sharks scored four tries in the end but their star-studded team sheet did not reflect in the quality of rugby on display.
Sharks lock Ruben van Heerden got proceedings underway when he corkscrewed over the line for the first try of the afternoon as early as six minutes in.
Fullback Aphelele Fassi then rounded off a good Sharks move that started with Sbu Nkosi plucking an aerial ball and wrestling it from Dewaldt Duvenage.
The Sharks moved the ball through the hands, something they’d not done enough of until then, for Fassi to finish down the left wing.
No 8 Phepsi Buthelezi bashed his way to the try line after the Sharks muscled forward from a 5m lineout close to the Benetton in-goal area.
Benetton came out of the sheds motivated to stay in the fight while the Sharks looked sluggish and tepid.
Considering the star quality at their disposal, onlookers would have expected the Durbanites to press their feet on the throats of the men from Treviso. But Benetton refused to wilt, even though they played eight minutes a man down.
After 12 putrid minutes of rugby, Fassi came up with something sumptuous when he fielded a high ball in the middle of the park, scythed through defenders.
From there, front-rowers Ox Nche and Thomas du Toit played a neat give-and-go with each other that resulted in the former going over the line. But the TMO deemed the ball to be lost by Nche during the touchdown, disallowing the try.
After that incident, the hosts seized the momentum of the game, running coast-to-coast to enter the Sharks' “red zone”, in which they pinned the visitors.
Benetton spent more than eight minutes, simply recycling the ball and putting in a string of phases and forcing the Sharks into a series of tackles.
Although Sean Everitt’s men seemed to be handling the pressure, the tide turned in Benetton’s favour sharply when captain Lukhanyo Am was sin-binned for a failed interception that was adjudged a deliberate knock-down.
In a trice, Benetton tapped, went and former Cheetahs lock Carl Wegner crashed over the line for their first try after 62 minutes.
The Sharks negotiated a tricky final quarter of the game, which was as stop-start as much of the game and closed off the contest with a Nkosi try two minutes before time that gave them the bonus point.
Scorers:
Benetton - (0) 7
Try: Carl Wegner
Conversion: Tomas Albornoz
Sharks - (21) 29
Tries: Ruben van Heerden, Aphelele Fassi, Phepsi Buthelezi, Sbu Nkosi
Conversions: Curwin Bosch (3)
Penalty: Curwin Bosch
Teams
Benetton:
15 Tommy Bell, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Joaquin Riera, 12 Filippo Drago, 11 Rhyno Smith, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (c), 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Alessandro Izekor, 6 Matteo Meggiato, 5 Carl Wegner, 4 Nicola Piantella, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Corniel Els, 1 Federico Zani
Replacements: 16 Tomas Baravalle, 17 Matteo Drudi, 18 Nahuel Tetaz, 19 Thomas Gallo, 20 Yaree Fantini, 21 Luca Petrozzi, 22 Luca Sperandio, 23 Andries Coetzee
Sharks:
15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am (c), 12 Marius Louw, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Henco Venter, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Le Roux Roets, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Tito Bonilla, 23 Werner Kok
