Pietersen: Early Sharks replacements turn Cardiff clash

2026-03-28 - 11:10

Sharks head coach JP Pietersen said the decision to bring all three front row replacements on in the 30th minute made the difference in their United Rugby Championship victory against Cardiff. The Sharks were a player down and Cardiff had just taken a 12-7 lead at the time. The result was set-piece dominance that allowed the home side to wrestle back momentum, take a 21-12 lead at the break, and then hold on through an error-strewn second half to win 21-15 at Kings Park on Saturday. The victory kept the Sharks’ playoff hopes alive as they moved one place up to 10th on the URC table with four games left. It also backed up their 45-0 whitewash win over Munster last week, proving the shock result was not a fluke. Sharks counter Cardiff’s momentum Cardiff had fought back from an early Phepsi Buthelezi try to put the hosts in danger in Durban. Pietersen said replacing Phatu Ganyane, Fez Mbatha and Hanro Jacobs with Ox Nché, Eduan Swart and Vincent Koch gave them scrum and maul dominance, seen immediately in Buthelezi rushing out of a maul for his second try. “We felt in the coaching box that we had to swing momentum by sending the front row on before half-time, to give us an edge. And flipping hell, it worked,” Pietersen said. “We took control of the game in the set-piece. We scrummed well, scrummed for penalties and we mauled well.” The Sharks also stole several lineouts, showing why they are the tournament’s second-best side in this area statistically. ‘Slippery like a bar of soap’ Still, the Sharks could not convert their opportunities in the second half. Pietersen blamed the humidity for making the ball “slippery like a bar of soap”. “I think we did well to score three tries in those conditions, and in the second half we couldn’t get one pass to get over the line. “You must give credit to the opposition for defending well and staying in the fight.” The Sharks coach praised his side’s strong start after winning several early penalties. But their resilience when the chips were down showed maturity, as they chased line breaks harder than they did earlier in the season. On a personnel front, Pietersen said it was tough seeing 19-year-old Luan Giliomee sustain an injury and be taken off the field in just his second senior game. With Jaco Williams and Aphelele Fassi also out, the Sharks are low on fullbacks. But the Durban union would dip into its reserves as it prepares for a Challenge Cup round of 16 match away against Connacht next Friday.