The Hollywoodbets Sharks were crowned EPCR Challenge Cup champions on Friday evening after they defeated Gloucester 36-22 in a pulsating final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
They made history as the first South African team to reach an EPCR final, and topped off a remarkable season with a committed and passionate performance to outmuscle their opponents.
Scrum dominance, offensive defence and a physicality that Gloucester could not match laid the foundation for victory.
Gloucester exerted early pressure, the opening ten minutes spent forcing the Hollywoodbets Sharks to defend for their lives, the English camped in their 22 and after conceding too many penalties for the referee’s liking, Aphelele Fassi was the unfortunate player to be given marching orders.
Great bravery ensued as they held out Gloucester against the odds and relentless attack, and after forcing a knock-on, secured a penalty for a powerful scrum to release the pressure and come out of the mini battle unscathed, having won a morale-boosting victory that set the game up perfectly.
The first points of the game came at the end of the first quarter hour, a second scrum penalty and Siya Masuku’s calm strike sent the ball sailing through the uprights for a three-nil lead.
It took Gloucester until the 23rd minute to finally register points, having dominated the possession stakes, a breakdown penalty punished from 55m out to level scores.
Phepsi Buthelezi broke the brief deadlock moments later with a 40m solo effort with a mix of power, pace and sheer guile as he shrugged his way out of the initial defence and then there was no stopping him enroute to the tryline. Masuku converted and the Hollywoodbets Sharks led 10-3.
A third successive scrum penalty put the Durban side back on the front foot and from the ensuing attack, a breakdown penalty handed Masuku another opportunity and he was bang on target once more to extend the lead to 10 points with less than 10 minutes of the half remaining.
A fourth scrum penalty conceded led to a stern talking to for the Gloucester captain and a warning that the consequences would be greater than just a penalty the next time. It also handed Masuku his fourth shot at goal and he struck it straight and true for a 16-3 lead with under five minutes remaining.
Gloucester had started out firing, but they had been denied on every occasion bar the solitary penalty, and it was a confident Hollywoodbets Sharks that controlled the closing stages of the half, taking a 13-point lead into the break.
A fifth scrum penalty with Gloucester defending their 22 – with half an hour remaining – saw Masuku kicking his team into a 19-3 lead. The Hollywoodbets Sharks continued where they ended the first half, full of confidence.
Not only in themselves, but the game plan, the implementation thereof and most importantly, of their destiny in this tournament.
Masuku’s sixth kick at goals went through for a 100% success rate, striking a penalty when Gloucester were unable to field a high ball.
The belief just multiplied as a deft chip over the line of defence saw Aphelele Fassi take possession before being tackled. But the ball was recycled quickly, the forwards involved before the ball was sent to the backs and Fassi was fed the perfect pass into space to run breathlessly through a huge gap and score under the posts, handing his flyhalf the simplest of conversions to knock the Hollywoodbets Sharks into a 29-3 lead with the final quarter beckoning.
Gloucester scored a driving try a few moments later, the conversion cutting the deficit to 19 points, before conceding a third try, losing possession from a high ball and then the ball was kicked wide to Makazole Mapimpi and all he had to do was catch and jog over the tryline with Gloucester’s defence tight to the earlier action.
Another pinpoint conversion, from the touchline, took the scoreboard to 36-10 in the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ favour and the title was theirs for the taking.
Gloucester had a try disallowed for offsides as their last gasp effort at redemption was blown, but it would have been too late to chance the course of the game. They did craft a good try in the closing five minutes but by then there was no doubting the result.
The English scored an end-to-end try in a show of bravery fitting a final with a minute remaining.
But there could be no argument who was the deserved winner and the new champions of north and south.