The Hollywoodbets Sharks and Toulouse played out to a dramatic Investec Champions Cup third round clash on Saturday afternoon at Hollywoodbets Kings Park with the French running out 20-8 victors.
Toulouse are not considered one of the best sides in the world for nothing and proved their worth with constant efforts that always looked dangerous.
For a team that has scored an average of 63 points in their two group stage matches to date, this was always going to require a monumental effort from the Hollywoodbets Sharks and while the French side came out on top, they never dominated the scoreboard in the way they may have hoped and certainly go home knowing they had to fight hard for every point.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks showed that they too are deserving of respect with some strong efforts that took them deep inside enemy territory, but it was the French tourists who scored first, a fortuitous 50-22 handing them an attacking lineout and from the ensuing effort, went over for a converted try inside the opening 10 minutes.
Jordan Hendrikse cut the lead to four points with a well-struck penalty a few minutes later after the Hollywoodbets Sharks flyhalf had made a good break and Toulouse were penalised at the tackle.
The intensity never let off as both sides threw everything at each other with some exciting play from both sets of attacks and committed defence to thwart every effort to change the run of play and add scoreboard pressure.
With no quarter asked or offered, Toulouse scored next, a reversed penalty for reacting to an off-the-ball tussle and they went 10-3 ahead with a 45m penalty with less than five minutes of the half remaining.
Two minutes into injury time a brave penalty sent to touch to set up an attack was somehow undone by strong Toulouse defence and their attack up-field earned a penalty on the 22 to hand them a 13-3 lead at the break.
The sheer intensity of a first half that took almost an hour to play set the tone for another competitive half.
Toulouse showed their skills as they struck first early in the second half, a form of enterprising touch rugby that kept the ball alive through innumerable passes before a behind-the-back final pass sent the try-scorer over, the conversion taking them into a 20-3 lead. Despite their dominance of the possession and territory stats, it would be the last time they scored in this pulsating game.
While Toulouse employed a cat-and-mouse approach, led by captain Antoine Dupont who was a marked man and didn’t always manage to imprint his influence on the game under pressure, the French looked dangerous throughout but didn’t always account for the determined defence and physicality from the Hollywoodbets Sharks.
There were a couple of late opportunities for the home side and it was replacement centre Jurenzo Julius who went over after a wonderful attack that had all the hallmarks of Black & White rugby, combining creativity with brutality.
That cut the lead to 12 points.
It ultimately closed out one of the most edge-of-your-seat tension-filled games of the competition.