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Sharks stage second-half recovery to claim victory over Dragons

By PA
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The Sharks overturned a 13-point deficit in the second half to beat Dragons 20-19 in the BKT United Rugby Championship at Rodney Parade.

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Tries from Grant Williams and Thaakir Abrahams along with 13 points from the boot of Boeta Chamberlain got the Sharks over the line as they made it two wins from two this season.

Elliot Dee scored the Dragons’ only try with young outside-half Will Reed kicking 14 points.

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The Dragons were leading with four minutes to go until a try from Abrahams along with Chamberlain’s conversion meant the hosts had to make do with a losing bonus point.

In the early stages of this contest the Sharks sent the Dragons scrum backwards at a rate of knots which allowed Chamberlain to open the scoring from the kicking tee.

Reed got the Dragons level with a successful penalty, and he kicked them ahead after the visitors were penalised for illegally collapsing a maul.

The Dragons turned the tables on the Sharks at the scrum with Ntuthuko Mchunu penalised which allowed Reed to extend the Welsh club’s lead.

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Chamberlain and Reed exchanged penalties before the break meaning the Dragons turned around with a 12-6 lead.

The home side turned the screw after the interval and threatened to break clear.

A lovely offload from Rio Dyer sent Angus O’Brien racing through a gap. The former Scarlet found Rhodri Williams, who was unable to find a supporting team-mate but the referee was playing advantage which allowed Reed to pump the ball into the Sharks 22.

The home side set themselves well in the resulting maul with Dee powering over from short range for a try which Reed converted.

The Sharks threw the kitchen sink at the Dragons as they desperately tried to force their way back into the game.

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The South African side created opportunities with Phepsi Buthelezi breaking through only to be turned over by Basham.

On another occasion Werner Kok raced 50 metres up field and managed to release Ben Tapuai but the Dragons’ scramble defence kept them at bay.

But, with less than 20 minutes remaining, the Sharks got back in the game when Williams intercepted a loose pass from O’Brien to score.

The visitors then took the lead with just four minutes left, and it proved decisive.

Sikhumbuzo Notshe broke through Reed’s tackle before offloading to Marnus Potgieter who put Abrahams over for the try which Chamberlain, crucially, converted.

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Bobbyboi 779 days ago

The Sharks did well to pull off the win in front of a hostile crowd

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Tom 1 hour ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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