Sharks 36-30 Edinburgh: South Africans drive Edinburgh out of Europe.

Edinburgh’s revenge mission against South Africa ended in defeat as the Sharks defeated the Scottish side in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup.

Two weeks after losing in the United Rugby Championship, Sean Everitt’s side returned to Durban hoping to reach the European semi-finals for the first time since 2015.

They took the lead at the break, but it was canceled out by five Sharks penalties.

Two late tries failed to close the gap, and the Sharks will now face Clermont Auvergne in the semi-finals.

Both teams struggled with discipline throughout, but it was a late penalty count that allowed the Sharks to pull away.

Edinburgh opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Ben Healy tucked in the first of three penalty shots from the teeing ground. They got their second goal 10 minutes later on a missed penalty by Siya Masuku, which was missed 10 yards out, almost in front of the sticks.

The Sharks fly-half will never make a mistake like this again. In the second half, he scored a decisive goal from the tee, converting four penalties and one conversion, and was subsequently named Player of the Match.

After Edinburgh had taken a 6-0 lead, Makazole Mapimpi chipped over the top and fired a kick of his own, but the Sharks reacted quickly, handing the ball to fellow Springbok back Lukhanyo Am. I cantered back to the platform.

Edinburgh then had Ewan Ashman cross the goal line but his dive onto the whitewash was thwarted and three minutes later the Sharks punished Edinburgh, three minutes later Eben Ezebeth scored a free James Venter. provided a goal.

However, the first half ended in Edinburgh’s favor as Etzebeth was sin-binned for a persistent foul and Pierre Schoeman spun over the line with a dummy from the bottom of the ruck. Healy added a conversion and a further penalty to give the visitors a two-goal lead at half-time.

However, they did not score another point until the 74th minute. Meanwhile, the Sharks added 19 unanswered points to them, but the difference was too much for Edinburgh to make up.

Two penalties gave the Sharks a four-point advantage, but Edinburgh looked like they were still in the dressing room when Bongi Mbonambi found an opening after a lineout maul and Hooker’s swan dive compounded the injury. Ta.

Two more penalties went unanswered and the game was almost lost. Hamish Watson gave Edinburgh a glimmer of hope when he scored from a maul counterattack, but Kerwin Bosch quickly snuffed it out and kicked a penalty.

Dave Cherry crossed from another lineout maul at the red point to give the scoreline a little more respect, but all that will be remembered is the Sharks progressing to the semi-finals.

lineup

shark: Fassi, Koch, Am (c), Hooker, Mapimpi, Masuku, Hendrickse; Ntsche, Mbonambi, Koch, Etzebeth, van Heerden, J. Venter, Tsitsuka, Buselezi.

replacement: Jooste, Mchunu, Jacobs, Lahr, Labuschagne, Williams, Bosch, F. Venter.

Sin Bin: Etzebeth (31)

edinburgh: Goossen, Henry, Bennett, Currie, van der Merwe, Healy, Veracott (CC); Schoeman, Ashman, Nell, Skinner, Gilchrist (CC), Ritchie, Watson, Mata.

replacement: Cherry, Venter, Ray, Hodgson, Crosby, Price, Lang, Dean.

match official

Referee: Matthew Curley (ENG)