Sharks squash fast Griffons start for comfortable Currie Cup opening victory

After an incoherent opening half, a youthful Sharks side overcame grizzled First Division champions Griffons to record a 32-16 come-from-behind win in their first Currie Cup game at Kings Park on Saturday.

New head coach Joey Mongalo trusted many young Sharks fledglings for his first game in charge, with Tinotenda Mavesere, Siya Ningiza, Nevaldo Fleurs and Ockie Barnard all starting, mixed with a few veterans such as Lionel Cronje, Thembelani Bholi, and Anthony Volmink.

The blend, which included the odd United Rugby Championship regular like Marnus Portgieter and Carlu Sadie, was always poised to lack cohesion and that showed at the beginning when the Sharks fell behind early.

It was the visitors, newly promoted from the First Division, who started strongly when centre Carel-Jan Coetzee went over for a try that Jaywinn Juries converted.

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Juries then added three points after the hosts were penalised for an errant scrum as the Griffons went 10-0 ahead midway through the first half.

The game took a turn 10 minutes later when Griffons wing Granwill Matthys received a yellow card for tripping opposite number Yaw Penxe.

The Sharks opted for line-out close to the try line and the decision paid off when hooker Fez Mbatha went over for an uncoverted try.

Juries added another penalty but the Sharks and Mbatha were on the scoresheet again, when the hooker peeled away from a driving maul for his second try of the match.

Flyhalf Lionel Cronje again missed the target with the conversion as the Griffons held a shock 13-10 lead into the break.

Juries kicked a long-range three-pointer to extend the visitors' lead to six points early after the interval.

At the 50-minute mark, though, the