The Sharks made light work of their first pre-Super Rugby season match of the year as they ran in 10 tries to crush Boland 62-0 at Kings Park on Friday night.
Marcell Coetzee and Lubabalo Mtembu both scored a brace late in the game, but before that the hosts had led 21-0 at the break thanks to scores from new signing Riaan Viljoen, Bismarck du Plessis and JP Pietersen, playing at centre.
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Siviwe Magaba was shown a straight red card on the stroke of half time, although the visitors were still allowed to field 15 players in the second half.
It mattered little, though, as Sibusiso Sithole, Lwazi Mvovo and Paul Jordaan's efforts added to the four from Coetzee and Mtembu to give the hosts a simple win.
Until now, the Sharks had been hard at work in training and played an internal trials game last week for the first time.
They hardly looked rusty when the game began with the visitors on the back foot from the outset.
Du Plessis and Mvovo both came close in the opening minutes, while Dale Chadwick was denied a try after his burst was deemed held-up by referee Craig Joubert.
When Boland did get some respite, it only lasted seconds as the ball failed to leave their half.
The first points came in the 17th minute when Viljoen collected a quick tap-and-go penalty from Frederic Michalak and burst over from five metres out -- Patrick Lambie comfortably making the conversion.
The Sharks collected a second try in the 23rd minute after Boland put more pressure on themselves in the back with handling errors and a strong passage of phases ended with Du Plessis powering over.
Lambie again converted to double the advantage.
Boland threatened briefly on the half-hour mark, but the Sharks hit back thereafter with Pietersen, who looks set to play more regularly at centre this term, crossing thanks to a brilliant spurt of pace and power from Odwa Ndungane.
The veteran winger played the ball inside to Viljoen on the angle and the new man then picked another inside pass to send Pietersen away under the post.
After Lambie converted again, the men from Paarl were reduced to 14 men when Magaba was shown a straight red card by referee Joubert for a spear tackle on Keegan Daniel.
That came on the stroke of half time and straight after the restart Sithole dived over under the post after reading Chadwick's pass to perfection.
Lambie added the extras and in the 52nd minute Mvovo went in on the left after Michalak's over-the-top pass.
Marcell Coetzee and Lubabalo Mtembu both scored a brace late in the game, but before that the hosts had led 21-0 at the break thanks to scores from new signing Riaan Viljoen, Bismarck du Plessis and JP Pietersen, playing at centre.
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Sharks rugby live
Siviwe Magaba was shown a straight red card on the stroke of half time, although the visitors were still allowed to field 15 players in the second half.
It mattered little, though, as Sibusiso Sithole, Lwazi Mvovo and Paul Jordaan's efforts added to the four from Coetzee and Mtembu to give the hosts a simple win.
Until now, the Sharks had been hard at work in training and played an internal trials game last week for the first time.
They hardly looked rusty when the game began with the visitors on the back foot from the outset.
Du Plessis and Mvovo both came close in the opening minutes, while Dale Chadwick was denied a try after his burst was deemed held-up by referee Craig Joubert.
When Boland did get some respite, it only lasted seconds as the ball failed to leave their half.
The first points came in the 17th minute when Viljoen collected a quick tap-and-go penalty from Frederic Michalak and burst over from five metres out -- Patrick Lambie comfortably making the conversion.
The Sharks collected a second try in the 23rd minute after Boland put more pressure on themselves in the back with handling errors and a strong passage of phases ended with Du Plessis powering over.
Lambie again converted to double the advantage.
Boland threatened briefly on the half-hour mark, but the Sharks hit back thereafter with Pietersen, who looks set to play more regularly at centre this term, crossing thanks to a brilliant spurt of pace and power from Odwa Ndungane.
The veteran winger played the ball inside to Viljoen on the angle and the new man then picked another inside pass to send Pietersen away under the post.
After Lambie converted again, the men from Paarl were reduced to 14 men when Magaba was shown a straight red card by referee Joubert for a spear tackle on Keegan Daniel.
That came on the stroke of half time and straight after the restart Sithole dived over under the post after reading Chadwick's pass to perfection.
Lambie added the extras and in the 52nd minute Mvovo went in on the left after Michalak's over-the-top pass.
