Following the Lions’ 34-22 victory over the Sharks at Ellis Park, here are our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship encounter.

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The Sharks arrived in Joburg off the back of stunning successive victories over the Stormers and with the opportunity to seal the South African shield with a win over the Lions.

However, it was not to be for JP Pietersen, who earlier in the week was confirmed as the new permanent head coach of the Durban-based side, as the Lions punished the Sharks’ ill-discipline and inaccuracies to complete the season double.

Chris Smith was first to punish the Sharks’ ill-discipline as he dissected the posts after a Hanro Jacobs penalty before the Lions rued the handling error of Dorian Landsburg who had the tryline begging in his 50th appearance for the side only to drop the ball cold.

The Sharks hit back through their driving maul with Fez Mbatha sporting a smile as he emerged from the bodies scattered over the Lions’ tryline. However, it was the hosts who were smiling soon after as Smith doubled his tally to go back in front before opening up a 13-point lead.

They did so by capitalising on Jaden Hendrikse’s yellow card with Asenathi Ntlabakanye barging over and Morne van den Berg did the same only moments later. Siya Masuku got three points back before the final whistle of the half after Bronson Mills was yellow-carded for a high tackle.

Despite being down a man, the Lions started the second 40 better as debutant Sibabalwe Mahashe opened his URC account with Tino Mavesere replying for the Sharks.

Ruan Venter’s try with 30 minutes left to play gave the Lions a 19-point buffer, ultimately too much for the Sharks to overcome, particularly with Jurenzo Julius being denied a try before getting his reward with time up on the clock.

Costly sin-binning

After brilliantly pilfering over to snatch a penalty for the Sharks, Jaden Hendrikse attempted to repeat that feat after a stunning Lions break.

However, the Bok scrum-half got it wrong on this occasion and rolled the dice, going over his opposite number and was duly penalised and sent to the sin bin. Hendrikse can argue that Van den Berg dived into the breakdown and sealed off the ball, but whenever you bite into a ruck like that after a linebreak, you run the risk of spending 10 in the bin, and that was ultimately the outcome for the scrum-half.

And the Sharks were duly punished for it. Ntlabakanye thundered over the line after a maul before Hendrikse even got comfortable on the sidelines and some three minutes later Van den Berg followed.

The Lions halfback reaped the rewards of his superb kicking that caused all kinds of havoc for the Sharks’ backfield and Kelly Mpeku was quick to pounce and produce a wonderful offload to Van den Berg to score.

Smith added the extras to both tries as the Lions went from trailing by one to leading by 13 before Hendrikse returned to the action.

In stark contrast, the hosts handled Bronson Mills’ sin-binning period far better. His high tackle immediately cost them three points, but they came out firing in the second half as Mahashe scored on his URC debut.

The Sharks did hit back through Mavesere, but ultimately, the Lions were just one point worse off from the 10-minute spell compared to the visitors being 14.

 RUGBY

Morne van den Berg masterclass

Morne van den Berg is never far from the limelight and today, he was central to the Lions’ victory. There have been calls for him to make way for Haashim Pead in the starting XV with the Junior Boks superstar laying down a marker when these two sides faced off in Durban but Van den Berg laid down a statement of his own today.

His tactical kicking when the Sharks were down a man, directly led to a try, while he controlled that period of playing the duration of Mills’ sin-binning brilliantly.

The fan-voted man of the matches have produced some clangers this season but for the most part, he was excellent and thoroughly deserving of the gong. South Africa have an embarrassment of riches at scrum-half, which led many to question Van den Berg’s place in the Springboks squad last year, but his stunning display today only emphasised his class and the value he brings to any team.

New boss bounce dwindles

In football, much is made of a ‘new manager bounce’ with struggling teams all of a sudden raising their game after a change in leadership. Michael Carrick, overseeing four successive victories and drawing one since replacing Ruben Amorim at Manchester United, provides a perfect example of just that.

For the Sharks that has been the case too since JP Pietersen took over from John Plumtree as the interim head coach. The Durbanites’ results in the URC improved but what was more notable was the sharpness, effort, energy and drive from the men in black and white.

The second string team’s performance against Sale Sharks in Manchester certainly epitomised this with the youthful outfit raising their game and putting up a mighty fight against a star-studded PREM Rugby outfit, albeit in defeat.

Under Pietersen’s tutelage, the Sharks have been smarter and more accurate in just about everything that they have done until today.

The extended break between fixtures, having last played against the Stormers on 31 January, perhaps factors in with the players needing to shake off the rust, as does playing on the Highveld. Still, it looks like the bounce in the Sharks players’ step has lost a bit of spring.

At times under Plumtree, the Sharks put in lethargic, error-riddled and lacklustre performances and while it wasn’t quite at the same extent in Johannesburg on Saturday, Pietersen will be wary of standards slipping.

The new coach bounce was only going to last so long. Pietersen will be disappointed that his first game as permanent head coach ended in defeat and will be demanding much, much better against the Bulls next weekend.

Springbok radar

As mentioned above, Van den Berg laid down a marker with his shift but he was not alone. Rassie Erasmus will have a fair idea of who will be invited to the alignment camps ahead of the opening games of the year but there will certainly be the opportunity for players to press their claims.

Sharks loosehead prop Phatu Ganyane may well be one of them as he put in another astute display. He was pitted against the gigantic Asenathi Ntlabakanye in the scrums and, on the balance of things, arguably won the spoils. He was physical, abrasive and busy around the park too. It’s no easy feat to break into the Springboks propping stocks but the 23-year-old is making a good fist of it.

Mills may have spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin for his high shot on Francois Venter, but he did manage to impress throughout this match with sharp running lines that really troubled the visitors and flexed his accurate kicking game with an early 50-22. His behaviour off the pitch may well count against him but at 22, he has plenty of time to rectify things.

In the opposing jumper, Erasmus will be keeping a close eye on Pietersen’s experiment with Jurenzo Julius in the inside centre position. The 21-year-old has struggled to settle in a position with the Sharks and understandably so with world-class Springboks Andre Esterhuizen and Ethan Hooker on the payroll and previously Lukhanyo Am too. However, Pietersen clearly sees that he can do a Ma’a Nonu/Tana Umaga-esque job with Julius converting into a classy inside centre. It was far from a perfect outing from the youngster but he showed what he is capable in the role with game-breaking moments as he cantered through the Lions defence and looked to have scored an epic try only to be cruelly denied. He got the consolation in the end.

Ruan Venter and Bathobele Hlekani also put in handy shifts on the side of the scrum for the Lions while wingers Kelly Mpeku and Jaco Williams only add to the Boks’ wing depth with both players shining yet again.

However, it was a tough day at the office for Springboks Aphelele Fassi and Edwill van der Merwe. The latter looked off the pace and could well be carrying an injury while the former made several unforced errors. The effort was there for Fassi but the execution was lacking and that was the case for many of the Sharks.

But not for the brilliant Quan Horn who continues to impress for the Lions at full-back. With Willie le Roux slipping down the pecking order with the Springboks, there is an opportunity for him to make the step up and he turned down offers abroad to improve his chances.