Been blown off the park was one factor that the Sharks would not have planned for as they prepared for this match with the ‘Tahs. In virtually every other department they improved, solid scrumming, committed tackling and they had the ability to string several phases together. But they needed the ref to at least open one of his eyes if they were going to have a chance.
The Paul Marks Circus kicked off when he conspired with the TMO to award the Waratahs a try when every available camera angle could not prove if the ball had touched the try line or not. Apparently conclusive evidence is no longer needed. The Sharks sucked up the decision and played on only to suffer again in the second half when with the try line begging to be crossed a pass from Terblanche to Kanko was deliberately knocked down. By all rights this was a penalty try as nobody would have touched the swift 8th man. It’s not the way Paul Marks read it, and although he gave Kurtley a yellow card could not bring himself to take the next step and award the try. But the diminuative ref left the best for last as he judged Jannie was obstructing in the lineout, 5 metres out and a try on the cards. For pity sake Du Plessis was still bound to the jumper. Diabolical!
The Sharks were far from polished though with Andy ‘I wish I was’ Goode getting sent off for a 10 minute blow dry and Jannie playing the part of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde perfectly with a stupid trip up of a Waratahs player. Strangely with only 13 men on the field the Sharks managed to lift their game leading to a great 60 m dash for the line by Ryan Kankowski.
At the end it was one of those games that comes around every so often when the worst team on the park won, ably assisted by the ref Paul Marks. It’s going to be a mightly mountain to climb now for the Sharks and a different ref was all that was required and a win would have been theirs. (See the video right here)
