The Sharks defeated Western Province in the showpiece of South African domestic rugby on Saturday, scoring two tries to one as they left Newlands with a 33-19 victory. Since the match, the Springbok squad for the tour of the UK and France has been chosen.
Western Province got the better of the two sides in last years' final in Durban, but this time around it was a reverse fixture and a far different result. The Sharks powered to the win with notable performances from young lock Pieter-Steph Du Toit and halfbacks Charl McLeod and Pat Lambie.
McLeod got an intercept try early in the game, and later on he crossed for another after an excellent build up and some quality ruck clearance by both forwards and backs. Lambie, while having missed a few kicks, kept the scoreboard ticking with two very well taken dropgoals.
"We knew that we needed to win the collisions and the easiest way to win the collisions is to get off the line aggressively. We did that well and put them under pressure," said Sharks coach Brad Macleod-Henderson, who has Brendan Venter as part of his team, and John Smit as new CEO.
Young Du Toit has been rewarded with a Springbok call-up, as has flyer Gio Aplon, prop Frans Malherbe, hooker Scarra Ntubeni and scrumhalf Louis Schreuder.
The Springboks face Wales, Scotland and France on tour, starting in Cardiff on November 9th.
Below are highlights from the final, featuring all the tries, near misses and a few big hits