Congratulations to the Sharks, who opened their United Rugby Championship campaign with a 41-24 bonus-point win over the Ospreys at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday afternoon. A Luan Giliomee double from fullback earned him Player of the Match.
The scoreline was a statement. The fullback was the story.
One try in each half. The first, in the 27th minute, was the kind that makes a stadium go quiet and then explode.
Jurenzo Julius played a key part. Then he just goes. Pace. Footwork. A solo that left the Ospreys defence clutching air.
His second, in the 67th minute, finished a slick passing move in the corner and put the result beyond doubt. Five Sharks tries. Bonus point secured.
After a 10th-place finish and no playoff rugby last season, Durban needed a night like this. Luan Giliomee gave them one.
Luan Giliomee Double and the Injury That Felt So Cruel
Six months ago he was a 19-year-old thrown into a do-or-die United Rugby Championship match against Munster because Aphelele Fassi and Jaco Williams were out. He had already scored on debut for the Blitzboks against Spain in Perth, but this was a different stage.
Sharks coach JP Pietersen called him a talented kid who can play nine, 10 or fullback.
JP Pietersen, Sharks head coach
“He’s got vision. He understands the game well. He’s good under the high ball. He sees the game different.”
Then he went out and proved it. A try, two assists and a 45-0 Sharks win in the Durban rain. A debut that belonged on a poster.
Seven days later, Cardiff at Kings Park. Second cap. Forced off in the first half of a 21-15 win. The Sharks would not name the injury in public. They did not need to. You could see it on the bench. You could hear it in Pietersen’s voice.
JP Pietersen, Sharks head coach
“Gilly coming off is unlucky and unfortunate. It’s a setback, but we’ll bounce back.”
The backs were falling. Fassi. Jaco Williams. Grant Williams. Julius. Venter. Bester. Masuku. And now the teenager who had just announced himself.
For a kid from Ceres, 1.70m and listed around 80kg, built like a pocket rocket and asked to fill holes left by Springboks, that is a scary place to sit. One week you are the future. The next week you are in the medical room wondering if the window just slammed shut.
He worked. Injury cost him the U20 Rugby Championship, but the Junior Springboks named him in their training squad in May. In June he played for South Africa A in a 40-0 win over Zimbabwe in Gqeberha.
At the Junior World Championship, a semi-final red card was later overturned, but his hearing ran too late for him to be picked for the final. The Junior Springboks beat France 16-5 without him, which tells you how quickly this year has moved.
Through all of it the question around Luan Giliomee was simple. Is the spark still there?
Saturday answered it.
The Kolbe-Shaped Question
Twenty years old. Fullback. Two tries. The first a solo that Cheslin Kolbe himself would have smiled at. Same compact frame. Same change of direction. Same habit of making grown defenders look late.
Kolbe is still Kolbe. One of the greatest finishers South Africa has ever produced. Nobody replaces that overnight.
But the Springboks will need the next version of that threat. A back who can live at 15 or on the wing. Who can beat the first man. Who can finish from halfway. Who does not need a perfect platform to create chaos.
Luan Giliomee is not ready to start a Rugby Championship Test tomorrow. That is not the claim.
The claim is this. If you are looking for the player who can grow into that Kolbe-shaped role over the next two seasons, Saturday was the loudest argument yet.
The injury did not take the pace. It did not take the vision. If anything, he looks sharper. Hungrier. Completely unbothered by the size of the stage.
The Luan Giliomee double was not the only entry on the Sharks vs Ospreys scoresheet. Nick Hatton scored. Manu Tshituka scored. Litelihle Bester scored. Vusi Moyo kicked 14 points and Siya Masuku added a conversion.
The Sharks led 28-14 at the break, and the Ospreys still left Durban with a four-try bonus point. The pack laid the platform for all of it.
But the picture on the wall from Sharks vs Ospreys will be Luan Giliomee, ball under the arm, Ospreys disappearing behind him.
He is back.
He looks better than ever.
And the Springbok conversation, whether Rassie Erasmus wants it this week or not, has started.
Sharks 41 (Tries: Hatton, Tshituka, Giliomee 2, Bester. Cons: Moyo 4, Masuku. Pens: Moyo 2)
Ospreys 24 (Tries: Morgan, Parry, Wright, Hopkins. Cons: Creighton 2)
