DURBAN – In trying conditions, with the rust still evident on the players, the Sharks threw away their slender lead over the Reds late on in Brisbane to lose narrowly in their first Super Rugby encounter on Friday morning.
Four tries from the Reds, and countless points left out there from the boot of Quade Cooper saw the home team squeak home to a 28-26 win.
The Sharks struck first after pouncing on some rustiness from their opponents.
Quade Cooper rushed into forcing a pass that the Sharks quickly scooped up and put through the hands for flanker Jean-Luc du Preez to dot down close to the posts.
Seemingly that bit of action set the tone for the game as the Reds were doing all of the attacking and the Sharks were happy to hold their defensive line. It was an effort that was to be applauded for the men from Durban were clinical in their defence, feeding off the Reds’ mistakes when they came.
However, the attacking Aussies still managed to break the line on occasion, leading to the Sharks having to pull off some incredible scrambling defence, but even that wasn’t enough for the second try which saw Wallaby Scott Higginbotham pop the ball over the line from inches out.
Still, the Sharks held the lead though, through the boot of Pat Lambie, holding on to a 16-13 advantage as they headed into the sheds.
The second half however saw the men from Durban try and get involved in some possession, but their own rust, or should that be the obvious humidity, played its part as too many chances were coughed up.
Samu Kerevi managed to get his first of two for the evening through some direct running, the defence seemingly tiring, but the Sharks still led, and soon extended that lead as Tera Mtembu got over off the back of the maul.
It came to the 71st minute before the Reds grabbed the lead, this time James Tuttle's try adding on top of Kerevi’s second to make it a two-point game for the home side.
Even with two yellow cards being dished out, and a host of points lost to poor place kicking, the Reds were handed the match by a Sharks team that showed some promise, but also a lot of areas of concern.
@DarrynJack216
Points-Scorers
Reds
– Tries: Higginbotham, Kerevi, Nabuli, Tuttle. Conversions: Cooper 1. Penalties: Cooper 2.
Sharks
– Tries: Du Preez, Mtembu. Conversions: Lambie 2. Penalties: Lambie 4.
Yellow cards:
Kane Douglas (Reds, 56th minute – foul play, neck choke), Karmichael Hunt (Reds, 76th – foul play, swinging arm).