Sharks down Reds in gritty encounter

The Coastal Sharks have prevailed in Durban earlier this morning, clinching a tough 36-28 victory over the Queensland Reds, courtesy of a sublime performance from Warren Britz.

Despite the Reds going down, there was still some consolation as they nabbed the bonus point with four tries, while the Sharks collected five points.

The Sharks started the match in style, with a trademark Sharks rolling maul sending Deon Carstens over the line. Former New Zealand international Tony Brown failed to add the extras, and the Sharks led 5-0.

Two minutes later, a stroke of luck allowed the Reds to take the lead, with Sam Cordingly charging down a Ruan Pienaar clearance kick and knocking the ball ahead with his knee, allowing hooker Stephen Moore to pounce on it for the try. Julian Huxley booted the conversion, and the Reds went ahead 7-5.

The Sharks were not about to let a home-game slip, and five minutes after the Moore try, some good work from the forwards gave the home-side great position, before they spread it wide to Henno Menz, who in turn slid over the line. Brown booted the conversion, giving the Sharks a 12-7 lead.

The Reds hit back only 12 minutes later, with a sensational run from Peter Hynes allowing him to crash over. Huxley added the extras, and again, the Reds led 14-12.

In the shadows of half-time, Brown gave the Sharks the ascendancy, slotting a penalty, and sending the Sharks up 15-14 at the break.

After the break the Reds performance was soured by Hynes, who in the 57th minute, performed a professional offside foul, and was yellow-carded, leaving the Reds with only ten men.

The Sharks took advantage immediately, with AJ Venter breaking off the back of a rolling maul and sliding over the line. Brown added the extras, and the Sharks led by eight points.

With the Reds in need of points, Ben Tune produced something special, chipping the ball in behind the Sharks defence, re-gathering, and offloading to Berrick Barnes who evaded Brown and dived over the line. Huxley added the two points, and in doing so, slashed the deficit back to one point.

Man-of-the-match Britz, sealed the match for the Sharks in the 73rd minute, after Venter gave off an inside pass to the blindside flanker, who slid over for what was essentially the match-winning try. Brown slotted the conversion, and the Sharks led 29-21.

Pienaar and speedster Drew Mitchell then exchanged tries for their respective sides, handing the Sharks a hard-earned 36-28 victory.

Next weeks hands the Sharks a well-deserved rest with a bye, while the Reds take on the Cats on Saturday night in Johannesburg.

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