VIDEO: Reds beat woeful Sharks in Durban
SUPER RUGBY REPORT: The Sharks produced another poor performance when they went down 14-21 to the Reds at Kings Park in Durban on Friday.
After being smashed 17-51 by the Jaguares last week, many Sharks fans were expecting a big response from their team.
However, the Sharks let them down once again with some shocking handing and atrocious execution.
The Reds outscored their opponents by three tries to two and they had a 14-7 half-time lead.
It did not take long for the visitors to open the scoring. After some good phases inside the Sharks’ half, flyhalf Bryce Hegarty exposed some poor defending from the Sharks to go through a gap and score the first try in just the second minute.
The Sharks had a fair amount of the ball after that try, but they did not make good use of possession.
Instead, it was the Reds who scored again when captain Samu Kerevi crashed through the Sharks defence after a strong driving maul before offloading to his midfield partner Chris Feauai-Sautia who ran in for his team’s second try.
Both tries were converted by Bryce Hegarty and after 20 minutes the Reds were looking comfortable with a 14-0 scoreline.
The Sharks needed to be the next to score if they wanted to stay in the game and they did just that when hooker Kerron van Vuuren found his way to the tryline in the 25th minute via a powerful driving maul. Robert du Preez added the extra two points with the conversion.
The home side had the upper hand in terms of opportunities in the final ten minutes, but once again woeful finishing let them down when it mattered.
At half-time the Reds were 14-7 in front.
The first 20 minutes of the second half was a bit of an arm-wrestle before the visitors broke the deadlock in the 60th minute when scrumhalf Tate McDermott was put into space to sprint in for his team’s third try after some good interplay between his teammates.
The Reds’ mission was also made easier by some more woeful execution and handling by the home side, who continued to butcher opportunities in their opponents’ half.
The Sharks eventually found their way to the tryline in the 79th minute with Dan Du Preez crashing over, but it was too little, too late with the Reds hanging on for the win.
Man of the match: Samu Kerevi was excellent throughout the 80 minutes and he really inspired his team to victory with some big carries and skillful offloading.
The scorers:
For Sharks:
Tries: Van Vuuren, D du Preez
Cons: R du Preez, Bosch
For Reds:
Tries: Hegarty, Feauai-Sautia, McDermott
Cons: Hegarty 2, Stewart
SUPER RUGBY LIVE: Sharks v Reds
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Teams:
Sharks: 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Sibusiso Nkosi, 13 Kobus van Wyk, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Louis Schreuder (captain), 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Philip van der Walt, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Tyler Paul, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Aphelele Fassi.
Reds: 15 Hamish Stewart, 14 Sefa Naivalu, 13 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 12 Samu Kerevi (captain), 11 Jack Hardy, 10 Bryce Hegarty, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Liam Wright, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Alex Mafi, 1 Harry Hoopert.
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Harry Hockings, 20 Adam Korczyk, 21 Moses Sorovi, 22 Duncan Paia’aua, 23 Jock Campbell.
Referee: Frederico Anselmi
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper, Glen Jackson
TMO: Marius Jonker
*Picture courtesy of Wayne Seagreen
