Bulls wing Bryan Habana scores a last-gasp try against the Sharks to win South Africa's first Super 14 title. Photo / Reuters
Sharks 19 Bulls 20
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DURBAN - Bryan Habana scored in the dying moments to make the Bulls the first South African team to win a Super 14 title when they beat the Sharks 20-19 in the final in Durban this morning.
Habana scythed through an exhausted Sharks defence after the final hooter
had sounded and first five-eighths Derick Hougaard's conversion earned the Bulls their narrow victory in the first Super rugby final to be played in South Africa.
The Sharks dominated the first half with effective forward play but failed to convert their effort into a substantial lead.
The second half produced a more even contest, but a capacity crowd of 54,000 was still stunned into near silence by the manner in which the Bulls snatched their win.
The Bulls took a 7-3 lead in the ninth minute when they won a lineout in the Sharks' 22-metre area and spun the ball wide for number eight Pierre Spies to crash through poor defence and score.
Sharks left wing JP Pietersen put the home side a point ahead in the 13th minute when he intercepted a pass from Spies in the home side's half and sprinted down the left hand touchline to score.
Fullback Percy Montgomery, who was off target with the conversion attempt, kicked his second and third penalties to earn the Sharks a four-point halftime lead.
Much of the third quarter of the match was played between the 22-metre lines as the teams struggled to wrest the advantage.
Hougaard missed a shot at goal in the 45th minute, but he was on target in the 61st to trim the Sharks' lead to 14-13.
The Bulls continued to throw themselves into the fray while the Sharks guarded their slim lead.
The home side's tactics seemed to have paid off when a rare attacking move resulted in a rolling maul and replacement lock Albert van den Bergh muscled through the defence to touch down.
That put the Sharks 19-13 ahead with just three minutes left but right wing Frans Steyn missed the conversion that would have given them a decisive eight-point lead.
- REUTERS
