Sharks' parting bites sweep away Highlanders

Sharks 30 Highlanders 29

DURBAN - Two converted tries in the last 10 minutes saw the Sharks come back to beat the Highlanders in Durban yesterday.

Centre Trevor Halstead and replacement halfback Hentie Martens both went over as the Highlanders' apparently winning lead of 29-16 was swept aside.

The visitors could have still won the match, but first five-eighth Tony Brown missed a penalty in front of the posts.

He had been having a flawless afternoon, kicking five out of five penalty attempts to punish the home side who were frequently penalised by referee Wayne Erickson.

The Highlanders had trailed 13-16 at the interval, but survived the sin-binning for a professional foul of lock Vula Maimuri to shut out the Sharks for the first half-hour of the second half.

A second try by right wing Aisea Tuilevu, converted by Brown - who added three penalties - gave them a 13-point lead and appeared to have exorcised last week's 21-56 defeat by the Cats.

But Halstead strode through a midfield gap to cross from 40m out and Martens followed up a series of drives down the blindside - and stand-in fullback Gaffie du Toit converted both to put the Sharks ahead.

Du Toit missed a penalty which would have widened the gap to four, but the Highlanders were given a lifeline when the Sharks were penalised in front of their posts with two minutes left.

But Brown missed his only kick in eight attempts and the home side won by one point.

A week ago they beat the Brumbies 17-16.

The Sharks are second in the standings behind the Waratahs. They are the only sides with 100 per cent records after three rounds.

Sharks coach Rudolf Straeuli paid tribute to the fervent support his team enjoyed from their home crowd .

"Our win wasn't due to anything on the field but rather to the atmosphere in the stands," Straeuli said.

"We reacted to what the crowd gave us."

He refused to criticise Erickson for a host of technical penalties.

"We'll study the video and look at the refereeing, but the team deserved the penalties awarded against them because they weren't disciplined enough.

"There were great moments in this game but there were problems with the finishing," Straeuli said. "Towards the end there was nice, creative back play."

Highlanders coach Peter Sloane was understandably subdued. "It was a really disappointing game. We probably didn't hold on during the vital stages.

"You wouldn't be human if you were not a bit gutted and it's worrying having the Stormers waiting at home to play us [in two weeks]."

- REUTERS