Sharks take control to subdue Reds and finish off a brilliant tour

The Sharks will return to South Africa with a proud record of three overseas wins from four starts, placing them in an ideal position for the rest of their Super Rugby campaign.

Sean Everitt’s men recovered from a poor first half to run out 33-23 winners over the Reds in Brisbane on Saturday after skipper Lukhanyo Am’s intercept try settled the contest.

On the balance though, the Durbanites deserved their win for gradually taking control in the second half and maintaining a brilliant defensive effort even if the Reds didn’t quite do their surfeit of possession and territory justice at times.

Who was the star in this match?

There had been concerns that the Sharks would lose their potency at the breakdowns by resting influential new recruit James Venter. Those fears proved unfounded as his replacement, Dylan Richardson, filled his void superbly. The 21-year-old did well for his try, hitting a decent angle and was excellent on defence, completing 14 tackles and winning two turnovers.

Key moments and themes

• The Sharks were arguably a tad lucky to go into half-time just 8-11 down after a poor 40 minutes from both sides. Their defence was about their only strength during a period where a string of phases being put together was a rare occurrence. They did show their potency in terms of taking points on offer when they launched an excellent rolling maul for hooker Kerron van Vuuren to score from, but kept themselves pinned in their own half through indiscipline.
• Proceedings continued to exhibit a see-saw as both sides landed blows on the scoreboard, with the Reds in particular being guilty of not building from the solid base their set-pieces had laid. That said, they were disrupted by a Sharks pack intent on disrupting the breakdown as well as pushing their linespeed on defence to the limit.
• Yet the defining period of the match came in a four-minute window in the final quarter. Leading 21-16, the Sharks seemed to have been hard done by a decision to reverse a scrum penalty after replacement hooker Craig Burden was adjudged to have stuck an elbow on an opponent’s chest. The Reds kicked to touch and managed to wriggle themselves away from good maul defence, with prop Taniela Tupou going over. However, the replays indicated a double movement. Sharks halfback Louis Schreuder then messed up kick forward on the counter, keeping the Durbanites in their own half. The Reds pressed, only for Am to make his clinching interception.
• By all accounts the Sharks shouldn’t have struggled like that in the second half as they generally took control skillfully. Their scrums proved overpowering and the defence never wavered.

Point scorers:

Sharks – Tries: Kerron van Vuuren, Dylan Richardson, Lukhanyo Am, Madosh Tambwe. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (2). Penalties: Bosch (3).

Reds – Tries: Henry Speight, Tate McDermott. Penalties: Jock Campbell (2).

For more sport your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.