Sharks stunned in Brisbane
Another unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday as the Sharks found themselves outplayed 25-13 against the Reds at Suncorp Stadium.
Last Updated: 14/03/09 2:02pm
Another unbeaten streak came to an end on Saturday as the Sharks found themselves outplayed 25-13 against the Reds at Suncorp Stadium.
The season's 'entertainers' were never going to claim this hefty scalp by taking their visitors on up front. So their usual game-plan of expansive rugby duly suited their task, leaving the Sharks lacking answers to impressive home questions.
From the off it was the Durban-based franchise who came out firing, and with Ben Lucas seemingly blind to two quick-fire charge-downs from JP Pietersen then one as he attempted to clear from the base close to his own line, it was clear who was in third spot in the table.
But both Francois Steyn and Adrian Jacobs found life extremely difficult against their Australian counterparts as Reds weathered the early storm.
Lucas made up for his earlier misgivings as another wide move stretched the Sharks' tacklers before youngster Blair Connor stepped inside off the first phase, leading to his now calmed scrum-half continuing down a short blindside.
Dispelled doubters
Twelve minutes had passed and with space running dry, Lucas threw a superb over-head pass to the supporting Adam Byrnes who grounded the opener.
That score dispelled all the doubters' views that the contest was to be one-way traffic as the Queensland crowd sniffed an upset and duly rose to their side's efforts.
Three more points followed on 23 minutes as flanker Scott Higginbotham showed a great turn of pace to burst through the Sharks' midfield before throwing a horror pass that failed to find any one of three supporting players.
But the consolation soon came as a grapple tackle allowed the Reds to extend the arrears.
However, that penalty goal was Lucas' last action as he left the field injured moments later with a lively Will Genia entering the fray in quite blistering style. First, Leroy Houston bustled his way through into the wide open spaces before Connor offloaded well again to the try-scoring replacement.
Where were the Super 14 favourites? Not too far away was the answer as Rory Kockott cut the gap to nine points with two sweetly-struck penalties as the Sharks began to find their rhythm.
But just as it looked like the hosts were beginning to crave James Leckie's whistle, Hugh McMeniman and the busy Connor continued their good night's work before being taken high in contact - Barnes sending his side in 18-6 at the break.
Marching orders
The hairdryer treatment was surely given by boss John Plumtree as the Sharks returned a different team and contributed to Mark McLinden receiving his yellow marching orders for slowing down the ball on his own line.
A pattern began to emerge in Brisbane soon after as Leckie was close to sending another Red to the sin-bin for a 'lifted tackle' but for not getting a number. We did and Genia was a lucky man for getting away with the offence.
The off-the-ball incidents continued to mount up in favour of the Sharks and it should have seriously dented the Australians' hopes of four season-boosting points but for Kockott's missed attempts.
But as has become the case so often this year, with an hour gone there was still no change to the half-time scoreline as a Super 14 contest dropped in tempo.
That was until 65 minutes when Kockott snapped up the loose ball and saw space behind the Reds' back-line with the pace of Ryan Kankowski in full flow to gather and ground to bring the scores back to 18-13.
All roads pointed to a grandstand finish with the Sharks surely setting up camp downfield. However, centre Steyn's horror performance continued inside his own in-goal area as he put down a Kockott pass to bring unwanted pressure that the Reds lapped up.
Wallaby winger Peter Hynes continued his impressive 12 months as he broke through inside the Sharks' 22 and when the recycled ball saw Genia flick a superb pass to Digby Ioane the Reds' celebrations could begin.
