James Tuttle scored a 71st-minute try to hand the Reds a 28-26 win over the Sharks in Brisbane on Friday. CRAIG LEWIS reports.
That was the try that handed the Reds the lead for the first time in the match, and yet there can be few arguments that the hosts were worthy winners.
In a dramatic, but scrappy affair, Pat Lambie did have an opportunity to snatch the win for the Sharks, but a long-range angled penalty drifted wide, and from there the Reds held on to clinch a come-from-behind win.
Although the Sharks led 19-13 early in the second half, and then 26-18 heading into the final quarter after a try to Tera Mtembu, there was a very real sense for much of the match that they were fighting a losing cause.
As it turned out, despite the fact that the Reds conceded two yellow cards in the second half for acts of foul play, they still found the means to emerge victorious as Samu Kerevi and Tuttle went over to score decisive tries that brought them back into the match.
Indeed, it was that sort of match as the momentum swung one way and then the other, but the Sharks were ultimately made to pay for several basic errors, while they battled to hold on to possession and offered many threats on attack.
After spending so much time on defence, there was a sense of inevitability as the Reds struck when the Sharks began to tire late in the game. Lambie’s late missed penalty simply made the result more difficult for the Durbanites to take.
The Sharks had made the perfect start to proceedings when Jean-Luc du Preez scored as early as the second minute after an error from Quade Cooper, but the visitors hardly fired a shot in anger after that, as discipline and some poor decision-making blighted their continuity.
That said, the Reds were hardly much better as they failed to make the most of 59% possession and 67% territory in the first half, with the Sharks’ scramble defence getting them out of jail on more than one occasion.
It was also notable that the Reds completed some 337 ball carries in the first half to only 159 from the Sharks, with the hosts averaging 8m per carry as they got some good gains from occasionally passive defence.
Yet, despite spending much of the opening stanza on the back foot, the Sharks led 16-13 at the break as Pat Lambie slotted three penalties versus two from Cooper, while Scott Higginbotham dotted down for the Reds’ opening try.
The Sharks held onto a similarly tenuous lead late into the game, but the hosts had looked the better side for much of the second half, and ultimately came away with a deserved win.
Reds – Tries: Scott Higginbotham, Samu Kerevi (2), James Tuttle. Conversion: Cooper. Penalties: Quade Cooper (2).
Sharks – Tries: Jean-Luc du Preez, Tera Mtembu. Conversions: Pat Lambie (2). Penalties: Lambie (4).
Reds – 15 Karmichael Hunt, 14 Chris Kuridrani, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Duncan Paia’aua, 11 Eto Nabuli, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Nick Frisby, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 George Smith, 6 Adam Korczyk, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sam Talakai, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper (c).
Subs: 16 Andrew Ready, 17 Markus Vanzati, 18 Sef Fa’agase, 19 Izack Rodda, 20 Hendrik Tui, 21 James Tuttle, 22 Jake McIntyre, 23 Izaia Perese.
Sharks – 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 André Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie (c), 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Tera Mtembu, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Philip van der Walt, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 Jacques Vermeulen, 21 Michael Claasens, 22 Jeremy Ward, 23 Clement Poitrenuad.
Photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
