Rebels 32 Sharks 34
The Rebels fell agonisingly short of their second consecutive home win as they went down 34-32 to the unbeaten Sharks.
The game swung dramatically in favour of both sides but it was the Sharks who prevailed to preserve their perfect start to the 2011 season.
Bismarck du Plessis’ try was the platform for the South Africans to take an early 13-3 lead but tries from Cooper Vuna, Julian Huxley and a dazzling solo effort from Danny Cipriani wrestled the Rebels into a 25-13 lead shortly after half-time. Despite some incredible resilience in defence, the home side could not withstand the ensuing Sharks onslaught and tries to Lwazi Mvovo, Meyer Bosman and Ryan Kankowski took the game back the way of the Durban-based outfit.
Jarrod Saffy’s late try did not alter the final standings but did earn the Rebels bonus points for scoring four tries and being within seven points of the Sharks at the final siren.
Another raucous crowd of 15,126 willed the Rebels on throughout, on a pulsating night of Super Rugby, with bullish cries of ‘Rebels’ carrying into the Melbourne night.
Concerns that the Rebels set piece would not stand up to the test of the fearsome Sharks pack proved unfounded. Even without Kevin O’Neill, who withdrew after the warm up with a recurrence of the calf-strain that ruled him out of the previous round, the Rebels played with aggression and intensity. O’Neill’s replacement, Hugh Pyle, was a standout, as the Rebels dominated their own lineout ball and pressurised the Sharks scrum.
It wasn’t just the forwards who raised their games after last week’s disappointment in Hamilton. The backs were far more cohesive, with intricate midfield interplays and halfback run-arounds a feature.
True to their pre-match words, the Rebels matched the Sharks for intensity in the early stages. Both sides smashed each other at the contest with Cipriani’s teasing kicks for the corner the only early subtlety.
A Pat Lambie penalty after 12 minutes got the scoreboard ticking over in the Sharks’ favour, a kick that prefaced a period of forceful Sharks possession with multiple phases stretching the Rebels.
Eventually, Bismarck du Plessis was fed on the burst from the edge of a ruck, careered through a pair of tackles and burrowed his way over the line. Lambie’s extras gave The Sharks a 10-0 lead with a quarter-of-an-hour gone.
Cipriani and Lambie exchanged penalties as The Sharks began to flex their significant muscles. The Rebels would not be cowed though and fought hard for both field position and possession as the half wore on.
That said, Cooper Vuna’s try after 31 minutes took everyone by surprise.
A Mark Gerrard counter attack drove the Rebels down the left wing. Nic Henderson received quick ball from the breakdown and fed the flying winger 20 metres out. That was all the invitation the powerful former NRL star required as a he executed a classic show-and-go to draw one tackle, hand-off another and score near the posts. Cipriani ensured the conversion was a formality and the Rebels had a foothold back in the contest.
The foothold became much firmer shortly afterwards as the maligned Rebels scrum forced the feted Sharks pack into conceding a penalty 45 metres from goal. Cipriani made the distance with ease and with sufficient accuracy to level the scores.
The momentum was well and truly in the Rebels favour and the incredible turnaround continued when Julian Huxley crossed after 38 minutes. The Rebels attacked at pace and as the ball passed through the hands of the backs under the direction of Stirling Mortlock, Julian Huxley was offered the chance to stretch his legs and race into the left corner. Cipriani missed the conversion but that mattered little to the Rebel Army as the home side went into the break 18-13 to the good.
Within seconds of the restart that had become 25-13 as the Rebels momentum threatened to become an avalanche thanks to the individual brilliance of Danny Cipriani.
From quick lineout ball near halfway, the fly-half took the second pass, threw an outrageous dummy and waltzed his way through the broken Sharks line. As he advanced on the posts a glorious running sidestep bamboozled the remaining defenders and allowed the Englishman to dive under the posts.
As the Rebels threatened to run riot, the Sharks hit back. Flanker, Willem Alberts broke through the Rebels line and safe hands cycled the ball out wide for Lwazi Mvovo to cross, with Lambie maintaining his 100 per cent success rate with the boot.
Both sides passed up opportunities to score during the next ten minutes as the game began to fracture. The Sharks, in particular, looked certain to score on 50 minutes but Cooper Vuna intercepted. The big winger was sent to the sin-bin shortly afterwards, penalised for being persistently offside as the Sharks took a series of tap penalties to pummel the Rebels defence.
The Rebels defence held firm in Vuna’s absence, with the Melbourne forwards putting in a memorable shift to repel wave after wave of Sharks attacks.
As the clock ticked towards the 70-minute mark both sides became increasingly desperate: the Sharks to find a breakthrough and the Rebels to snuff out any opportunity of a comeback.
As the pressure built, a Sharks try looked inevitable, and from a scrum five metres out Willem Alberts seemed to have done enough but his lunge towards the line, with Mortlock in tow, was denied on television referral. That simply delayed the inevitable, however, as that decision prompted another penalty, from which Ryan Kankowski bludgeoned his way over to level the scores. Lambie’s straightforward conversion took the Sharks back into the lead with just nine minutes remaining.
The South Africans took the game out of Rebel reach shortly afterwards in unfortunate circumstances. Adrian Jacobs kicked on a missed pass in the Rebels backline and as the ball bounced towards the right touchline it refused to roll out. A second Jacobs kick squirted the ball infield but the covering Cipriani was on hand to mop up. In desperation to return his side on the attack, however, the fly-half’s loose pass failed to find a Rebel jersey, landing instead for Meyer Bosman to plunge gleefully onto under the posts.
The indefatigable Rebels would not accept defeat and continued to push for a result. The dream looked possible when, just a minute from time, Jarrod Saffy was pushed over as a stirring rolling maul overwhelmed the Sharks defence.
That proved to be the last action of the match however, as there was no more time to offer a repeat of the late heroics against the Brumbies.
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