Sharks survive second-half Reds revival

The Sharks moved five points clear at the top of the Super Rugby log when they beat the Reds at King's Park last night, but they got their biggest scare under new boss Jake White.

They looked untouchable in the first half but were up for the taking in the second, as the Reds finished the stronger of the two teams on the night.

White's halftime team talks are either falling on deaf ears or the players leave the tunnel thinking the game is over in just 40 minutes.

They'll need to fix that or soon a team will come along with a better ability to come back than the Australians.

The quiet opening quarter belied the artillery that the Sharks would blaze on the Reds midway through the first half.

Two Quade Cooper penalties and one each by Frans Steyn and Pat Lambie had things simmering at 6-6 in the opening phase of the game.

But once the Sharks shifted gear, the space opened up and the Reds were in pieces.

The dismantling was surgical, opening the Reds up.

The Sharks pulled ahead with a couple of Lambie penalties and another rocket from Steyn from the halfway line.

Then, with the breathing room earned, the Sharks had freedom to try things with the ball on attack.

No one is sure whether fullback SP Marais meant to banana a cross-kick to JP Pietersen on the right wing but, if on purpose, it was an incredible bit of creativity. The kind you'd expect from Cooper rather than Marais.

Pietersen caught it and found the eager Sibusiso Sithole in support. From there it took a few phases for the competition leaders to get close to the Reds tryline. Willem Alberts did the rest.

As against the Lions last week, the Sharks went in at half time comfortably ahead.

But Reds centre Mike Harris should bury his head in shame for knocking the ball on with the tryline at his mercy as the halftime hooter sounded.

Eight minutes into the second half Reds hands let them down again - fullback Aidan Toua knocking on with the visitors enjoying a two-on-one overlap on the left wing.

But Harris made amends for his error when he held onto a well-weighted Cooper pass to score the Reds' first try in the 54th minute.

It was just reward, too, after they showed courage in taking on the Springbok-filled Sharks scrum, choosing to rumble when they earned a kickable penalty in the Sharks 22m area.

The match was back on when Will Genia darted through a gap in the Sharks backline to score their second try after a period of play when the hosts failed to hold their formation.

That converted score made it 28-20 with less than a quarter of the match to the finish and with all the momentum and possession with the Reds.

Lambie's three-pointers were the only things keeping the Sharks alive at that point and the Beau Robinson sin-bin in the 67th was of major help.

With a man up, they at last managed to get out of their own half and play rugby in the Reds danger zone for the first time in the second period.

Three minutes from time substitute prop Dale Chadwick capitalised on the period of ascendency, swivelling through a tackle to score the try that would finish the surgical job.

Scorers

Sharks 35 - Tries: Willem Alberts, Dale Chadwick. Conversions: Pat Lambie (2). Penalties: Frans Steyn (2), Pat Lambie (5)

Reds 20 - Tries: Mike Harris, Will Genia. Conversions: Quade Cooper (2). Penalties: Quade Cooper (2).