Sharks subdue Highlanders

The Sharks got back to winning ways to boost their title hopes, recording a subdued 23-15 victory over the Highlanders in Durban.

While it was far from a classic, the result was all that mattered for the South African hopefuls in their scrap to make the Super 14 play-offs.

After consecutive losses to bottom team the Cheetahs and defending champions the Crusaders, the Sharks will be grateful for four points.

First-half scores from Stephen Sykes and Jacques Botes helped see them leap up the table, albeit before some of their rivals have played.

Marching orders

The match was not without incident, though, and citings can be expected to follow after Rory Kockott received his marching orders for striking Adam Thomson and yellows were also issued to Daniel Bowden and Keegan Daniel.

The hosts were dealth a blow before kick-off with the late withdrawal of Ruan Pienaar, who was not quite ready to return to a starting berth. Francois Steyn once again shifted in one position to cover for the absence of his team-mate.

Despite the late switch the Sharks dominated the early proceedings mainly thanks to the effort of props John Smit and Tendai Mtawarira in the front row.

Kockott slotted over his 100th Super Rugby point on ten minutes to put his side ahead, though only handling errors stopped them from scoring a try.

The Highlanders showed them how it should be done when replacement hooker Jason Rutledge, on due to David Hall's bloodied mouth, had the simplest of finishes. Mathew Berquist slotted over the tricky conversion.

However, it proved to be just a momentary blip for the Sharks as five minutes later they posted an excellent score of their own through Sykes.

A careless fumble behind their own line saw the Highlanders concede again before half time, Jimmy Cowan's errant pass allowing flank Botes to make it 17-7.

Much-needed fillip

Berquist knocked over a much-needed fillip for the away team before the break but Cowan's try right on the hooter seemed to set up a mouth-watering second period.

Instead the crowd only got to see Kockott kick a further six points before the action centred around referee Phillip Bosch's pocket.

The scrum-half was given his marching orders for throwing punches at Highlanders flanker Adam Thomson and the Sharks were down to 13 men right before the last when replacement Keegan Daniel was sin-binned for a

trip.

Otago were unable to convert the last-second penalty that would have given them a bonus point, rounding out a thoroughly forgettable match.