DURBAN: Coastal Sharks laboured to a 25-21 win over Melbourne Rebels on Friday after an error-riddled Super 15 match in Durban marred by a red-card for punching.
Australian tighthead prop Laurie Weeks was sent off after 29 minutes having punched South African tighthead Jannie du Plessis repeatedly in the face.
Springbok regular Du Plessis, who triggered the southern hemisphere inter-provincial championship incident at Kings Park by slapping Weeks on the back of the head, was yellow-carded.
Referee Jaco van Heerden watched the incident on the big screen several times and consulted television match official and fellow South African Marius Jonker, who backed the red and yellow-card decisions.
The result of a late league-season game full of handling errors had no impact on the standings with neither side in contention for a top-six finish and a play-offs place.
Rebels, who have lost all 10 Super 15 matches in South Africa since a 2011 competition debut, collected a losing bonus point to stay 10th.
Sharks picked up four points for the win but remained 11th, two points behind the Australian outfit.
Victory did continue a mini-revival by the Sharks, who edged Queensland Reds in Brisbane last weekend after a record six consecutive losses.
But they played without confidence against the Rebels, often handling the ball as if it were a bar of soap, and made many poor decisions.
The South Africans battled to subdue opponents who had to play a man short for the entire second half after Du Plessis returned from the sin-bin.
However, the reaction of skipper and veteran lock Marco Wentzel revealed the desperation of the Durban outfit to win.
"We will take the win -- I don't care how it was achieved," he stressed. "It was a great victory and we intend to keep fighting until the season ends."
Rebels skipper, No. 8 and official man-of-the-match Scott Higginbotham was pleased at a big improvement following a 31-15 loss to Western Stormers in Cape Town last Saturday.
"This defeat was a tough one to swallow," said the scorer of two tries. "Give credit to my boys -- they fought all the way although we were a man short."
Sharks led 10-7 at half-time with fly-half Lionel Cronje kicking a penalty and converting a try by winger S'bura Sithole before Rebels fly-half Jack Debreczeni converted a Higginbotham try.
Tries by full-back Lwazi Mvovo and substitute centre Heimar Williams, one of which Cronje converted, stretched the lead to 22-7 after 52 minutes.
But an anticipated big win for the Sharks did not materialise with Debreczeni converting tries by Higginbotham and substitute back Bryce Hegarty while Cronje slotted a penalty.
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