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FULL-TIME: Sharks 35-34 Zebre. The Sharks survive an almighty scare to come away with five log points in front of their home crowd. Zebre lost, but they didn't go down without a fight.
Excellent work by the Sharks forwards sees them steal the ball at the lineout and then clear it away. Zebre will have to rebuild again.
Zebre kick the ball downfield and Mapimpi tracks back to secure possession for the Sharks. But Zebre's excellent kick chase, sees Mapimpi hunted down and bundled into touch on the 22.
Zebre are in possession, but they are not making any ground in the face of solid Sharks defence.
The Sharks have made 18 handling errors in this game to Zebre's seven.
We're in for a grandstand finish at Kings Park. The Sharks miraculously lead Zebre by a point with four minutes remaining.
CONVERSION, SHARKS, HENDRIKSE. 35-34.
TRY, SHARKS, HOOKER. 33-34. The Sharks kept the ball tight among the forwards, and then they swung it wide to the backs. Esterhuizen then spotted the overlap and pop a long skip pass to Hooker for the try,
The game is still at the same scrum, which has been reset several times.
YELLOW VARD, ZEBRE, HASA. Another penalty to the Sharks at the set piece and yellow card to Zebre's prop Hasa.
The Sharks have again opted for a scrum.
Zebre concede two penalties at the scrum, earning them a tongue lashing by the referee and also an official team warning.
The Sharks opt for a scrum.
Zebre's defensive work, including several dominant big hits, deny the Sharks any go forward over the gainline. The referee brings them back for a penalty to the Sharks.
The Sharks utilised the maul to get go forward momentum and they have an advantage now.
Zebre kick the ball out on the full. Advantage Sharks.
Springbok giant Andre Esterhuizen makes his long-awaited return to action off the bench for the Sharks. Will he make a difference?
Nothing is working for the Sharks. Now Kolisi drops the ball cold with zero pressure from Zebre on him.
Zebre are feeding off the Sharks' scraps and with those scraps they are making punishing the home side.
PENALTY, ZEBRE, MONTEMAURI. 28-34.
The Sharks are not dancing to their own beat here and Zebre are pouncing on the hosts' errors.
The Sharks will do several excellent things in quick succession to get on the front foot, but then do one stupid thing to undo all their hard work.
It's getting heated between the two sides now.
The Sharks snaffle the ball at the lineout, but the free kick goes against them.
The Sharks receive the goal-line drop out, but Zebre make a turnover and then executes a perfect 50/22 kick. More pressure on the Sharks.
Buthelezi breaks through the defence from a lineout and they crash over the tryline, but the referee says the ball was held up over the line.
The Sharks have looked to their bench now. They've brought on a few reinforcements.
The Sharks are keeping it tight, with a series of passes and carries among the forwards. They are forcing Zebre to make their tackles or concede territory.
The Sharks are a bit shell-shocked after conceding that last try.
CONVERSION, ZEBRE, MONTEMAURI. 28-31.
TRY, ZEBRE, PRISCIANTELLI. Superb work by Zebre, who catch the Sharks defence napping again. A pull off a couple of pop passes and then a grubber kick. Mapimpi races back to save the day, but he fumbles the ball backwards and Zebre's Prisciantelli scores again.
The Sharks secure possession and swing the ball wide, but it is intercepted again.
The Sharks win tighthead at the scrum. Hendrikse sets a 5m lineout.
CONVERSION, ZEBRE, MONTEMAURI. 28-24.
TRY, ZEBRE, PRISCIANTELLI. 28-22. Oh that is bad from the Sharks. They attack through Jaden Hendrikse and Yaw Penxe, but the latter's inside pass goes to the wrong hands and Zebre launch a devastating counter-attack to score.
The Sharks launch an attack off the back of a dominant scrum.
But the Sharks' suffocating defence forced the scrappy Zebre attack backwards. They started on the 5m line and ended up outside the 22, where they eventually knocked the ball on. Scrum to the Sharks.
And Zebre settle down and hit their straps first. They attack down the right hand side. They go close to the tryline, but a vital intercept by Mapimpi halts their march forward. However, Mapimpi's straight forward pass to Hooker is dropped cold, giving Zebre an attacking scrum on the 5m line.
KICK-OFF: Montemauri restarts the game to get the second half going.
HALF-TIME: Sharks 28-14 Zebre. An entertaining half comes to an end at Kings Park.
The Sharks will feed the scrum right in front of their own poles.
There's about two minutes remaining before halftime. Zebre make a scintillating bread through the heart of the Sharks defence, but the final pass doesn't go to hand as Bianchi fails to take it cleanly and his juggling act results in a knock on.
CONVERSION, SHARKS, HENDRIKSE. 28-14.
TRY, SHARKS, KOCH. 26-14. The prop kicks up at the base of the ruck and goes low to score.
The Sharks opts for the power game as they go to the maul for go forward from the lineout. They are three metres out from the tryline.
The Sharks' attack is not as sharp as it needs to be here. But they win a penalty and Hendrikse sets a lineout.
CONVERSION, SHARKS, ZEBRE. 21-17.
TRY, SHARKS, KOLISI. 19-17. The skipper breaks away down the blindside and steps around a couple of would-be tacklers to score unopposed.
Zebre have now scored 17 unanswered points. The Sharks have to slow the game here.
PENALTY, ZEBRE, MONTEMAURI. 14-17. The just like that, Zebre are in front on the scoreboard.
YELLOW CARDS, SHARKS, MAPIMPI.
Here comes Zebre again, running hard at the Sharks on transition. They have the Sharks back-peddling and Mapimpi gets pinged for illegal play. He is yellow carded for his indiscretion.
The Sharks need their star players to step up here. They've been second best for far too long now.
CONVERSION, ZEBRE, MONTEMAURI. 14-14. And just like that, the scores are level at Kings Park.
TRY, ZEBRE. 14-12. Their forwards bash their way through the Sharks line to score.
As Zebre attack via a quick tap, the referee calls another advantage against the Sharks. But they won't need it as they look to have crossed for a try. TMO will decide.
After the water break, Zebre spurn a golden opportunity to score as they lose possession off the lineout. But they get another shot with a penalty.
Zebre are doing well to ping the Sharks back in their own half of the field.
The Sharks have to be careful here. They are allowing Zebre too much space while in possession.
There's a series of little kicks by both sides, but Zebre then decide to run at the Sharks and knocks on.
The Sharks nick the ball back at the lineout against the throw.
The Sharks try to run the ball out from deep, with Immelman drawing in two defenders before freeing up Hendrikse. But Zebre's sweltering defence forces them to kick into touch.
CONVERSION, ZEBRE, MONTEMAURI. 14-7.
TRY, ZEBRE, ALESSANDRO. 14-5. The kick-pass unlocks the Sharks defence and Alessandro scores.
Zebre look promising with ball in hand. But they have to apply this kind of pressure of a sustained period of time.
CONVERSION, SHARKS, HENDRIKSE. 14-0.
TRY, SHARKS, JURIES. 12-0. The Sharks make it look easy and they launch a scathing counter-attacking with good decision-making, and slick and accurate handling skills.
As the Sharks work their way downfield, Zebre snatch possession and hack the ball away, but the kick was too heavy and rolls over the deaddall line, bringing play all the way back to where the kick was executed.
And the hosts earn a penalty advantage via the set piece.
Zebre charge at the Sharks defence again and attempts a chip kick, but the ball is partially charged down and then knocked on by the visitors. The Sharks have a scrum on the 22m line.
Now the Sharks are under pressure, but they do enough to absorb it and then Hendrikse puts in a decent exit kick.
CONVERSION, SHARKS, HENDRIKSE. 7-0.
TRY, SHARKS, KOLISI. 5-0. The skipper calls for the ball from close quarters and runs around the ruck to score.
The Sharks are attacking the tryline with a series of pick and go's.
The Sharks cross the tryline, but the grounding is no good, so they get the penalty.
The Sharks retain possession from their own kick-off and immediately put Zebre under pressure inside their 22.
KICK-OFF: Jordan Hendrikse gets the game going with a deep kick off.
The Sharks have won three of their last five league matches.
Depsite their underdog status in this fixture, Zebre have won their last three games – beating the Dragons, Edinburgh, and Ulster – while earlier this season they shocked Munster, which resulted in their coach Graham Rowntree being sacked.
The Sharks are fourth on the URC table, while Italian side Zebre are languishing in 15th spot.
Referee: Sam Grove-White
Assistant Referees: Christopher Allison, Hanru van Rooyen
TMO: Mike Adamson
Zebre:15 Geronimo Prisciantelli (captain), 14 Scott Gregory, 13 Fetuli Paea, 12 Filippo Drago, 11 Gesi Alessandro, 10 Giovanni Montemauri, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Davide Ruggeri, 7 Luca Andreani, 6 Giacomo Ferrari, 5 Matteo Canali, 4 Francesco Ruffolo, 3 Juan Pitinari, 2 Tommaso di Barolomeo, 1 Luca Rizzoli.
Subs: 16 Giampietro Ribaldi, 17 Muhamed Hasa, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Leonard Krumov, 20 Bautista Stavile, 21 Jacopo Bianchi, 22 Thomas Dominguez, 23 Enrico Lucchin.
Sharks: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Ethan Hooker, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Siya Kolisi (captain), 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Subs: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Corné Rahl, 20 James Venter, 21 Bradley Davids, 22 Francois Venter, 23 Andre Esterhuizen.
Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the URC clash between the Sharks and Zebre, brought to you live from Kings Park in Durban.
Sharks v Zebre, URC, 14:40
