Donald wins it for Chiefs
Stephen Donald's last-gasp kick gave the Chiefs a dramatic 19-18 win against the Sharks in rain-soaked Durban.
Last Updated: 13/02/10 7:52pm
Stephen Donald's last-gasp kick gave the Chiefs a dramatic 19-18 success after a frantic finish to their match with the Sharks in rain-soaked Durban.
Rory Kockott kicked five penalties to score all 18 of the Sharks' points, while Donald responded with four and a conversion of Jackson Willison's try, but that only began to tell the story.
The Sharks looked to be heading for victory despite Bismarck du Plessis being sin-binned, but Willison's converted try three minutes before the end looked to have then handed the Chiefs the win.
However, Richard Kahui gave away a silly penalty at the restart and allowed Kockott to regain the lead for the Sharks.
Then at the restart, a Sharks player was caught offside after a knock-on and Donald kicked the winning goal - with all kicks coming in the final three minutes.
Rain
With so much rain around the boot dominated the game as the backs hardly had any moves with ball in hand to speak of - as handling was treacherous to say the least.
Donald put a penalty wide, but the New Zealand fly-half made no mistake with his second attempt from straight in front, but Kockott responded with back-to-back penalties to put the hosts in the front.
Sharks skipper John Smit was sent to the sin-bin after a yellow card for going over the top following an earlier warning, but the visitors failed to capitalise on their 15-14 man advantage.
The rain seemed to slow down during the interval and straight from the restart, Aled De Malmanche was penalised at a line-out allowing Kockott to put the Sharks back in the lead.
Kockott then stretched the lead to nine points with two more penalties, but again the New Zealanders fought back - this time pressure from their forwards tempting Bismarck into illegal entry into a ruck, with Donald bringing the gap back to six with another penalty.
Pressure
The Springbok hooker put additional pressure on the hosts with seven minutes to play when an off-the-ball incident led to him being yellow-carded and that proved decisive.
Three minutes from the end Willison was sent on his way to score by replacement Junior Poluleuligaga - his finish close enough to the posts to allow Donald to add the extras.
But there was still time for another couple of twists.
Kahui's late tackle on Ryan Kankowski gave Kockott another chance to score and he obliged to put the Sharks 18-16 up.
The hosts, however, where then caught off-side from the restart and Donald made no mistake with a simple penalty to snatch a valuable win.
