Hodge rescues Rebels at Sharks, Bulls beat Cheetahs

Reece Hodge scored a penalty with the last kick of the game to salvage a 9-9 draw for the Rebels at the Sharks in a Super Rugby contest which saw two red cards dished out, while the Bulls added to the Cheetahs’ woes.

The Sharks were a man down with only 19 minutes played after Andre Esterhuizen was given his marching orders for a dangerous tackle on Sefa Naivalu at Kings Park on Saturday.

The Rebels, buoyed by winning their first game of the season against the Brumbies last time out, led 6-3 at half-time courtesy of two Hodge penalties either side of one from Curwin Bosch.

Bosch missed a chance to level from the tee but made no mistake 16 minutes from time and the Rebels’ chances of going on to claim a shock win took a huge blow when Nic Stirzaker was shown a second yellow card for a deliberate knock down.

A third Bosch penalty a minute from time looked to have given the Sharks a sixth win out of eight, but they were thwarted when Hodge – scorer of the winning penalty against the Brumbies – split the posts right at the end.

The Bulls have now won two in a row after seeing off the Cheetahs 20-14 at Loftus Versfeld courtesy of a late Jesse Kriel try.

South Africa outside centre Kriel nipped back inside before darting over for the decisive score six minutes from time and Jacques Potgieter also went over as the Bulls rallied from 11-3 down at the break to consign the Cheetahs to a fifth loss in a row.

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