Sharks see red over Ox’s sending off

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Neil Powell has questioned the dismissal of prop Ox Nche during a thrilling victory for the Sharks against Harlequins in the Champions Cup on Saturday.

Leading 22-14 at half time in Durban, the Sharks made the perfect start after the break when Werner Kok bagged their bonus-point try, but were down to 13 men midway through the second half after hooker Bongi Mbonambi saw yellow for a team infringement, and Nche a red following a head-on-head collision with Quins rake Jack Walker.

The English visitors subsequently scored three tries and only a missed conversion from Will Edwards thwarted their attempts of an incredible comeback win at Kings Park.

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Boeta Chamberlain scored at the death to clinch the victory for the Sharks, but Powell wasn’t impressed that his troops were made to sweat with a one-man disadvantage.

Speaking post match, the Sharks boss told reporters: “We will have to look [at Nche’s red card]. For me, probably, at most, a yellow card, but again, [the officials] need to make the decisions on the field.

“We will obviously have a look at it afterwards and determine what we think the outcome should have been for that incident.

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“It does make it difficult, especially for a team that is attacking well from scrums,” Powell added.

“Having one player less on the field is obviously going to make it challenging. You need to be creative and think about how you want to defend against a team that is so accurate in attack from scrums when you are one guy less.

“If you have two players less, it becomes tricky; they are either going to have space out wide or in the backfield if you don’t have the numbers.”

The Sharks will now need to refocus for a trip to France to face Bordeaux on Friday night.

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Photo: Steve Haag Sports/INPHO/Shutterstock/BackpagePix

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Devin Hermanus