South Africa’s Sharks overcame an 11-point deficit after 20 minutes to beat the Otago Highlanders 19-17 Friday and maintain their unbeaten record through nine rounds of rugby’s Super 14. Twelfth-placed Otago threatened one of the bigger upsets of the season when they scored early tries to lead the second-placed Sharks 14-3.
Bulls prop Jaco Engels received a three-week suspension and centre JP Nel a one-week ban on Monday following incidents in the weekend’s Super 14 loss to the Sharks. Cited after the 29-15 defeat at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s final, the pair fronted up to a judiciary at the stadium.