Sharks beat combative Rebe

Bosman scooped up a loose ball after Cipriani had passed into vacant space near his own goal-line, allowing the big centre to regather and flop over the line.

The try came just five minutes after number eight Ryan Kankowski had scored to snatch back the lead from a spirited Rebels' side, who had threatened an upset with victory over the competition's early front runners.

"The Rebels forced us into some fairly sticky situations," Sharks captain John Smit said. "We knew (they) have some really good individuals and at some stage they're going to come together as a team and I think that's happening for them."

Springboks hooker Bismarck du Plessis had scored his side's first try, with fly-half Patrick Lambie slotting a conversion and two penalties before the Rebels domianted the next 25 minutes of the game.

Former England fly-half Cipriani, winger Cooper Vuna and Julian Huxley scored tries for the home side, while Cipriani added two conversions and two penalties.

Cipriani's 60-metre solo try, when he dummied and slipped inside the first line of defence and then outsprinted the cover, had looked to give his side the momentum two minutes into the second half as the Rebels went out to a 25-13 lead, having scored 22 unanswered points.

The Sharks got back into the game when winger Lwazi Mvovo crossed in the corner after a movement that swept back and forth across the field and Lambie converted to reduce the deficit to 25-20.

Kankowski and Bosman then scored their tries, both of which were converted by Lambie, that gave the South Africans enough breathing space despite Rebels' flanker Jarrod Saffy scoring a late try that threatened to ruin the visitors' unbeaten start to the season.

"We set ourselves a goal of being competitive and I think we can hold our heads high after that performance," Rebels captain Stirling Mortlock said.

"But unfortunately we have got 22 guys who are disappointed because we had a solid effort and we could have come away with a win.

"That was certainly a step up from our performance from last week so I'm very happy with the boys' effort."