That's it from Durban. Thank you for following this South African URC derby along with us.
FULL-TIME: Sharks 25-22 Lions. The home side cements their spot in the URC top four and with that win the South African Shield.
And that should be the ball game as Fez Mbatha makes a timely steal at the breakdown to all but end the Lions' search for a game-winner.
The Sharks try to run down the clock, but Jaden Hendrikse decides to exit with a big clearance kick.
Vn der Merwe makes up for his error in judgment with an exciting run. But the support players knock the ball on at the ruck.
The Lions need to get their hand on the ball, but Van der Merwe kicking possession away won't help their cause.
PENALTY, SHARKS, JADEN HENDRIKSE. The other brother, Jordan Hendrikse takes over the kicking duties and he hits the upright, but luckily for him and the Sharks, the ball bounces over the crossbar.
But that was just temporary relief for the Lions as the Sharks surge forward again and Jaden Hendrikse milks a penalty straight in front again.
The Sharks get another penalty right in front of the sticks and they decided to play quickly with a tap. But the move backfires as they are held up over the tryline, giving the Lions a goal-line drop out.
The Sharks earn a penalty in centre field just on the other side of the halfway line, but with Hendrikse kicking the way he has been this afternoon, they turn down the points on offer and set a lineout.
The Sharks contest the Lions' lineout ball and while they didn't win possession, they did enough to disrupt the visitors and force an error. Scrum to the Sharks.
YELLOW CARD, SHARKS, PENXE. The home side will now have to finish the game with 14 men.
That is a ridiculous miss by Hendrikse. He skews what should have been a regulation two-pointer. And the scores are level with a shade over 10 minutes to go.
TRY, SHARKS, HATTON. 22-22. A strong leg-drive sees the Sharks replacement place the ball on the line.
Richard Kriel intercepts Hendrikse's lofted pass, but the Sharks were playing under a penalty advantage. They opt for another scrum again.
Oh that is not what the Lions would have wanted. They lose control of the ball from the restart, affording the Sharks a perfect platform to launch an attack from.
CONVERSION, LIONS, LOMBARD. The flyhalf nails the much-tougher touchline kick.
The try is good. The officials rule that there was no double-banking by the Lions.
Hold your horses, the referee and his assistants have called on the TMO to check whether there was an obstruction by the Lions in the lead-up to the try.
TRY, LIONS, MARAIS. 17-20. The referee calls penalty advantage again, but the Lions show great patience to keep their maul rumbling forward and Marias scores.
The Lions rumble forward with a maul and the referee calls advantage. Knowing they have a free play, Van den Berg puts little dink over the top, but nothing comes off it and they get the penalty. They kick to the line again.
The Lions set an attacking lineout right on the Sharks' 22m line.
The Lions are using good initiative to expose and exploit the space on the Sharks' flanks.
Mafura rushes across from his wing to rescue the Lions and then the visitors get a free exit play as the Sharks cross the offside line.
Oh, we have a game now. There's a two-point difference between the sides with the Sharks leading 17-15.
PENALTY, LIONS, LOMBARD. 17-15.
The officials have decided it's a penalty only against Kolisi because there's a low degree of danger.
The referees have called for a replay to take a look at the actions on Siya Kolisi for his stiff arm hit on Marius Louw.
A telling stat in this game is that the Lions have conceded 17 turnovers and the Sharks 14.
The a couple of handling errors either way brings come relief for the Sharks, who will get a scrum just outside their own 22.
Lombard leaps high to take the ball and calls for the mark. They kick it up field and the Sharks decide to run it back with interest. But a poor pass doesn't go to hand. Lineout to the Lions.
Gianni Lombard rushes the conversion attempt and misses the kick after he was almost timed out on the shot clock.
TRY, LIONS, KRIEL. 17-12. The winger throws a dummy after taking the ball from Van den Berg's skip pass.
The Lions restart the game after Hendrikse missed another conversion attempt.
TRY, SHARKS, KOLISI. 17-7. The skipper scores his second try off a pick and go.
This game has been scrappy since the start of the second half.
Van den Berg comes up with a big play to steal the ball on the ground.
There's a stoppage in play as Mbonambi gets his strapping redone.
SECOND HALF KICK-OFF: The game is back underway.
HALF-TIME: Sharks 12-7 Lions. The hosts outscored the visitors two tries to one to take a five-point lead at the break.
The kick is pushed to the right of the posts. The score remains 12-7.
The Sharks clear their lines with a long kick by Hendrikse. The Lions go to the air and Van den Berg takes it brilliantly. But the ball is striped off him and the Sharks attack again. And amid the chaos created by the Sharks' pressure, they earn an advantage and ultimately win a penalty. Kolisi directs Hendrikse to take a kick at goal.
CONVERSION, SHARKS, HENDRIKSE. 12-7.
TRY, SHARKS, KOLISI. 10-7. The skipper hits. half-gap and goes straight over for the try.
The Sharks gets their second shove going at the scrum and are awarded an advantage. They lose the ball forward, but get the penult and opt for the scrum again.
Penxe goes on a scintillating run and then fields a well-weighed grubber kick, which Van der Merwe is forced to kick over the dead-ball line. The Sharks will have an attacking scrum.
Jordan Hendrikse regathers his own chip kick, but with no support runners, he is penalised for holding on.
We've reached the 30-minute mark in this clash after what feels like ages.
The Sharks will feed the scrum.
There've been a lot of turnovers in this game. We've just had another double turnover with Richard Kriel stealing the ball on the ground seconds before conceding possession to the Sharks again.
But the home side gets pinged for crawling over the line. The Lions, though, do not find touch.
But the Sharks are close to the tryline yet again.
Jarod Cairns then comes in and makes a much-needed turnover for the Lions after Buthelezi danced through the Lions defence.
Vincent Koch saves the Sharks with an unlikely intercept and the Sharks immediately inject pace into the game. That's superb transitional play by the Sharks.
After a little bit of aerial ping-pong, the Lions have another lineout. And the Sharks a penalised for jumping across at the lineout.
The Lions kick to the line after getting the penalty, but from the set-piece, they go the aerial route. However, Penxe is well up to the task and fields the aerial bomb.
The Lions secure possession at the set-piece and Van den Berg kicks it out of the danger zone. But play is brought back for an off the ball hit by Mbonambi on the scrumhalf.
Williams feeds the scrum, gets it out quickly to Hendrikse, who puts his foot to it. Lions lineout.
After a quick break in play to give the players a breather, play gets underway with a Sharks scrum.
The Sharks have done well to shut down the Lions' enterprising attacks in the last couple of minutes.
Here come the Lions again with some slick handling.
Morne van den Berg goes on a dazzling run from where they won the penalty inside the 22. He made around 50 running metres on that break, but a slight knock-on on the ground halts play.
The Sharks managed to drive the Lions back to around the halfway line. And then they walk over a ruck to steal the ball. They go wide to Yaw Penxe, who is hauled in just before the tryline and then pinged for holding on.
A kick forward bounces unfavourably for the Sharks and the Lions take hold of possession. Van der Merwe hoofs it down field and then snatch possession back again from the Sharks lineout.
CONVERSION, LIONS, LOMBARD. 5-7.
TRY, LIONS, MAFURA. 5-5. The Lions strike back immediately and the scores are level with a kick to come.
From the restart, Jordan Hendrikse drops the ball cold, giving the Lions a 5m scrum.
The conversion was no good.
TRY, SHARKS, WILLIAMS. 5-0. The hosts go the length of the field to score a brilliant counter-attacking try against the run of play. Super handling by Kolisi freed up Juries, who released Williams for the 5-pointer.
The Lions go into the 22, but the ball squirts loose and the Sharks pounce on possession.
The Lions set an attacking lineout.
A rock solid scrum sees the Lions get the ball out the back and straight to the backline players to attack. And they win a penalty as the Sharks are caught offside.
First scrum between two exceptional front rows.
The first mistake comes from Henry Immelman, who fails to gather the ball from the air.
KICK-OFF! We're underway with the first half here in Durban… It's the Sharks against the Lions, again!
The ninth-placed Lions will be determined to build on their strong showing last week and finally break into the top eight on the standings, with only six pool matches remaining after this clash to book a playoff spot.
Victory for the Sharks today will see them add the South African Shield to the Challenge Cup and the Currie Cup titles, which are already in their trophy cabinet at Kings Park.
The Sharks will have their sights set squarely on avenging their heavy 38-14 defeat against the Johannesburgers last week and to reduce the gap between themselves and the third-placed Bulls on the table – which is currently seven points.
After this rescheduled first round encounter – which is scheduled to kick off at 14h00 – all 16 participating teams will be level on 12 matches played with the race to the final eight kicking up a gear.
Lions: 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Siba Qoma, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Subs: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Morgan Naudé, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Izan Esterhuizen, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 WJ Steenkamp, 23 Rynhardt Jonker.
Sharks: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Siya Kolisi (captain), 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Subs: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 James Venter, 21 Nick Hatton, 22 Jaden Hendrikse, 23 Hakeem Kunene.
Sharks v Lions, URC, 14:00