Northern Bulls put a disastrous start to the Super Rugby season behind them on Saturday with a thrilling 43-35 triumph over Coastal Sharks in a South African derby.
After home losses to compatriots Western Stormers and the New Zealand Hurricanes, the Bulls were looking good in Pretoria as they twice built 11-point second-half advantages.
But the Durban-based Sharks refused to surrender at Loftus Versfeld stadium and snatched a two-point lead when Patrick Lambie goaled his seventh penalty seven minutes from time.
Super Rugby debutant Tian Schoeman, a late second-half substitute for injured playmaker Handre Pollard, nudged the Bulls ahead again off an angled 25-metre penalty kick.
And centre Jan Serfontein snatched a post-hooter try which Schoeman converted to end one of the most pulsating Super Rugby games seen in South Africa.
While the Bulls celebrated a first triumph of the season and a four-try bonus point, Sharks got nothing from a spectacle to which they contributed so much.
Sharks did hold on to sixth place on the table while the Bulls climbed six places to eighth in the southern hemisphere inter-provincial championship table.
Apart from passionate forward exchanges and six tries, spectators were treated to flawless goal-kicking by Bulls fly-half Handre Pollard and opposite number Lambie with neither missing a shot at the posts.
Pollard slotted three conversions and four penalties for an 18-point tally before retiring injured.
And Lambie, his rival for the Springboks No.10 shirt at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, contributed 25 points via two conversions and seven penalties.
Lambie tops the Super 15 points scorers charts with 55 points from three matches followed by Polland (43) and Ihaia West (38) of Auckland Blues.
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