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TheFinal of the 2007 Super 14 season, a provincialrugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere, took place on 19 May 2007 atABSA Stadium inDurban, South Africa. The match was won by theBulls 20 points to 19 over their hosts theSharks. The match had fourtries - two by each team, and the last of which was scored by Bulls'wingBryan Habana in the 82nd minute to give his team the trophy. It was the first Super rugby final to be played in South Africa, as well as the first all-South African final, and the first final with a South African winner.^[1]

The Sharks and Bulls finished theround-robin first and second on the Super 14 table respectively. The Crusaders lost to the Chiefs in their last round-robin match (ending a 26-game home winning streak), but managed to secure abonus point, losing by seven points. The Blues then defeated the Force in Perth to qualify for the semi-finals. The Sharks then went to the top of the table after defeating the Stormers 36–10 in Cape Town. The Bulls then played the Reds in Pretoria, and would be able to finish in second place if they won by a margin of 72 or more. They ended up crushing the Reds by 92-3 — the largest winning margin in Super Rugby history.

The Sharks then hosted the Blues in Durban, and the Bulls hosted the Crusaders in Pretoria. This was the first time both semi-finals had been hosted in South Africa. The Sharks defeated the Blues 34–18 with three tries to two, and the Bulls defeated the Crusaders 27–12 in a try-less match.

Two minutes into the first half Bulls' wing Brian Habana tackled Sharks'fullbackPercy Montgomery in the air as he fielded abomb. Montgomery fell on his head and Habana was subsequently penalized by referee Steve Walsh - he was considered lucky not to be issued a yellow card for such a dangerous tackle. After eight minutes Sharks'scrum-halfRuan Pienaar tapped and ran from a penalty breaking the Bulls' line and ending up in the Bulls' 22. From the resulting play the Sharks were awarded penalty afterJP Nel infringed at the tackle. The penalty was converted by Montgomery to put them 3–0 up.

When the Bulls were awarded a penalty 45 metres out they elected to kick for touch, and from the resulting lineout the Bulls won possession. After two phases Bulls captainVictor Matfield passed the ball toPierre Spies who broke through the Sharks line to score a try under the post. The try was converted byDerick Hougaard to give the Bulls a 7–3 lead after 13 minutes. The Sharks responded five minutes later when a pass from Spies was intercepted by Sharks wingerJP Pietersen who outran three Bulls defenders to score. Montgomery missed the conversion, and after 19 minutes the Sharks led 8–7.

The next score came after the Sharks counterattacked from their own 22 metre line beforeButch James attempted a drop goal. He missed but referee Steve Walsh was playing advantage for accidental off-side, and Montgomery kicked the resulting penalty to give the Sharks an 11–7 lead after 29 minutes. Three minutes later Hougaard kicked a penalty for the Bulls to reduce the Sharks lead to 11–10.

Following a Butch James bomb, the Bulls were penalised for being off-side and Montgomery kicked the penalty to extend the Sharks' lead to 14–10. Prior to half time the Bulls were penalised for collapsing a Sharks' maul, but Montgomery missed the penalty attempt. The Sharks went into the second half leading 14–10.

Early in the second half Bulls flyhalf Hougaard attempted a drop goal but was unsuccessful. Then on 43 minutes he attempted a 53metre penalty but the attempt fell short. Soon after BullshookerGary Botha broke through three Sharks defenders and fed the ball toPedrie Wannenburg, but the Sharks cover defence prevented him scoring when Steyn forced him out at the corner. SharkslockAlbert van den Berg nearly scored in the 56th minute but was tackled out by Hougaard. Following sustained pressure from the Bulls with pick and goes, theircentreWynand Olivier was only prevented from scoring a try due to a James tackle. James was penalised however and Hougaard converted the penalty to narrow the Sharks lead to 14–13 in the 59th minute.

With four minutes remaining Sharks lockJohann Muller won a lineout 25 metres from the Bulls' line. The Sharks then mauled for before it maul collapsed three metres from the Bulls line. After four phases of driving play Van den Berg drove pastDanie Rossouw andDerick Kuün to score a try for the Sharks. Steyn then missed the conversion; the Sharks now led 19–13. The Bulls then needed to score a converted try to win the match, and with only a few minutes remaining of regular time they started attacking expansively. In the 79th minute Gary Botha grubber kicked the ball from inside Bulls territory to within the Sharks 22-metre line.François Steyn collected the ball but did not kick out, and instead kicked down field where the ball was collected by Bulls' captainVictor Matfield. The Bulls spread the ball, and went through several phases until it reached winger Bryan Habana near the right touchline. Habana jinked back infield and ran through a gap in the Sharks' defence before scoring a try five metres to right of the goal-posts. The 83rd minute try was then converted by Hougaard to give the Bulls' a 20–19 victory.

Sharks

Bulls

FB 15 Percy Montgomery RW 14 François Steyn OC 13 Waylon Murray IC 12 Brad Barritt LW 11 JP Pietersen FH 10 Butch James SH 9 Ruan Pienaar N8 8 Ryan Kankowski BF 7 AJ Venter OF 6 Jacques Botes RL 5 Johann Muller LL 4 Johan Ackermann TP 3 BJ Botha HK 2 John Smit (c) LP 1 Deon Carstens Substitutes: HK 16 Bismarck du Plessis LP 17 Tendai Mtawarira RL 18 Albert van den Berg N8 19 Warren Britz BL 20 Bob Skinstad FH 21 Rory Kockott OC 22 Adrian Jacobs Coach: Dick Muir

FB 15 Johan Roets RW 14 Akona Ndungane OC 13 JP Nel IC 12 Wynand Olivier LW 11 Bryan Habana FH 10 Derick Hougaard SH 9 Fourie du Preez N8 8 Pierre Spies OF 7 Wikus van Heerden BF 6 Pedrie Wannenburg RL 5 Victor Matfield (c) LL 4 Bakkies Botha TP 3 Rayno Gerber HK 2 Gary Botha LP 1 Gurthro Steenkamp Substitutions: HK 16 Jaco Engels LP 17 Danie Thiart RL 18 Danie Rossouw N8 19 Derick Kuün SH 20 Heinie Adams FH 21 Morné Steyn FB 22 Jaco van der Westhuyzen Coach: Heyneke Meyer

• 2007 Super 14 season
• Rugby union in South Africa

• "S14 Final - incidents". worldcupweb.com. 22 May 2007. Archived fromthe original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved16 July 2007.
• Shub, Grant (20 May 2007)."UnBULLievable finish". sarugby.com. Archived fromthe original on 23 May 2007. Retrieved16 July 2007.
• Tiller, Joel (20 May 2007)."Bulls steal SA's first S14 trophy". TVNZ.Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved16 July 2007.
• "Bulls are the S14 champions". planetrugby.com. 19 May 2007. Archived fromthe original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved16 July 2007.

• 2007 Super 14 season
• Super Rugby finals
• 2007 in South African rugby union
• Sharks (rugby union) matches
• Bulls (rugby union) matches

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