Chiefs hold down Sharks

If rugby matches were won by the team with the most territory, possession and opportunities, then the Sharks would have won this match at a canter.

Sharks (3) 12

Chiefs (10) 18

As it was, they lost for a fifth time and their season is in intensive care, writes Craig Ray at Kings Park.

Conversely, the team that makes the least mistakes usually wins matches and, on this count, the Chiefs were superior. They didn't have many chances but when they arrived, they generally made the most of them.

The home team by contrast were appalling when it came to decision-making and patience. Their lack of execution at crucial moments also left a lot to be desired.

Not that the Chiefs played faultless rugby, but they were under pressure throughout so errors were always more likely.

The only positive for the Sharks was that they continued to create chances, which only served to enhance the feeling of desperation and gloom that settled over Kings Park. The Sharks were both exhilarating and exasperating, the latter unfortunately more evident than the former.

Hooker Bismarck du Plessis epitomised the Sharks' woes. He was brilliant in general play and a dynamo all over the park. But he made bad errors that were costly.

He over-threw a routine lineout ball when his side were five metres from the Chiefs try line and the visitors escaped unscathed. Later, he failed to pass out wide when the Sharks had a four-man overlap with the Chiefs defence stretched beyond breaking point.

He wasn't alone. Flyhalf Pat Lambie failed to kick a penalty to touch and that cost the Sharks more metres and, when they did fashion a clear-cut chance, Charl McCleod dropped a pass with the try line at his mercy and the nearest defender so far away he might have been on North Beach.

In between, there were many more mistakes.

If the Sharks fail to reach the playoffs, and that looks increasingly likely, it won't be for lack of creation. It will be lack of execution.

The Chiefs never did more than absorb what the Sharks threw at them while waiting for a chance to counter off an inevitable mistake.

Flyhalf Aaron Cruden scored a try in the 19th minute with the Chiefs' first attacking move of the match, which started after the Sharks lost the ball in contact.

He added a 30th-minute penalty to stretch the lead to double figures before the game resumed the same pattern - the Sharks attacking and the Chiefs counter-punching.

Lambie slotted a penalty on halftime to give the Sharks something from the opening stanza. He added three second-half penalties with Cruden slotting another for the Chiefs.

Replacement scrumhalf Augustine Pulu scored after the final hooter sounded to end the Sharks' afternoon on a miserable note.

Their endeavour deserved more but, ultimately, they got what they deserved for being so wasteful.

SCORERS

Sharks 12 - Penalties: Pat Lambie (4).

Chiefs 18 - Tries: Aaron Cruden, Augustine Pulu. Conversion: Cruden. Penalties: Cruden (2).