CLUB RUGBY: Sharks hand Kamo win

Rugby can be a cruel game, as the Western Sharks found out at Kamo, during the second half of their match on Saturday.
They looked for all money like they were going to defeat Kamo before inexplicably falling apart to give away a morale-boosting 31-14 bonus point victory.
The score was level at 8-8 after a scrappy first half, but the visitors found their feet early in the second spell and might have run in a hatful of tries but for some errors and some desperate Kamo defence.
Kamo swam against the current and rode their luck until midway through the spell when a powerful jinking midfield run by Brad Linklater cut the Sharks open and changed the game. He drew the fullback and put Nick Collins away for a try in the corner to raise the prospect of an upset win.
Not known for their patience, the Sharks were trailling 8-16 and had to play catch up. They gave it a good shot, finally getting a penalty in reward for sustained pressure on Kamo's goal-line. Sonetane Takalua's kick narrowed the gap to five points with plenty of time left for a winning try.
Then for some reason the plan fell apart and the Sharks forgot to catch the kick-off, putting them under pressure and leading to Tyler Landsdown's penalty that re-established Kamo's eight point buffer. The Sharks led by their big pack with good work by the outstanding Solomon Palu and speedster Ualosi Kailea almost saw them score but once again Takalua was forced to settle for a penalty, closing the gap to 19-14.
With time running short the visitors backed themselves to play catch up rugby in their own quarter. When the ball went to ground unexpectedly Kamo lock Roy Griffin was the first to react, sweeping up the loose ball to run 25m to the line.
The Sharks knew they had blown it and it was no surprise moments later to see Danny Mason break into their 22, setting up quick ruck ball which went wide to Steve Morris on the wing to score the fourth Kamo try.
Kamo skipper Scott Linklater said the focus for the match was enjoying their rugby after a recording a couple of poor results on the trot.
"The boys' heads were down a bit so the theme was to get out and enjoy everybody's company, and that's what happened," he said.
Linklater praised the young players making the step up to premier grade rugby as injury replacements and particularly the forwards who fought hard all day to reach parity with the big, well-drilled Sharks pack.
"They're a big pack so obviously we had to work together or we'd be in trouble and that's what we did."
Sharks' coach Myles Ferris was bitterly disappointed that his side had made fundamental errors that had cost them so dearly.
"We're just not executing well ... we're making too many basic errors and it's not good enough really, it was close until the end but they deserved their win - we made too many mistakes to win," Ferris said. Kamo 31 (M. Sykes, N. Collins, R. Griffin, S. Morris tries; T. Landsdown 3 pen, 1 con) Western Sharks 14 (S. Takalua try, 3 pen).