Rugby: Plumtree left to count the cost of penalty try that wasn't awarded

New Zealander John Plumtree is ruing his luck as Sharks coach, claiming his side should have been awarded a match-winning penalty try in the closing stages of their match against the Waratahs on Saturday night.

With just two minutes remaining on the clock, the ball was heading for the hands of Sharks No 8 Ryan Kankowski with the tryline open, when Waratahs replacement Kurtley Beale knocked the pass forward.

The match-winning try would have been fitting reward for a stout final-quarter effort from the tourists and victory seemed secure when Stefan Terblanche through the pass.

Australian referee Paul Marks showed Beale a yellow card for a deliberate knockdown, but did not award a penalty try. His decision continued the Sharks' miserable losing run.

"That was a cynical decision right at the end there and that should have been a penalty try," Plumtree told South African media. "That was Ryan Kankowski, who runs quicker than a winger and he would have skated in there and that was the game."

Waratahs coach Chris Hickey defended Beale. "I thought Kurtley had actually gone for the intercept rather than knocking the ball down - I haven't seen it on the tape but that's how it appeared to me," Hickey said.

"And look, in that situation he had to make a decision - 'do I let seven [points] in or do I go for the intercept' - so I thought he made a good decision at that point and if he'd managed to catch it and score down the other end everyone would have thought he's a hero. In my first viewing of it I thought he tried to knock the ball up, not knock it down."

Sharks skipper John Smit was more diplomatic in his approach but admits his side has been on the wrong end of decisions at crucial stages in each of their four losses this season.

"We can cry about spilt milk all day but that's what happens when you play away from home and I said earlier in the post-match interview, you lose three in a row and referees when they have to think twice they'll probably go [against] the team that's lost three in a row.

"So the rub of the green didn't go our way but we had opportunities and we did enough to win the game and the scoreboard doesn't say it. It'd be a lot easier to look for blame.

"I'm sure we'll get some kind of feedback on some really big decisions that didn't help our cause tonight, but if we keep looking at those for answers we probably won't go forward as a team."

The Sharks now find themselves 12th on the ladder and realistically needing to win all their remaining games to make the semifinals. They face the Brumbies in Canberra on Saturday.

- AP