Rugby: Sharks' bite arrives too late

The Sharks will look back on their Super 14 campaign with many ifs, buts and maybes.

Yesterday morning they made it seven wins in eight starts when they beat the Western Force 27-22 in Durban. But it moved them up to only eighth on the table and their season is now over.

They will look back and rue their disastrous start, when they recorded five consecutive losses.

"Losing the first five matches was certainly not part of our plan, but we rebounded superbly with the only loss in eight matches coming at the Bulls," said Sharks and Springboks skipper John Smit.

"Having let ourselves down early in the season we had two choices - become worse or fight back and the results speak volumes for the spirit in the team," Sharks tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis added.

It was an even more disappointing season for the Force. They managed just four wins, although one was against the Crusaders, and they also had to deal with some key players switching allegiance.

They had vowed to win their last game, especially after they were well beaten by the Cheetahs the previous weekend, but made too many mistakes.

"What a gutsy performance though, you wouldn't think that the game had nothing riding on it with the amount of stitches that exist and ice packs between both rooms," Force coach John Mitchell said. The Sharks scored first in the eighth minute when wing Lwazi Mvovo dived over in the corner for a converted try.

South African number eight Ryan Kankowski barged across the line for another seven-pointer but the Force stayed in the game thanks to penalties to fullback James O'Connor and Brett Sheehan. The Sharks led 17-15 at the break.

The home side scored soon after the restart, when flanker Jacques Botes finished off a driving maul, but the Force matched them with a spectacular try to Nick Cummins that started in the Force's own goal-line.

It set the game up for an exciting climax but the only scoring action came from a final Ruan Pienaar penalty.

The Force's 2010 campaign began with straight losses.

They turned things around in the second half of the season, with wins over the Stormers, Highlanders, Crusaders and Lions but were never in the hunt for the playoffs.

- Agencies