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Sharks 35
Blues 31
Let's be clear on one thing. The Sharks deserved their win, they held their structure and composure a shade more than the Blues and gritted their teeth to hold on for the victory.
But they were given a decent leg up when their captain, Johann Muller, clobbered Joe Rokocoko from
an offside position as the wing launched himself towards the tryline.
It was a crucial phase of the game. The Blues were nine points adrift but the match had not reached its final 10 minutes. A converted try would have made the final stages of the Eden Park match even more excruciating for the visitors.
Instead they escaped to the other end of the ground where John Smit ploughed across for the Sharks' bonus-point try to confirm their supremacy.
Rugby can be too fast and too disjointed for the match officials to get every call right. They need to work as a team to scan and adjudicate on much of the fury and have been encouraged to increase that collective command.
Marius Jonker is a referee who has impressed with his rising authority since his introduction to Super rugby five seasons ago. He seems to have a calm manner and he wants a stage where the players can exhibit their skills instead of hearing his whistle.
For some reason though, he rejected advice from touchjudge Chris Pollock that Muller had been offside when he tackled Rokocoko to save a try.
On the replays, it appeared Jonker's view of the incident was obstructed but he overruled his touchjudge and let play run.
The shame is that Jonker is South African and some will introduce that nationality as a call for the return of neutral referees. What was the option, Aussie whistler James Leckie? No thanks. Jonker was just fine but it would have been interesting to hear his explanation of events.
"It was a little bit frustrating, we had the comms and you could clearly see the defence was offside, the touchjudge called it but the ref overruled it and they were 80-90m down the field. It was a 14-point turnaround really," Blues coach Pat Lam said.
His point well made, Lam accepted the defeat and the Sharks' superiority. His side lacked a little spark after their road trip from South Africa, had battled hard but made too many mistakes.
"The medics warned me before the game that one of the biggest expectations from the jetlag is handling errors and I thought they were joking but there were a few mistakes they pounced on, a bit of a lack of discipline and they [Sharks] are a good side."
Most of the Blues played steadily, none more so than Jimmy Gopperth who produced a strong response in his call up to backline director, but there was also a lack of zip about their play, a fatigue which caught them out a few times on defence.
They also suffered the late withdrawal of wing Paul Williams with a leg strain and then, bizarrely, had to wait for wider training squad member Lachie Munro to get from the races into his rugby kit for the dash to standby duty and some late action at Eden Park.
Visiting coach John Plumtree lauded his side's scrambling defence and said their guts and character shone through when they upped their intensity during the second half to claim the victory.
"We were always confident of scoring four tries it was just a matter of stopping them getting five or six. We are pretty rapt with getting a bonus point here," he said.
"We set ourselves a goal of going unbeaten in New Zealand and being able to achieve that is outstanding. It is one thing talking about it and another thing doing it but we have got the firepower to be able to do that type of thing now.
"The one thing this team does know how to do, is win. We won 12 games in a row to win the Currie Cup and now we have won four games of Super 14. This team is finding ways to win and that's huge.
"We have got the credentials to do well in this competition but it does not give you the right to win it."
The Blues tested his side in ways other teams were incapable of doing. Players in South Africa were more direct with their attack while the Blues jinked and stepped which made it really difficult to limit their linebreaks.
From a slender 20-16 halftime lead, Sharks lock Steven Sykes won the approval of the TMO for a try, an advantage that also proved crucial as Gopperth dummied over before the late match-defining drama.
The Blues next host the winless Cheetahs on Friday at North Harbour.
