Sharks too good for Blues

Sharks 41 Blues 27

The Sharks have easily beaten the Blues 41-27 at Eden Park tonight.

Feeding off a litany of Blues errors, the Sharks brought home a win that will put them back at the top of the Super 12 table and leave the Blues fourth from the bottom with two wins from six games.

The teams scored four tries each with Butch James, Trevor Halstead, Ollie Le Roux and John Smit dotting down for the visitors.

Doug Howlett, Ron Cribb, Mark Robinson and Joeli Vidiri scored for the Blues.

The teams were evenly matched for most of the first half - the Sharks only had a slim 11-7 lead ten minutes before half time.

But in those ten minutes, the home side scored one try and conceded two to be 25-15 down at the break.

In the second spell the Sharks pushed out their lead with a try to Smit and three penalties from James.

The Blues – barring a flash of inspiration from Mark Robinson who pulled out a try two minutes before the end of play and a try from Joeli Vidiri - never came back with enough to win.

The display by the Sharks was controlled and tactical, forcing errors from the homeside that James was happy turn into points.

He finished with a personal points tally of 26, with five penalties and three conversions.

The Sharks coach, Rudi Straeuli, said that after the narrow loss to the Cats last week, he was pleased they had secured the maximum five points away from home.

"We wanted to get back into our winning habit. With a lot of disruptions we felt we had to get back on track as quick as possible."

The Sharks now travel south to face the Chiefs in Rotorua, while the Blues now have to beat the Cats, in Whangarei next Friday, to have any chance of making the semifinals.

Blues

Tries: Doug Howlett, Ron Cribb, Joeli Vidiri, Mark Robinson. Cons: Orene Ai'i, Carlos Spencer. Pens: Ai'i.

Sharks

Tries: Butch James, Trevor Halstead, Ollie le Roux, John Smit. Cons: James (3). Pens: James (5).

Halftime: Sharks 25-15