'Soft moments' cost Pumas dearly
The disappointing loss comes after an encouraging 43-36 first-round win over the Golden Lions in South Africa's premier domestic competition.
Pumas coach Brent Janse van Rensburg said the Sharks are a very physical team and they thrive off momentum.
"I was very encouraged by the effort of the players,"the coach said.
"The players really put their bodies on the line. They stopped a lot of the Shark's momentum.
Unfortunately, we had very little ball in the game. "
When you have to tackle that much, there is only so much you can do in the game. It emptied our tanks and depleted our energy quite a bit."
The coach said that in the second half their game management cost them.
"The momentum changer was when we kicked off a line-out in the second half," Janse van Rensburg said.
"We did not have a chase line. We tried to run the ball out of our own 22 and forced it, and that resulted in a turnover ball from which they scored from.
"We lost two vital line-outs in the game, one off their try line in the first half and in the second half as well which they went to score from.
"On the counter attack in this game, we tried to force it at times and run the ball wide when we had no numbers and lost the ball ay the breakdown.
The sharks scored from that as well," "he added.
He said that unfortunately the players conceded tries from turnovers because their decision making with ball in hand – in terms of when to run and when to kick – just wasn't good in the second half.
"These are basic errors, soft moments, that against a team like the Sharks, proved to be costly.
"We made it a bit easy for the Sharks in the second half.
"I think the score line flatters them a bit, they got life off our mistakes. This is life, this is rugby.
"I believe we can build on this" said Janse van Rensburg.
Photographer: Harold Cleland
