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Durban - Western Province coach Allister Coetzee and skipper Schalk Burger agreed that handling errors put paid to any chance their side may have had of winning the 2010 Currie Cup final against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday evening.
The Sharks' matchwinning scoreline of 30-10 suggests the winners were three times better than Province and, judging by the post-match sentiments of Burger and Coetzee, they must have felt that way.
"I am very disappointed with the loss but we must give credit to Sharks," said Coetzee.
"We did not keep ball in hand, made lots of mistakes and that really cost us.
"It was about kick execution and the Sharks have a great counter attack ability. They were much better than we were on the day.
"We found ourselves 23-3 down after 17 minutes - that's tough and then our mistakes were punished.
"At the breakdown they were better than us.
"The early injuries to (Ricky) Januarie and (Jean) De Jongh were tough but it was not an excuse."
Burger said his side was "chasing the game" for too long and Province were unable to undo the damage they suffered in the first half when the Sharks scored 23 points.
"We made far too many mistakes on attack and they gained momentum with the many turn-overs (they enjoyed)," said Burger.
"The decision not to kick (penalties) for posts were taken not knowing we were going to get more later in the match and that could have allowed us back into the game.
"We thought if we scored (a try) we could turn things around but it did not turn out that way."
This is the second failure for Cape rugby this season after the Stormers were defeated by the Bulls in the Super 14 final earlier in the year.
