Cape Town - Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold has acknowledged that his team needs to play more ball in hand rugby.
The Sharks lost 19-14 to the Crusaders in Durban at the weekend in a game in which the visitors completely dominated.
The Crusaders enjoyed 56% possession and 67% territory and bossed almost all facets of play but struggled to assert themselves on the scoreboard.
It was only a late try from skipper Kieran Read that sealed the game after the Sharks had led 14-12 going into the final 10 minutes.
The Sharks scored two tries via intercepts from wing Lwazi Mvovo and spent the best part of the game defending.
The Sharks made double the amount of tackles (107) than their opponents (53) and only made 205m on attack, compared to 554m from the Crusaders.
“You simply can’t play without the ball and we would really not have deserved to win this game,” Gold told Netwerk24 after the match.
“Today we did not earn the right to play and to launch attacks.”
In this weekend's Round 6 action, the Crusaders travel to Johannesburg to play the Lions (Friday, April 1 at 19:00), while the Sharks have a bye.