John Plumtree would have ‘preferred’ stalemate as Siya Kolisi’s bold call ‘costs’ Sharks a point.

Sharks head coach John Plumtree has revealed although he was unhappy to finish on the losing side against Leinster on Saturday, he does not have a problem with a crucial decision his captain Siya Kolisi made in the game’s dying moments.

Leinster clinched a narrow 10-7 victory in the United Rugby Championship (URC) clash in Durban after Kolisi opted to kick for touch when the Sharks received a penalty in the 80th minute, despite it being within goal-kicking range.

If Kolisi had opted to kick for the posts and Sharks fly-half Siya Masuku succeeded with his attempt then the match would’ve ended in a 10-10 draw.

Wrong decision from Kolisi

However, his kick went out inside Leinster’s 22 and the Sharks opted to launch a drive from the resulting lineout, but the visitors’ forwards did well to halt the maul’s momentum just before referee Ben Breakspear blew the final whistle.

After the match, Plumtree said he felt Kolisi’s decision may have been influenced by the home side’s only try which was scored by Bongi Mbonambi early in the second half.

“I don’t like losing, so I would have preferred to go for the poles,” said Plumtree. “It was Siya’s decision on the field, and he wanted to go for the four points and that ended up costing us one point.

“If we’d scored, it would have been a different conversation, so it was frustrating that we were held up.

“It’s not really about who makes the decision, it’s about feeling the moment and the players on the field feel different compared to us in the box.

‘I suspect that would have been in Siya’s mind’

“Bongi scored off the back of a dominant maul and I suspect that would have been in Siya’s mind.

“If Siya looks to the box for a decision, then it’s a different story.”

Although his side finished on the losing side, Plumtree praised his troops’ efforts.

“It wasn’t through a lack of effort,” he said.

“We always question our accuracy and what we could have done better, but the boys did try hard.

“Leinster has an unbelievable squad and most of the players out there were quite impressive.”

The result means Leinster are still sitting pretty atop the URC standings with four rounds of matches left to play while the Sharks occupy fourth position in the table.