The Sharks, scoring three classic counter-attacking tries in second half, beat the Western Force 22-10 in their Super 14 encounter at the Subiaco Oval, Perth, on Saturday.

The win, a record third on an Australasian tour for the Sharks, saw them, move into second place on the standings - one points behind fellow South Africans, the Bulls.

After a lacklustre first half, which had the teams tied at 3-all, the visitors showed their true character by tackling the Force into submission and pouncing on any loose ball that came from this sound defensive effort.

The statistics will suggest the Force dominate.

The Force had 66 percent of the possession and dominate the territory by the same margin. The Sharks conceded eight penalties to the Force's one, yet the visitors looked the more assured.

It was at the breakdown where it all went wrong for the home team.

With the Sharks loose forwards - Ryan Kankowski, Keegan Daniel and Jacques Botes - causing untold damaged in slowing the Force's ball down, the home team never found any rhythm.

It certainly wasn't all positive for the Sharks, with their first half throwing up plenty of problems.

Francois Steyn missed an early tackle and then don't find touch from a penalty, putting his team under pressure. The Sharks also conceded several early turnovers and wasted a few chances - especially with some sloppy handling.

But after the break the Sharks' defence was much better and it was with this solid black line that really caused the Force trouble.

The Force were the first to open their account, when Matt Giteau slotted a ninth-minute penalty after a high tackle by the Sharks.

The game ambled along for another 20 minutes with nothing much happening, with neither team doing much - till Francois Steyn suddenly landed a drop-goal in the 29th minute.

But soon afterwards the Sharks were reduced to 14 men, when Deon Carstens was yellow carded for a professional foul, as he prevented the Force from going wide with some lazy running, interfering with the ball.

The Force, however, opted for a tap and go and wasted a golden opportunity at three points as they gave away a free kick.

It left the teams level at 3-all at the half-time break.

The Sharks got their second half off to a perfect start, with John Smit securing a great turnover inside his 22 and from there quick hands got the ball to JP Pietersen, who sprinted 60 metres for the game's first try. Kockott couldn't add the conversion, but at 8-3 the Sharks had an important lead.

The Force enjoyed a period of territorial advantage, but they were simply not secure enough with the ball to trouble a very solid-looking Sharks defensive line.

The next try, also to the Sharks, also came from a turnover as the Force let a ball lying around unattended behind a ruck and the Sharks countered with blistering pace and precision - Odwa Ndungane getting the touch-down. Kockott added the conversion for a 15-3 lead.

And the Sharks moved well clear with about 15 minutes to go when, from a solid scrum and a great break by Francois Steyn, Rory Kockott barged over from a ruck close in. Kockott added the conversion for a comfortable 22-3 lead.

The Force finally got their first try, with eight minutes to go, as an inside pass from Matt Giteau put Scott Staniforth into a space - a great move and one the Sharks should have picked up. Giteau added the conversion to give the Force a sniff at 22-10.

But, as was the case for most of the second half, the Sharks' defenders held firm and secured their team a valuable win that took them into second place on the standings.

Man of the match: For the Western Force there weren't too many, with Matt Giteau the Force's only real strike force. Rory Kockott was always a handful behind the pack, while Ryan Kankowski, Keegan Daniel and Jacques Botes did yeoman work at the breakdown. However, our award goes to somebody who did the less glamorous stuff so well. It goes to Sharks fullback Stefan Terblanche, who was rock steady at the back and slowed the game down perfectly in the second half. His defence has to be admired as well.

The scorers:

For the Western Force:
Try: Staniforth
Con: Giteau
Pen: Giteau

For the Sharks:
Tries: Pietersen, Ndungane, Kockott
Cons: Kockott 2
DG: Steyn

Yellow card: Deon Carstens (Sharks, 34 - professional foul, lazy running)

Teams:

Western Force: 15 James O'Connor, 14 Scott Staniforth, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Junior Pelesasa, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Josh Valentine, 8 Tamaiti Horua, 7 David Pocock, 6 Matt Hodgson, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Tom Hockings, 3 Ben Castle, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Luke Holmes, 17 AJ Whalley, 18 David Pusey, 19 Richard Stanford, 20 Chris O'Young, 21 Josh Tatupu, 22 Haig Sare.

The Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Riaan Swanepoel, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Francois Steyn, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Keegan Daniel, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Johann Muller (captain), 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Justin Downey, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Monty Dumond, 22 Luzuko Vulindlu.

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)