Griquas came agonizingly close, but ultimately they fell at the final hurdle - losing 30-45 to a superior Sharks team in their Currie Cup Round 14 match in Kimberley on Saturday.

While Griquas got one bonus point, for scoring four tries, they failed to finish within seven points and saw the Free State Cheetahs overtake them in fourth place on the standings.

That they fell one point short of a place in the semifinals, after being in the top four for 13 weeks and heading the standings for the first five weeks, will be a bitter pill to swallow for Griquas.

Lots of rugby hearts will go out to Griquas ? so near but just not quite there. Lots of "if onlys" will fly around, but there will also be lots and lots of admiration for this band of brothers — no stars but huge heart.

It was probably the "no stars" that may have told against them at the end - some cool heads, someone to make sure of little things. Griquas had plenty of virtue but some of their errors were just silly, possibly through nerves. They fluffed three kicks in a row, each one negating their own score and in the end destroying them. Three kicks missed equated to 21 points.

Early on it seemed that the Sharks' pack would swamp Griquas but then they fought back. The Griqua pack was helped in its fightback by injuries to Bismarck du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira. It meant that for the second half John Smit moved over to loosehead, and the scrums became a mess ? eight collapses in 10 scrums awarded.

Griquas started running right from the start with two breaks in one movement by Sarel Pretorius till Naas Olivier lost the ball right under the crossbar. They got a remarkable three points when, from five metres inside his own half and five metres in from touch, Riaan Viljoen dropped a goal when Griquas were playing into the breeze on the sultry afternoon, when the climate was more like coastal Durban's than the dry northwest. 3-0 after two minutes.

Griquas then made a mess of the kick-off and the Sharks had a five-metre scrum. They went right Stefan Terblanche scored in Trompie Nontshinga's tackle. Ruan Pienaar converted. After four minutes 7-3 to the Sharks who were pushed at times but never in danger of losing in the rest of the match.

When Keegan Daniel refused to listen to the referee's instruction not to advance ahead of a kick and was penalised, Viljoen goaled this time from only 45 metres out and 15 metres in from touch. 7-6 after eight minutes.

The Sharks' next try was a wonderful one. Griquas attacked down the tight with Bjorn Basson prominent but then a loose foot knocked the tackled ball onto the Sharks' side. Juan Martin Hernandez gave to Odwa Ndungane who gave to Adi Jacobs. The centre sped down the right and then, close to the touch-line, side-footed a grubber infield where Pienaar gathered and scored. 14-6 after 11 minutes.

The Sharks made two kickable penalties into five-metre line-outs which the well organised Griquas defended well. Then the Sharks went wide left where Jacobs, with his left foot this time, grubbered into the in-goal. JP Pietersen got to the ball a fraction before the dead-ball line and Basson for the try. 21-6 after 21 minutes.

Was a massacre at hand?

From a line-out on the left Pretorius broke twice and then Griquas spun the ball right where Basson accelerated past first Pietersen and then Jacobs to score a brilliant try. The conversion kick was nowhere near. 21-11 after 23 minutes.

The Sharks kicked off and Basson spilled a regulation catch. The Sharks picked up and rumbled at the line till Bismarck du Plessis powered over. 28-11 after 25 minutes, the bonus point but Du Plessis was injured ? it seemed to be his ribs - and was replaced.

The Sharks attacked with many passes and their third five-metre line-out but this time Jonathan Mokuena robbed them of the ball. Then Terblanche grubbered but Ndungane knocked on at the line as he stooped to gather. And then Griquas really blew it.

They attacked and drove at the posts with Albertus Buckle prominent and then went wide where they had three men clear and on their own four metres from the line, but the three contrived to fall over each other's feet and a try was lost.

From a free kick at a scrum Hernandez kicked high and Basson knocked on. The greedy Sharks grabbed the ball and several passes sent Burden over far out./ 33-11 after 42 minutes.

But the best in this action-packed game was yet to come.

The Sharks were penalised and Pretorius tapped and darted. Then they went right where Geel cut through for his second. 33-18 after 46 minutes.

Back they came again and Geel did a switch with Pretorius to burst over for his third try. 33-25 after 51 minutes.

Griquas were within a try and a point of making the semifinals.

Back they came on an excited attack. Wesley Wilkins, a new man from the Maties, had a strong run but Cecil Kemp, well inside the Sharks' half, knocked on and the Sharks countered with Pienaar racing down the left. He played inside to Burden and the hooker was just strong enough to score under the posts. 40-25 after 52 minutes.

Griquas countered through Viljoen, tapped a penalty and attacked but the Sharks won the ball. Wilkins was quickly onto Ndungane and Pretorius was over for the bonus-point try. Olivier missed the conversion by it was 40-30.

Griquas were within three points of a semifinal spot.

Pienaar kicked for goal from far out. The ball his the crossbar and bounced back infield where Wilkins knocked on. From the scrum Hernandez grubbered but Olivier saved and kicked a long kick downfield. The Sharks counterattacked. Jean Deysel got an underarm pass to Ndungane in a tackle and the wing passed immediately to Ryan Kankowski who had an easy run-in. 45-30 with 17 minutes to play.

There was a long passage of play as Griquas attacked, the Sharks countered and Griquas countered again. The Sharks should have scored when Hernandez kicked a brilliant diagonal. The ball stood up in friendly fashion for Pietersen but the wing knocked on with an open line beckoning.

Time was nearly up when Viljoen countered, Pretorius carried it on and Buckle, playing his 50th match for Griquas, was over in a bundle but the TMO found it "inconclusive" and the final whistle went on a great effort by Griquas and satisfaction for the Sharks that all the pressure is now on Western Province to see who will end top of the log.

Man of the Match: Adi Jacobs's two grubbers were brilliant, but for 80 brave minutes our award goes to that bundle of energy Sarel Pretorius.

The scorers:

For Griquas:
Tries: Geel 3, Pretorius
Cons: Olivier 2
Pen: Viljoen
DG: Viljoen

For the Sharks:
Tries: Terblanche, Pienaar, Pietersen, Du Plessis, Burden 2, Kankowski
Cons: Pienaar 5

Teams:

Griquas: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Jaco Bekker, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Trompie Nontshinga, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Jonathan Mokuena (captain), 7 Davon Raubenheimer, 6 Wesley Wilkins, 5 Jacques Lombaard, 4 Cecil Kemp, 3 Ruaan du Preez, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Albertus Buckle.
Replacements: 16 Dries Kruger, 17 Drew van Coller, 18 Brendon Snyman, 19 Rohan Kitshoff/Heinrich Stride, 20 Donald Stevens, 21 Wilmaure Louw, 22 Gavin Passens.

The Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche (captain), 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Riaan Swanepoel, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Juan Hernandez, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 John Smit, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.

Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Rory Kockott, 21 Andries Strauss, 22 Waylon Murray.

Referee: Mark Lawrence
Assistant referees: Gareth Lloyd-Jones, Lourens van der Merwe
TMO: Shaun Veldsman