Connacht took an impressive win in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday afternoon, winning against the Sharks on South African soil for the first time.
It was at times a tough watch, with the Westerners grinding out a one point win late on in tough conditions in the heat of Durban.
Connacht got the game's first try after seven minutes thanks to Sean O'Brien, but a low scoring game saw them go 33 minutes without a score after JJ Hanrahan's penalty late in the first-half.
Ultimately, Hanrahan would be the game winner for Connacht, nailing a tough penalty after 66 minutes for what would ultimately be the final score and see his side win out 13-12.
JJ Hanrahan holds his nerve to kick Connacht back in front with just over 10 minutes remaining.
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Connacht now sit tied with Ulster at the head of the URC table, and the win against the Sharks was certainly a statement of intent, but the South African side were architects of their own downfall in many ways on a day where Connacht may have felt somewhat lucky to have come out on the winning side.
After the game, RTÉ analyst Gordon D'Arcy ripped into the Sharks for a remarkable basic error which arguably cost them Saturday's game.
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Gordon D'Arcy points out amateur error made by Sharks in Connacht loss
The Sharks will be kicking themselves after two rookie errors made from the tee cost them in their matchup with Connacht.
A one-point loss could easily have been a victory if either Curwin Bosch's missed conversion or Boeta Chamberlain's missed penalty had sailed between the posts.
Ireland legend Gordon D'Arcy dissected the game on RTÉ on Saturday afternoon, and could not believe the rookie errors made by the Sharks in the buildup to those kicks, which arguably cost them the win.
D'Arcy pointed out that the Sharks had allowed their kickers to come under time pressure when taking both of his missed kicks, and said that the repeated error was a sign of a basic lack of preparation.
The late missed penalty from Chamberlain came after Hanrahan had put Connacht back in front - but the decision to kick for the posts was made before the kicking tee had even been sent for, cutting around 15 seconds off Chamberlain's preparation time, in what D'Arcy evidently saw as an unforgivable error:
What was really interesting for me with this kick with Chamberlain was that he wasn't ready with his tee when Lukhanyo Am was already pointing at his posts. He hadn't even got the tee on at that stage.
There was a good 15 seconds of that, where he wasn't set. He was rushed into that kick, and the first kick Bosch was rushed into that.
You start thinking, your attention to detail is not a new thing. The shot clock is in, and they are reminding you that you have to kick this ball, and they're rushing him. That's well within their control, and it's disappointing from a preparation perspective as an organisation.
They should go, 'we need the tee on exactly as we go for it.' That's how it starts.
Without a shadow of a doubt [it's a controllable].
It was an incredibly basic error for the Sharks to make, and their loss leaves them second from bottom in the URC table on two points, ahead of Dragons on points difference only.
For Connacht, however, the manner of victory will not do much to deter the feel-good factor, as they prepare for a second South African test against the Bulls next weekend as one of the URC's in-form teams.
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