The home team outscored the visitors by three tries to two - with all three Sharks tries going to the halfback combination of Ruan Pienaar and Percy Montgomery (two).

Durban was hot, but not sunny. It was humid, and the ball was slithery. That made for numerous handling errors, the ball squirting out hands in even the slightest contact, even from the strongest grips.

There was early kicking to and fro, but then the Chiefs settled into a more expansive, handling game while the Sharks, written off after their poor performance last year, put pressure on and did it effectively.

Marty Holah broke and Soseni Anesi was heading for the corner when Henno Mentz caught him and slid him into touch. The Sharks won the five-metre line-out and AJ Venter looked to bash it up but was immediately dumped and from the fine-metre turn-over Sione Lauaki powered past four Sharks to score a try which Stephen Donald converted, and the Chiefs led 7-0 and were looking in control.

This was certainly no forerunner of the rest of the half for the Sharks scored three tries in the half and the Chiefs did not get another till the second half.

The first came with breathtaking simplicity. From a scrum well in from touch but in his own half Ruan Pienaar, the Sharks' teenage scrum-half, broke on the far side. He scooted between two Chiefs and sped downfield swerving inside the great Mils Muliaina and past Anesi for a great individual try.

Pienaar, happy to be back at scrum-half, had a splendid half. By contract his much more experienced adversary Byron Kelleher had a shaky time.

A long kick by Montgomery down towards the Chiefs' right corner produced indecision in the heart of Anesi and pressure on Muliaina and resulted in a five metre scrum to the Sharks. They went right. Pienaar looped and got a pass behind Sam Tuitupou to Gcobani Bobo. Bobo was pulled down close to the line but Montgomery picked up the ball and dived over the tackle/ruck to dot down under the posts. His conversion made it 14-7 to the Sharks.

The Sharks lost JP Petersen after the 19-year-old had launched a great counterattack. Brent Russell took his place.

Montgomery kicked a penalty goal when Kelleher tackled high and then when AJ Venter charged down Donald's clearing kick and two Chiefs fell about each other Montgomery was on hand to speed over for his second try, which he converted. 24-7.

After the siren had sounded for half-time, Andries Strauss was abandoned and penalised for holding on and Donald made the score 24-10 at the break.

The Chiefs had the better of the second half, both in points and in quality of rugby, but the Sharks, having got their teeth into victory, hung on with tenacious defence. They needed one more try for a bonus point, but did not manage it, but after their last place in the last Super 12 it was a good start for the first Super 14.

The Chiefs looked as if they would deny them a party as they attacked from the start of the second half. They attacked, mauled and bashed. The Sharks hung on. They were penalised and they still hung on. Then suddenly the Chiefs went wide to their right. Mark Ranby held a pass back to Muliaina who skated through a gap and sent Anesi over for a try. Donald's conversion, from a comfortable position, hit the woodwork and stayed out. It was not going to be his worst miss of the evening.

Mind you, Montgomery was way-out wayward with a kick after Lauaki had used a petulant knee on Johann Muller whose only crime seemed to be kneeling on the ground after the whistle had gone.

Donald goaled a penalty. 18-24.
Montgomery goaled a penalty. 27-18.
Donald goaled a penalty. 21-27 with 15 minutes to play.

At this stage the Sharks further lowered their average age when teenage Brad Barritt came on for Bobo in the centre. Barritt is the fourth in his line to play provincial rugby. His great grandfather played for Rhodesia in the Currie Cup, as did his grandfather, who was a trialist in 1931 and as did his father.

With 11 minutes to go as the tension mounted in the Durban heat, Montgomery goaled a penalty when Anesi was off-side in chasing a kick. 30-21. Now the Chiefs were out of bonus-point range for being honourable losers.

When Venter was strangely judged to be off-side, Donald missed an easy kick. But still the Chiefs dredged up energy and ran at the Sharks who kept hauling them down. With two minutes to go, Loki Crichton, on for Donald, was off target with a bonus-point seeking penalty attempt.

The siren went, the Chiefs ran, the Sharks tackled and then the Chiefs dropped the ball. The whistle went.

Man of the Match: Mils Muliaina was a star, full of energy and running and Sam Tuitupou was always a threat. Of their forwards Marty Holah caught the eye. For the Sharks AJ Venter was powerful and a constant presence. Henno Mentz had a great run down the wing and saved a try with a brilliant tackle. Johann Ackermann was a man of immense strength, but we have a double-headed Man of the Match - the Sharks' half-backs who made the difference between the two sides. Percy Montgomery of the neatly shorn head scored 25 points, kicked well out of the hand and was clearly the fatherly hand for the young players about him. Ruan Pienaar scored that try, distributed with sympathy and accuracy of execution and judgement and scored the individual try of the opening round of the Super 14.

The scorers:

For the Sharks:
Tries: Pienaar, Montgomery 2
Cons: Montgomery 3
Pens: Montgomery 3

For the Chiefs:
Tries: Lauaki, Anesi
Con: Donald
Pens: Donald 3

Teams:

Sharks: 15 JP Pietersen, 14 Dusty Noble, 13 Gcobani Bobo, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Henno Mentz, 10 Percy Montgomery, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Jacques Botes, 7 AJ Venter (captain), 6 Warren Britz, 5 Johann Muller, 4 Johan Ackermann, 3 Brendon Botha, 2 Skipper Badenhorst, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Jody Jenneker, 17 Brent Moyle, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Daniel Farani, 20 Sandile Nxumalo, 21 Bradley Barritt, 22 Brent Russell

Chiefs: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Sosene Anesi, 13 Niva Ta'auso, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Sione Lauaki, 7 Marty Holah, 6 Steven Bates, 5 Sean Hohneck, 4 Bernie Upton, 3 Ben Castle, 2 Tom Willis (captain), 1 Simms Davison
Replacements: 16 Aleki Lutui, 17 Deacon Manu, 18 Kristian Ormsby, 19 Liam Messam, 20 Jamie Nutbrown, 21 Loki Crichton, 22 Mark Ranby.

Referee: Scott Young (Australia)
Touch judges: Julian Pritchard (Australia), Linston Manuels (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Assessor: Keith Hendricks (South Africa)