The Sharks defence forced a whopping 16 turnovers against the Hurricanes in Durban, according to SARugbymag.co.za's Opta-powered stats.

The Sharks beat the Hurricanes 32-15 at Kings Park. While it was not a perfect performance, the hosts did play with more balance and used turnover ball to great effect.

From a defensive point of view, the Sharks put in another big shift, making 97 tackles in the first half alone and 154 over the 80 minutes.

While there will be some concern about the time the Sharks spent on defence in the first half (they had just 32% of the possession) and the total missed tackles stat of 28, there is reason to laud Gary Gold's charges. They forced a total of 16 turnovers, and several of these led to tries at the other end of the park.

The attacking intent was certainly there. The Sharks beat 25 defenders, made 26 offloads, and ran 638m.

The Sharks loose trio of Keegan Daniel, Jean-Luc du Preez and Daniel du Preez must be commended for their efforts. Daniel was a force on both attack and defence, with 88 running metres and 11 tackles. The blindside flank made 16 tackles and won three turnovers, while the No 8 made 17 tackles and won two turnovers.

That said, neither team will be happy with their error rate. The Sharks conceded 18 turnovers on attack, while the Hurricanes lost possession 23 times.

See how your favourite player fared in this match

Photo: Gerhard Duraan/BackpagePix