The Sharks made it three wins out of four against New Zealand opposition in this year's Super Rugby competition when they beat the Chiefs 28-14 at Kings Park on Saturday.
The Sharks, who last week went down 39-33 to the Bulls in Pretoria, consolidated their spot in the top eight with the win and the Stormers' defeat to the Sunwolves in Hong Kong. They are also second in the South African conference for the time being.
Despite dominating the first half, the Sharks couldn't quite get away from the Chiefs, who were missing 20 regulars because of injury and an All Black camp. The teams went into the break at 10-10.
The Sharks made too many mistakes on attack and couldn't convert a couple of guilt-edge chances in that first half. They opened the scoring in the ninth minute when flyhalf Rob du Preez finished off some brilliant interplay, which included a trio of offloads by the front row.
Tyler Ardron scored for the Chiefs in the 17th minute after a well-worked lineout move caught the home side napping. Du Preez and Marty McKenzie then kicked a penalty each before the break for their respective teams.
The Sharks shot out of the blocks in the second half, and more great handling by backs and forwards led to Lwazi Mvovo's try in the 42nd minute. But the Chiefs took the lead soon afterwards when Charlie Ngatai intercepted a loose pass by Sharks centre André Esterhuizen to over under the posts.
The Sharks regained the lead through a Du Preez penalty before replacement scrumhalf Cameron Wright went over after breaking away smartly from a scrum.
The Sharks flyhalf kicked one more penalty to give the Durban side a decent cushion, but it would be the Chiefs who would have the last say in the match when Solomona Alaimalo finished off a long-range try.