Cape Town - Sharks coach Robert du Preez was struggling to find any positives after his side's 24-17 defeat to the Brumbies in Canberra on Saturday.
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The Sharks, favoured heavily at the start of the season, were poor throughout their first of four matches on their Australasian tour.
They looked flat on attack while they also gave away 14 penalties in the contest, and after the match Du Preez acknowledged that there was not much to smile about.
"I think we really battled to get into the game, especially in the first half. We didn't start well and didn't have any possession in the first half and very little territory," he explained.
"Our discipline let us down early on. I think we gave away three penalties in the first seven minutes."
Du Preez added that the Sharks were expecting an improved Brumbies outfit in what was their first home match of the season.
"We knew that they were going to bring a big backlash and that's what they did," he said.
"They were desperate to win tonight and they played really well.
"We're obviously very disappointed but we hung in there right to the death. That's the only positive for me at this stage ... we could have drawn the game. We're not happy with our performance."
In this weekend's action, the Sharks take on the Rebels in Melbourne on Friday morning (10:45, SA time).
