A change in mindset after their disappointing performance against Griquas last week was key to the Sharks scoring their tense 21-19 win over Western Province at Newlands on Friday.

The other crucial factor in the Sharks victory was the excellent performance in the wet conditions of flyhalf Frédéric Michalak, who succeeded admirably in scoring points when the Sharks were in range of the Province posts.

This was the post-match view of Sharks' head coach John Plumtree.

Praising his team's difference in mindset, Plumtree commented: "Complacency can kill you and last week we were too complacent. Griquas played pretty well last week but our effort wasn't good enough. We knew we had to get back into the competition after dropping that game last week and we managed to do that so it was good.

"We weren't physical last week but tonight [Friday] we got that back. If we turned up like we did last week, it would've been an easy night for Province."

Plumtree had been impressed with Western Province's kicking game and their comeback after the Sharks had led 15-3.

"Their kicking game in the second half was unreal. Every contestable [kick] they had players underneath and put us under a lot of pressure. Dewaldt Duvenage's kicking from the base was superb.

"That was probably the difference in the second half in terms of their comeback. And obviously the penalties at scrum-time hurt us as well."

Plumtree said the strategy of using Michalak to kick drop-goals had been discussed pre-match and this part of the game came naturally to the French Test flyhalf.

"Anytime we got some meterage we just wanted to get points and I think pretty much every time we visited their 22 we got three points, which was great.

"I thought that was an excellent performance from Fred. His kicking in those conditions was world-class."

Asked whether he was happy with Patrick Lambie's performance at inside centre, Plumtree said he thought Lambie - discarded by the Springboks ahead of the Test against the Wallabies - had played well, especially since he had not played there for a long time.

"The game comes naturally to Paddy. He started a bit rusty defensively but then he got better. He enjoys being close to the ball and it suited the team that we play him at 12."

Ryan Kankowski had also been released from the Springbok squad to play for the Sharks and the coach was happy with his performance too.

"I wanted Ryan to make sure his workrate was right up there. Physically obviously we needed him tonight [Friday] with less opportunity in terms of his running game, so I was pretty pleased with Ryan's effort."

By Len Kaplan at Newlands