The Sharks might have been out of sight by the 50-minute had the Lions not thwarted them with their defensive breakdowns.
The Lions may have been without JC Pretorius, the tournament's highest turnover exponent, but the man who took his spot Jarod Cairns, made some timely interventions. He took the wind out of the Sharks' sails, as did Marius Louw on the odd occasion.
It allowed the Lions to maintain a foothold in the game even after the Sharks shot into a 17-7 lead after 46 minutes.
Once the Sharks' Springbok contingent upfront departed the scene, the Lions grew an arm and a leg.
Twenty minutes later they had a 22-17 lead after tries by Richard Kriel and Franco Marais but the Lions failed to make that lead stick.
The Lions' error rate, especially when trying to clear their 22 proved costly, and on this occasion a knock on from the kicking presented the Sharks an attacking platform that they grabbed with both hands, or not quite.
Though presented a straight forward conversion Jaden Hendrickse hit the upright to continue the woes experienced by his brother Jordan off the kicking tee.
That Nick Hatton try brought the scores level but more drama was to follow.
In the 75th minute from an attempted penalty Jaden Hendrikse again hit the upright but this time the ball went over the crossbar to decisively hand the Sharks lead.
**Scorers**
**Sharks (12) 25 - Tries:** Grant Williams, Siya Kolisi (2), Nick Hatton**. Conversion:** Jordan Hendrikse**. Penalty:** Jaden Hendrikse.
**Lions (7) 22 - Tries:** Tapiwa Mafura, Richard Kriel, Franco Marais**. Conversions:** Gianni Lombard (2**). Penalty:** Lombard.