It wasn't uncompromising flyhalf Butch James' night as the Sharks lost out to the ACT Brumbies in the Super 12 rugby final but he has received words of encouragement from rival coach Eddie Jones.

The terrorising 21-year-old had been the hero of the semi-final triumph
over the Cats, but he turned villain as the Brumbies became the first
Australian side to lift the Super 12 title in a smashing 36-6 victory in
Canberra on Saturday night.

The much-hyped James over-relied on his aggression in several fearsome
collisions with Brumbies' runners, gifted the final try to the Brumbies when he had a clearance kick charged down and missed three kickable first-half penalties.

It was the missed kicks at goals which cost the Sharks dear with the South
Africans having to go in at halftime at 6-6 rather than holding a handy lead.

"You don't get too many opportunities in finals, and the first two we had we didn't make the best use of, and our kicker missed two or three penalties,
which didn't allow us to get into the game," said Sharks skipper Mark Andrews.
"We've got ourselves to blame."

Coach Rudolph Straeuli reflected on the early missed penalties, but was less concerned about their impact. "We still pretty much felt we were in the game at half time," he said. We knew we missed those opportunities, but we weren't panicking about that.But as soon as they scored their first try they just took it a step up."

"We should have taken our kicks, and should have scored our penalties, but
then again, you should give the credit to their good defensive pattern.

"We couldn't score a try. In last week's semi-final we scored five, and
this week we couldn't score a try. We tried really hard."

But the combative James, who appears to have a bold future judging by other
aspects of his game in the final, was praised by Jones, expected in a few
months to succeed Rod Macqueen as the next coach of the Wallabies.

"He's certainly got the attitude. I think he's very determined to be a good
player." Jones said.

"We played against him in the first round, and now he's really developing
his game, and probably he needs to do that a little more.

"But I think he's the sort of guy who wants to learn and wants to improve,
and particularly I think he suits the South African style of play.

"I'm not sure what style Harry (Viljoen) is going to play with South
Africa, but he's a good confrontational five-eighth (flyhalf) that can take
the ball to the line, his kicking is pretty useful and he's an outstanding
defender ... when he uses his arms."

Jones praised the the efforts of the Sharks to reach the final after rising
from last place in the 2000 competition.

"If you consider that that's Rudolph Straeuli's first year with the Sharks,
he's obviously got them well disciplined, and they're a fit side, they've got a nice pattern of play that works for them, and they're going to be a very difficult side to beat next year," said Jones.

South Africa will now be looking forward to this season's Tri-Nations
series against Australia and New Zealand, given that the Sharks and the Cats both made this year's Super 12 semi-finals.

"I think we've got all the talent in South Africa, and we've shown in the
Super 12, with the Cats as well, that we can win away, we don't have to stand
back and we can actually be competitive and that we'll be right up there,"
said Straeuli.

"We learnt today again, that we are facing a very strong Australian
contingent, and I'm quite sure that the New Zealanders will also be back.

"We've got to say we are looking forward to the Tri-Nations."