Super 14 final: Sharks coach Dick Muir refused to blame a missed conversion for his side's 20-19 defeat by the Bulls in the Super 14 final in Durban on Saturday.

Wing Frans Steyn, who had celebrated his 20th birthday during the week, missed the conversion to Albert van den Bergh's try that would have given the Sharks an unassailable eight-point lead with only 80 seconds remaining.

"When we beat the Crusaders, (scrumhalf) Ruan Pienaar grabbed the ball and kicked over a vital kick and this time Frans marched up and grabbed the ball - but it wasn't down to the kick," said Muir. "We made too many mistakes."

Bulls wing Bryan Habana snatched victory with a brilliant solo try after the siren sounded, allowing Derick Hougaard to kick the match-winning conversion from in front of the posts.

The Sharks dominated the first half with effective forward play but failed to convert their effort into a substantial lead.

The second half produced a more even contest, but a capacity crowd of 54,000 was still stunned into near silence by the manner in which the Bulls snatched their win.

Replacement lock van den Bergh had muscled through the defence to touch down to put the Sharks 19-13 ahead with just three minutes left but right wing Steyn missed the vital conversion.