Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold is satisfied with his side's 19-15 victory over the Jaguares at Kings Park on Saturday.

Against their enterprising visitors the Sharks defence stood tall with an impressive stand at the end of a close contest in Durban to keep the Jaguares out.

"I’m really happy with the character shown, we saw that late in the game with a fantastic defensive effort when the Jaguares were really playing, when it could have ended disastrously," Gold told the Sharks official website.

"The guys stuck in there; it was a very tough day at the office."

Gold eluded to the fact that the Argentinian side featured no less than 12 players that were part of last year's historic win against the Springboks at the same venue, making the win all the more special for the Sharks.

He said: "Nearly a dozen of their team played in the Test match against South Africa in Durban last year and were victorious; they really are a good team."

In contrast to last week's match against the Kings, the Sharks had to be more clinical on both attack and defence. They also had to restrict the visitors, who are known for playing an expansive brand of rugby.

"We could lament the things we didn’t do well, or we could choose to celebrate the areas we’ve improved on," added Gold.

"I think the answer lies in having a humble balance: realizing that we’re a long way from being the finished product.

"They ask a lot of questions with ball in hand and we needed to be more ruthless on attack ourselves but we weren’t, so there is a lot of room to improve.

"We want to convert opportunities into scores. We didn’t do that nearly often enough and we need to work on that.

"But it was a good test for us, we have Kiwi teams to play and this was a good exercise for us because we’re going to have to deal with them. As long as we’re improving, I’m satisfied."