Sharks coach John Plumtree criticised the Chiefs for "illegal" play in Saturday's Super Rugby final in Hamilton.

Plumtree praised the home side for their "outstanding tiers of attack" but said some of the Chiefs' tactics were cynical which referee Steve Walsh failed to act on.

"I was a little bit frustrated with some of the off-the-ball stuff, holding defenders and some of the tactics at line-outs were illegal - they were offside all the time so we couldn't get our drives going," Plumtree told New Zealand's Yahoo!Sport

"We were disappointed it wasn't handled better," added Plumtree.

He also expressed his dissatisfaction with the play-offs' schedule which saw his team travelling between Africa and Australasia on three successive weekends.

"They need to look at it, that's probably what the frustration for everyone is," Plumtree said.

"Whether you can buy another week (of rest) with the format they've got, with internationals coming up now, I doubt. It would have done us a favour if they did."

He admitted, however, that their loss in the final was due to the Chiefs' fine play and not because his team was tired.

"It would be naive to say the travel didn't take some sort of toll.

"But we were expecting more from ourselves and the Chiefs played very well."