Round 24
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 28 d. Gold Coast Titans 12

2007 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Sharks end Titans finals hopes
Mon August 27, 2007
Source: www.sharks.com.au

The Sharks have come home strongly in the second half to record a convincing 28-12 victory over the Gold Coast Titans.

In a match which was crucial to the chances of the Gold Coast in terms of them staying in contention for a finals berth, the Sharks never trailed after jumping out to an early lead, with three second half tries sealing the win.

Coach Ricky Stuart was both happy and relieved with the win, a victory which takes his side well and truly away from the bottom of the competition table.

"I'm really pleased for the boys," Stuart said of the win. "There effort in turning up ready to play each week has been outstanding even though they haven't been getting the results.

"At half time I stressed that we needed to stay positive and to try to put more points on in the second half, and we managed to do that.

"Our attack was better tonight. We showed we have more points in us now than in the middle part fo the year and we wanted to show the fans that we are improving, and I think the performance tonight did that."

In a stop-start game marred by some inconsistent ruling from referee Jason Robinson, the match failed to reach any great heights, but considering the Titans were playing for their premiership future, the win by the Sharks was a meritorious one.

The match started well for the Sharks when on the back of some pressure on the Titans goal line, a Greg Bird cross kick was plucked out of the air by Luke Covell, with the tall winger touching down in what was something of a carbon copy of a try he scored the previous week.

Covell failed to convert his own four pointer and the Sharks led 4-0 after nine minutes.

On the back of a Mat Rogers error the Sharks again pressed and were immediately rewarded, with a try from a set scrum move. Packing into lock Mitch Brown dashed from the scrum base and threw a flat pass to Grg Bird who crashed through Preston Campbell and Anthony Laffranchi to score under the posts. Covell added the extras and after 15 minutes the score was 10-0 in favour of the home side.

The next 15 minutes was more about Robinson than the players, with the referee blowing the peaout of the whistle, gving a number of puzzling decisions against both sides.

On the back of three straight penalties it would be the Titans who would open their account, with Ian Donnelly diving over under the posts after a clever switch of play. The conversion brought the score back to 10-6 to the Sharks, a score which would remain the same into the half time break.

The Sharks would go further ahead in the 51st minute when Kevin Kingston scooted out of dummy half and slid under a couple of tacklers to score under the posts. Covell kicked the extra two points and the Sharks led by 10 at 16-6.

Just eight minutes later the match was as good as over when David Simmons intercepted a Scott Prince pass while defending his goal line and raced 95-metres to score.

The Titans bridged the gap when Rogers scored after backing up a line break from Chris Walker to make the score 22-12 with 15 minutes of the match remaining, however a determined solo effort by under-rated utility player Paul Stephenson, followed by another successful kick from Covell, finished the scoring.

The Sharks had a host of strong players on the night, with Paul Gallen, Reece Williams and Luke Douglas a tower of strength in the forwards, while at five eighth Bird pushed a claim for the Australian No. 6 jersey with a dominating performance.

Winger Bryson Goodwin was error-free in his debut in the top grade,with fellow youngster Mitch Brown again showing more improvement at fullback in a display which indicated his bright future at the top level.

The Sharks move to 20 competition points and out of the wooden spoon danger zone with one match remaining, an away match against the Canberra Raiders.

SHARKS 28
Luke Covell, Greg Bird, Kevin Kingston, David Simmons, Paul Stephenson tries Luke Covell 4 goals
Beat the
TITANS 12
Ian Donnelly, Mat Rogers tries, Brett Delaney, Preston Campbell goals

Report source: www.sharks.com.au

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