Sharks down Eels to make it twelve

v BYE

Cronulla won their twelfth consecutive match and in turn broke a club record in accounting for Parramatta 34-24 at Southern Cross Group Stadium on Saturday night.

The Sharks didn't have it all their own way early, with Parramatta racing to a 12-0 lead after as many minutes through a pair of tries to rookie Bevan French.

Stunted attack from the hosts saw the Eels easily account for their opposition in defence and after 21 minutes, the blue-and-gold were in again after Danny Wicks crashed over the line courtesy of a classy short-ball.

At 18-0 the Eels looked comfortable and in control, until the 26th minute when Sosaia Feki crossed following a classy Sharks play which saw them pepper both edges before Feki crossed in the left corner.

Ricky Leutele doubled Cronulla's efforts a few minutes later, scoring in the same corner, before Gerard Beale scored in the right corner in the 37th - and if not for James Maloney's goalkicking from out wide (1/3) the Sharks would've been level.

Cronulla managed to steal a further two points with Maloney reclaiming one of those two-pointers through a penalty on the siren. Despite a hot start, Parramatta only carried a two-point lead into the sheds at halftime.

After the success of their left-side raids in the first half, Cronulla focused much of their attention in the same area in the second half. Ricky Leutele continued his stellar performance to score after having earlier made a handy line break. Cronulla took the lead and the game was then on a knife edge with the hosts ahead by just four points.

Parramatta struggled to do too much with the ball over the following 25 scoreless minutes, Cronulla's relentless attack and strong defence ensured the Eels barely had a sniff of the opposition half and with eleven minutes left, the toll showed as Gerard Beale crossed for his second, extending the home side's lead to 28-18.

It wasn't over quite yet though - Bevan French grabbed his third with a decisive run to score just near the posts and shorten the margin to four.

A few nervous minutes followed for the 19,124 packed into the Woolooware venue as the Eels tried but failed to level things up - and the ultimate result was Sosaia Feki scoring his second in the final 90 seconds, delivering Cronulla what would be a ten-point win and return them to the top of the competition table.

Cronulla have a trip to face the inconsistent Panthers next Sunday afternoon, while the Eels host the lowly Roosters on Friday night at Pirtek Stadium.