Sharks upstage Knights

The Cronulla Sharks have scored their second win of the season with a powerful 26-6 victory over a lackluster Newcastle Knights outfit at Toyota Stadium this evening. The five tries scored by the Sharks saw a major change in attitude from the side in previous weeks, while the Knights performance was lacking in attitude.

Injury news will corrupt the game with Sharks hooker Stuart Flanagan and Knights prop Ben Cross both taken off the field late in the game. Cross has already been cleared of a serious injury, and is currently in a neck brace.

The two sides had strong starts to the game, with strong defence being the main point of the first few minutes. Shark Taulima Tautai saved an early possible Knights try, while a 65 metre intercept run from Knights forward Cory Paterson had the crowd standing!

The scoring got underway finally when Dean Collis went through some horrid defence to score. Minutes later Issac Gordon stole the ball from Jarrod Mullen to set the score to 10-0, which was also the half time scoreline.

The rain started to come down in the second half. The mistakes started to come out from both sides. The 'saviour' of the Sharks, Tim Smith scored to extend the lead, then later on he passed a long ball out to Taulima Tautai to set the scoreline to 20-0. Kade Snowden barged over soon after to finish off the Sharks scoring of the night.

The Knights finally scored in the dying minutes through Junior Sa'u, but the performance will leave fans very angry.

Match Details
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 26 defeated Newcastle Knights 6
National Rugby League - NRL - Round 7 - Saturday April 24, 2010 7:30pm
Venue: Toyota Stadium
Referee: Ashley Klein and Phil Haines
Video Referee: Russell Smith
Touch Judges: Jeff Younis and Luke Potter
Crowd: 0
Halftime: Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 10 Newcastle Knights 0

Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 Points - John Morris
2 Points - Kade Snowden (1 Try)
1 Point - Tim Smith (1 Try)

CRONULLA SUTHERLAND SHARKS (26)
Tries: Dean Collis, Taulima Tautai, Kade Snowden, Isaac Gordon, Tim Smith
Conversions: Nathan Stapleton (3/5)

NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS (6)
Tries: Junior Sau
Conversions: Kurt Gidley (1/1)

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary Welcome to the Cronulla-Newcastle match tonight. Time to see some good football.
The Toyota Cup match was won 22-18 by the Sharks.
Cronulla Sharks - Dean Collis replaces Ben Pomeroy as starting centre, and Stuart Flanagan replaces Paul Aiton on the bench.
Newcastle Knights - Zeb Taia replaces Daniel Tolar on the bench.
The anthem has just played. We will be underway in a moment. Stick around and thanks for joining the Leagueunlimited team for this match!
KICK-OFF!
2 min: Clean first set from both sides.
5 min: Sharks get a penalty, but a mistake quickly follows.
7 min: Tautai coming up with a nice tackle, a possible try saver. Sharks on the ball so far, as are the Knights.
10 min: Gallen continuing a fierce start.
13 min: An important penalty to the Sharks, right on the try line.
15 min: Interception from Paterson! Away he goes before Stapleton brings him down. A Fitzgibbon-esque run from the big man!
19 min: TRY
The Sharks get the game underway. Collis goes through a few would-be defenders to score in the corner.
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 4-0
22 min: Cronulla continuing their run, with some decent possession behind them.
26 min: Penalty against Mullen. Sharks in decent field position.
31 min: TRY
Sharks in again! Gordon scores after stealing the ball from Mullen.
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 10-0
33 min: Here comes the rain. Wonder how that will affect the scoring in this match.
38 min: An error from Paterson, a Knights attack ends. The story of this half.
40 min: That's the break, 10-0 to the Sharks in what was a rare dominant half.
40 min: Second half is underway!
47 min: Sloppy play coming into the game.
53 min: Both sides clearly getting frustrated. Knights still scoreless, after scoring seven tries just a week ago.
55 min: TRY
The Sharks 'saviour' scores what could be the match-winner. Knights in some major trouble now.
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 16-0
61 min: Gidley with a good run. Will this wake the Knights up?
64 min: Horrible scene as a head crash has left Ben Cross down. The stretchers are out.
66 min: Game back on. Knights going for it, but have they left it too late...
69 min: Good news, looks like Cross is fine. He will wear a neck brace as precaution. Meanwhile, Knights in good position.
70 min: Ferguson takes a flick pass and the Knights attack has ended.
70 min: TRY
That's it. An attack from the Sharks leads Tim Smith to throw it long and Tautai has his second. Sharks will win this.
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 20-0
73 min: TRY
Snowden over now! It's a thumping.
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 26-0
75 min: Now Flanagan is down after what appears to be a thumb in the eye.
79 min: TRY
Sharks unable to keep Knights scoreless, Sa'u scoring the easiest of tries.
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 26-6
80 min: That will do. Sharks do it easy, Knights in deep trouble.