Sharks ruthless as they punish dismal Dragons

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Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v St George Illawarra Dragons

A brutal second-half massacre has given the Cronulla Sharks a convincing 52-16 victory over arch-rivals St George Illawarra to reclaim the Monty Porter Cup.

Key Takeaways:

• St George crossed first following an expansive Sharks start when Mikaele Ravalawa muscled his way across. This was quickly countered with a Nicho Hynes special.
• Tautau Moga continued his try scoring form crossing with a great individual effort to give the Dragons a 12-10 lead.
• But three quick strikes from the home side gave them a half-time lead of 24-10.
• Tyrell Sloan stunned the crowd with a 90-metre solo effort but it was in vain as the Sharks crossed for five second-half tries to run out 52-16 winners.
• Braden Hamlin-Uele failed to return with a rib injury sustained in the first run of the game. 

It was going to be a tough and strong affair despite these sides' places on the competition ladder. An early dual was in the offerings when St George Illawarra was strong in their line speed and forced an early error. This led to the opening try of the first half when Jacob Liddle summed up the situation perfectly and found a rampaging Mikaele Ravalawa to give his side an early 6-0 advantage.

However, some poor discipline by the visitors gave the Sharks a sniff and off the back of some brilliant set play. Nicho Hynes slid through some paper-thin defence and into a yawning gap for the equalising try. After the early strikes, the game stabilised for a moment before the Dragons retook the lead. Tautau Moga capitalised on some ball playing from Ben Hunt and Tyrell Sloan who reached out to score and beat the cover tacklers for a 10-6 lead.

However, it was all the Sharks in the final 15 minutes of the first half, crossing for three tries for a commanding half-time lead. In the final fifteen minutes, a short ball from Hynes saw Briton Nikora cross for the home side and with the conversion from the 2022 Dally M Medallist, the Sharks retook the lead and didn't look back. Seven minutes later, a clever cross-field kick from Matt Moylan found a flying Jesse Ramien who was cleared for takeoff and gave the Sharks a two-possession game. In the shadows of the break, cult hero Tom Hazelton crashed over after a wave of Sharks possession and it meant Cronulla's margin ballooned to 14 points.

The second half began in comedic fashion with the Dragons failing to find touch on the first penalty of the half. However, the Sharks were lackadaisical in their attacking style with many kicks leading to poor end of sets. This came back to bite when Ben Hunt and Tyrell Sloan combined to send the young fullback on a 90-metre solo effort to get the Dragons back into the contest.

That would be as close as the Dragons got with the Sharks turning on the accelerator racing in four second-half tries to all but blow the visitors out of the contest. Five minutes after Sloan's individual effort, the eagerness from the Dragons cost them when Moylan and Wade Graham to find Ronaldo Mulitalo who got it down spectacularly in the corner. Three minutes later, Will Kennedy tore through some abysmal edge defence who fooled Sloan by having Hynes on the inside but Kennedy is too smart to cross.

With thirteen minutes to go, Sifa Talakai smashed his way through the defence isolating the small defenders to crash over. Talakai was in all of the late action with a cheeky blindside raid, he kicked ahead and then followed up with another kick which was collected by Mulitalo who crossed for his second. The Sharks completed their 50 burger with a second try to Nikora who crossed after breaching some pathetic defence which looked like they'd rather be doing their taxes instead of defending and sealing the Monty Porter Cup for another season.