Canberra held off a fast finishing Sharks outfit to secure an unconvincing 12-10 win at Kogarah tonight to close Round 2 of the NRL.
Greasy conditions were not enough to stop the Raiders and Sharks from throwing the ball around and playing some high energy football.
The first half saw the Raiders dominate possession and field position, however the Sharks defence was largely brilliant, keeping them to just 2 tries in a remarkable defensive effort.
The first score of the game happened in the 23rd minute when George Williams straightened, stopped and then passed to Sebastian Kris, who stepped out of the low tackle attempt by Chad Townsend and then fell over the line for a try to the left of the sticks. Williams converted the try.
The weight of possession finally took its toll on the Sharks right on halftime after a scrappy last 10 minutes by both sides. Josh Hodgson held up a crash ball for Hudson Young close to the line and the back rower barged his way over the line to score a rather soft try. Williams converted to give the Raiders a 12-0 lead at the break.
The second half saw a completely different Raiders team run out. They were panicky, clumsy, far less disciplined and subsequently, they let the stubborn Sharks get back into the game.
Cronulla finally got on the board in the 54th minute when Chad Townsend ran to the line and dropped the ball on his toe, putting in a delicate grubber which found William Kennedy flying through before he cleaned up the loose ball and scored to the right of the posts. Townsend's conversion attempt from almost in front was waved away.
From here play was very sloppy, moreso from the Raiders, who were also at times clumsy and making silly errors which only served to put themselves under pressure and allow the Sharks to get back into the game.
In the 64th minute, Toby Rudolf was tackled without the ball while running in support and Chad Townsend slotted the penalty goal to reduce the margin to 6 points.
A scuffle broke out with ten minutes remaining which saw the Sharks receive a penalty and shortly after, they scored a determined yet typically sloppy, wet weather try. Townsend kicked to the left corner where Ronaldo Mulitalo and Bailey Simonsson grabbed at the ball almost simultaneously, however it was Simonsson who had it first. As they hit the ground, Simonsson lost the ball, which then bounced off the knee of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad before Josh Dugan got his hand on it to score. Townsend's sideline conversion was unsuccessful. Raiders hung grimly onto a 2 point lead.
With just a minute to go, the Sharks received a penalty after the Raiders ran one of the Sharks players out of play. Townsend had a chance to level the scores again but his sideline penalty goal attempt was again waved away.
With two seconds on the clock, Matt Moylan attempted to kick a 2 point field goal from inside his own half, but he failed to kick the ball more than 15 metres and the Raiders hung on to score an unimpressive victory.