Full Time
80:00
7:30pm Sat March 11, 2017
Round 2 - GIO Stadium Canberra, Bruce / Ngunnawal - Crowd: 15807
79

Full Time at GIO Stadium. The defending premiers put on a performance to declare themselves a force to remain a top NRL team.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 42-16

79

The Raiders are still trying to score points. They're still giving effort. On fifth they run the ball down their left edge and it comes to nothing but a hand over.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 42-16

78

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS: Conversion attempt by Aidan Sezer successful.

Easy kick for Sezer.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 42-16

76

TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS: Scored by Jack Wighton. Kick to come.

The Raiders put on a great set play from 30m out for their first points of the second half. He had to run strong to beat the Sharks defenders.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 42-14

76

Bird receives the ball at first receiver, he angles his run infield, he beats three players to go over the try line but the Bunker rules an obstruction. It appears Bird was wrongly denied a try.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 42-10

74

PENALTY to CRONULLA. On halfway, they've relaxed slightly but still look like scoring points.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 42-10

74

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

Simple stuff for Maloney.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 42-10

72

TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Scored by Paul Gallen. Kick to come.

Happy days for Sharks fans. From a play the ball from under the posts, Paulo of all players kicks a grubber under the posts like Cameron Smith and Gallen scores the try like Cooper Cronk. That earns the NSW representative a substitution.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 40-10

72

UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS: Jack Wighton makes an unforced error.

On tackle two, running towards the defence he drops the ball on contact.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 36-10

72

Sharks keep the pressure on. They force the Raiders to start a set from their goal line.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 36-10

71

Leilua comes from the field and play is stopped as Shannon Boyd looks jittery. We're back underway and Boyd is in back play.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 36-10

70

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

He's returning the goal kicking percentage to his norm.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 36-10

68

TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Scored by Matt Prior. Kick to come.

Cronulla quickly find their way up field. Graham darts from dummy half from 10m out. The defence gravitates too much towards the hat trick scorer and a simple pass to Prior allows the front rower to spin and score.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 34-10

67

Sezer has the responsiblity of providing a good fifth tackle option. He appeared uncertain and runs. Another Canberra player is forced to kick and it rolls dead in-goal. Poor play.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

66

UNFORCED ERROR CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Edrick Lee makes an unforced error.

Lee charges for the defence just 10m away from a try, he loses the ball forward.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

65

Whitehead forces an offload with three players tackling him. Leutele is first to the ball and it's play on Sharks.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

65

PENALTY to CANBERRA. This takes them up to the halfway line.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

63

Townsend kicks long from outside the 40m line. It flirts with the sideline on the bounce, Raiders fans think it bounced out on the full, the referees don't call it that way.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

63

Leilua plays the ball and appears he will stay on the field. Austin surprises everyone by kicking on tackle three and Lee covers up and just makes the field of play.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

63

Play stopped again after three tackles. Leilua extends himself for a try in the corner and is not getting up to play the ball. He's in pain and replays don't show why.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

63

Papalii is up and we're restarting play. He's one of the first to hit the ball up.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

62

PENALTY to CANBERRA. Papalii looked certain to score, Brailey stops him. The referee warns the Sharks about a sin bin if penalties continue. Play is stopped as Papalii is rolling on the ground injured.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

61

PENALTY to CANBERRA. This one comes from 10m out and at the back end of the set. Raiders have another set to find points.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

61

Back-to-back penalties for Canberra. That gifts them all the way up the field.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

59

Bird makes a sensational offload in a tackle to keep the Raiders backpedalling. The Sharks run on fifth to try and take advantage of the troubled defence and they make it up to the Raiders 10m line before knocking the ball on.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

58

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

The five-eighth sorts out his kicking issues from the left touchline.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-10

56

TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Scored by Wade Graham. Kick to come.

It's a hat trick for Graham. Graham's try from dummy half on the left wing was set up from the previous play. Bird had space to run around the defence and Soliola made a try saving tackle.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 28-10

55

40/20 CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: James Maloney kicks a 40/20.

Maloney's in fine form. On fourth tackle he sees an opportunity and perfectly places the kick between two Raiders cover defenders.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24-10

53

UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Conversion attempt by James Maloney unsuccessful.

I jinxed Maloney. He had a conversion close to the left sideline that's only just missed.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24-10

52

TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Scored by Wade Graham. Kick to come.

It's a second half assault from the Sharks. With Hodgson absent from the line, Maloney provides a short ball for Graham into a big gap. Graham runs 35m and beats Wighton at the back to score.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24-10

50

Bird lands centimetres short of the line after stepping a few players at right centre. Maloney earns a repeat set as he forced Rapana into a goal line dropout. Josh Hodgson is limping badly in back play.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 20-10

49

Sezer kicks high on fifth tackle from halfway. The ball finds grass from 30m out. Hodgson takes the ball and is whistled for being offside. Cronulla penalty and the Raiders have fallen apart.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 20-10

48

Cronulla again make their way into the Raiders half, Cotric is tested with another high kick and he remains confident taking the kicks under pressure.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 20-10

47

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

Having missed one kick already tonight, I don't think he'll miss another. This one from 15m right of the posts.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 20-10

45

TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Scored by Jayden Brailey. Kick to come.

It's a hard and fast set that results in a try for the rookie. Luke Lewis receives the ball on fifth tackle at 30m out and shows some serious speed for a second rower to break the line and pass for Brailey to score his first NRL four pointer.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 18-10

44

Just 31m from the Raiders set. Edrick Lee playing for the first time at his former club winds up from the in-goal and returns the kick.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 14-10

43

The Sharks enter the Canberra red zone again by fifth tackle. Cotric is tested by a Townsend bomb and delivers.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 14-10

42

SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Penalty goal attempt by James Maloney successful.

Too easy.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 14-10

41

Maloney is pressured on the fifth tackle kick at halfway. Soliola makes dangerous contact with Maloney's legs whilst in the air kicking. Penalty to Cronulla just five metres out, as the penalty is given where Maloney's kick drops. Sharks elect to kick for two points from in front of the posts.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-10

40

Austin finishes a solid first set from Canberra with a kick to the corner for Feki.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-10

40

Ricky Stuart was calm in an interview at half time. He wishes his players didn't make simple play the ball errors. How will the players respond? We're underway for the second half. The Raiders start the first set.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-10

40

With a 63% completion rate for the Raiders, they should consider themselves lucky to be down two points at half time. They can thank Austin's special for that. Wighton leads the metre count with 127m. The next eight leading metre players are all Sharks players, with Fifita (90m) and Gallen (90m) topping the away side.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-10

39

Cronulla apply some pressure all set. A Maloney kick finds grass in the in goal, the Raiders scramble and force the ball dead to prevent further points before half time. That's the siren to end the half.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-10

38

UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS: Blake Austin makes an unforced error.

Austin tries to link up with Leilua before the defensive line. Austin's passes goes behind the centre and rolls into touch.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-10

37

PENALTY to CANBERRA. The Raiders get immediately out of their half on their first set after points.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-10

36

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS: Conversion attempt by Aidan Sezer successful.

A successful kick from the right touch line. That continues the Viking clap that started after the try.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-10

34

TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS: Scored by Jordan Rapana. Kick to come.

That's a try against the run of play. Austin splits the Cronulla line on halfway. He leaves Graham on the turf. Austin runs up to the 10m line and passes for Rapana to score in the corner. A solo Austin effort gifts Rapana a try.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-8

33

UNFORCED ERROR CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: James Maloney makes an unforced error.

Metres are coming easy for the Sharks. They reach the Raiders 20m zone on last tackle. Lewis gets caught in the defence and knocks on.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-4

32

UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Conversion attempt by James Maloney unsuccessful.

Maloney missed the kick from 20m away from the touch line. He only just missed it, but that's a massive shock from one of the game's best goal kickers.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-4

30

TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Scored by Wade Graham. Kick to come.

The Sharks return to the same section of Raiders defence where Leutele scored Cronulla's first try. Maloney elects to feed a short ball to Graham, instead of the out the back Bird play. Graham crashes over through a big gap.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12-4

29

PENALTY to CRONULLA. That's poor from Canberra. The Sharks were limited to 33m and reached tackle five. The Raiders held on too long in the tackle.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 8-4

27

On tackle five the Raiders run. The ball comes loose from a Raiders play and Austin is tackled. It might have meant to be another set of six for Canberra. The first four tackles were untidy.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 8-4

26

Joey Leilua winds up for his best run of the night. He's been quiet so far. Sharks gain 57m and Hodgson's bomb to Feki is dropped. Canberra scrum feed 10m out.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 8-4

25

Cronulla reach halfway on tackle five and kick low to Rapana in the corner.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 8-4

24

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

Maloney set up close to the left sideline follows through with an accurate kick.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 8-4

22

TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Scored by Ricky Leutele. Kick to come.

Cronulla pushes their way up the field. Their first tackle inside the 20m zone on this set results in points. Bird receives the ball from Maloney on the left side of the field. His deft short ball to Leutele has the winger pushing through strong defence and on to the try line.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 6-4

20

UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS: Elliot Whitehead makes an unforced error.

Well... Disgraceful. Whitehead with no pressure, no players nearby and all the moment drops the ball in the play the ball.

Canberra Raiders 4-2

20

Paulo knocks down and runs over Brailey. He earns a penalty and Canberra tap and go.

Canberra Raiders 4-2

19

UNFORCED ERROR CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Wade Graham makes an unforced error.

The Sharks had time to set up an attack. They looked unstable and missed outnumbered opportunities. Graham knocks on in a tackle.

Canberra Raiders 4-2

17

Brailey from dummy half looks dangerous, almost scores. His pressure forces a penalty. Six more tackles for the Sharks. They want a try, not a tied scoreboard.

Canberra Raiders 4-2

16

UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS: Junior Paulo makes an unforced error.

That's irresponsible football. Paulo on tackle three attempts a high difficulty offload from a tackle and it's turned into a knock on. Sharks receive a scrum from 40m out of the Canberra line.

Canberra Raiders 4-2

15

UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS: Conversion attempt by Aidan Sezer unsuccessful.

From the left touch line, the left foot kicker sprays the ball across the posts.

Canberra Raiders 4-2

14

TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS: Scored by Jack Wighton. Kick to come.

That's soft from the Sharks. Wighton puts on a sprint across the field in a straight line from the middle of the field to the corner post and dives over the line to complete the attack.

Canberra Raiders 4-2

13

UNFORCED ERROR CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Andrew Fifita makes an unforced error.

More errors, in perfect footy conditions. Fifita drops the ball on impact for tackle one. Raider's scrum feed 15m out.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 2-0

12

SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: Penalty goal attempt by James Maloney successful.

From 10m out. The first two points were never in doubt.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 2-0

12

Maloney is given the ball to kick for a penalty goal.

0 all

11

PENALTY to CRONULLA. Gallen backs his way to under the posts and there's a grapple effort on Gallen's face by Hodgson.

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10

UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS: Elliot Whitehead makes an unforced error.

Another error. Gallen's effort (legal) in the tackle makes the mistake. A scrum sets up 10m out from the Raiders line.

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9

Papalii lands a big shot on Paul Gallen. That's an origin quality hit. The Sharks gain 53m in the set and pin Nick Cotric in the corner.

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8

UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS: Iosia Soliola makes an unforced error.

Canberra quick get back into Cronulla's half. Then Iosia Soliola knocks on at the play the ball.

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8

UNFORCED ERROR CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS: James Maloney makes an unforced error.

James Maloney takes the line on and Austin makes a forceful tackle, forcing the ball loose.

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7

Play is stopped. Luke Lewis has run into Whitehead and Papalii and he's hurting. Replays don't give us an indication of anything serious. We're back underway, Lewis plays the ball.

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7

UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS: Luke Bateman makes an unforced error.

Lost the ball on impact in a tackle.

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6

PENALTY TO CANBERRA. That's gets them over the halfway line.

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5

Gallen and Graham trapped on halfway by the strong defence. Wighton gets tested with a high kick and he completes a catch under pressure.

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4

Canberra get their first set attacking the Cronulla try line. The Raiders look sharp and composed but the Sharks were up to the defensive task. Hodgson's grubber kick gets no result, hand over.

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3

Another Austin kick, this time from 20m out. He dabs it behind the posts and Bird has forced the ball dead. Goal line dropout coming. The Raiders have made a strong start.

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2

Townsend is forced to kick before fifth tackle from inside the 30m. Trying to relieve pressure but the Raiders continue to make great ground.

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1

Austin sends an unpredictable spiralling bomb to Feki. Feki misses the catch, Bird covers up and brings the ball out from the in goal.

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Great defensive start from the Raiders. They restrict the Sharks to within their red zone come fifth tackle. Maloney kicks long.

Both teams are on. Once the referee blows the whistle we're underway. Blake Austin to kick off.

Alan Tongue sets off a giant horn and the viking clap. It never fails to send chills down the spine! Here comes the green machine.

The Sharks are coming on the field. The conditions are great for fast football.

Stay tuned for kick off. We're just minutes away from the teams returning to the field.

Welcome all to the live update of this round two clash between the Canberra Raiders and Cronulla Sharks at GIO Stadium.

Canberra will struggle if Cronulla keep the Raiders to 20 points or less. Canberra have lost 39 straight matches when they don't score 20 points or more. The home side's point total is the all important stat, as they've won 36 of their past 41 matches when scoring 21 points or more.

The Sharks will hope their recent history in the nation's capital continues to go in their favour. Since 2005 the Sharks have a record of 10 wins and 3 losses at GIO Stadium, with the latest being a 16-14 win from the quarter-finals last season.

Referees & scorers:

Referee: Ashley Klein, Chris James

Touch Judges: Brett Suttor, Nick Morel

Video Referee: Bernard Sutton, Bryan Norrie

CANBERRA RAIDERS (16)
Tries: Jack Wighton (2), Jordan Rapana
Field Goals:
Conversions: Aidan Sezer (2/3)
Penalty Goals:

CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS (42)
Tries: Ricky Leutele, Wade Graham (3), Jayden Brailey, Matt Prior, Paul Gallen
Field Goals:
Conversions: James Maloney (5/7)
Penalty Goals: James Maloney (2/2)