Sharks strong win over battered Dragons

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St George Illawarra Dragons v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

The Sharks have recorded a rare win over the Dragons in Wollongong, downing their local rivals 22-9 in front of 14,586 fans at WIN Stadium.

The Dragons opened the scoring courtesy of a penalty goal to Jai Field in the 4th minute, but three minutes later the Sharks responded when Matt Moylan caught a poor pass on the right side, stepped around the defence rushing up on him, drew the winger, passed to Josh Dugan who drew the cover defence before passing to Bronson Xerri who scored untouched in the corner. Kyle Flanagan converted.

Ben Hunt almost scored shortly after when he slipped through the defence and reached out to score, but dropped the ball over the line.

In the 31st minute Moylan's short drop out was taken by the Dragons and a few tackles later Cameron McInnes scored after he got flipped over in a somersault before just getting the ball down for a try. Field converted from right in front.

A heavy head clash between Tyson Frizell and Dugan late in the first half saw both players leave the field and not return. Flanagan added a penalty goal to tie the scores with 2 minutes to go in the first half, only for Hunt to snap a field goal on the siren.

The Sharks opened the scoring in the second half after Jordan Pereira fumbled the ball as he tried to clean up a Chad Townsend kick. Kurt Capewell cleaned up 10 metres from the Dragons line and passed to Xerri who fell over the line for an easy try. Flanagan failed to convert.

In the 59th minute the Sharks went in again after Moylan drifted right, drew two defenders and put Xerri over for his third try of the game. Flanagan was unable to convert from the touchline.

From this point on, the Sharks looked dominant against a Dragons side that was down to one bench player. However it wasn't until the last minute of the game that they capitalised when a grubber by Blayke Brailey into the Dragons in-goal was missed by both Flanagan and Hunt. The younger Brailey brother followed through to score just before the ball went dead. Paul Gallen converted the try from right in front after the siren sounded to cap a commanding victory.