Knights book home final with second half dominance

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Newcastle Knights v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

The Newcastle Knights have booked themselves a home final with a dominant second half performance with a 32-6 win over the Cronulla Sharks at McDonald Jones Stadium.

Things didn't start perfectly for the home-side with Dom Young initially opening the scoring before having his effort overturned by the bunker after going into touch as he went to put the ball down. The salt was rubbed into the wounds by the Sharks who were able to go up the other end and score through Connor Tracey.

It took some time but the Knights were able to equalise through some Kalyn Ponga magic as he saw  a gap in the defensive line and took advantage as Matt Moylan could not make the needed tackle.

The Sharks thought they had put themselves in front when Briton Nikora went over but couldn't get the ball down as the bunker had to again overturn a live decision and the scores remained at 6-6.

Domination was the way to describe the second half as the Knights just commanded control of the second half as anything they did turned to gold and held so much possession in the second half. The Knights hit the scoreboard early in the second stanza when a run from Kalyn Ponga put the Knights into attacking position off a kick return and the Knights took advantage when Bradman Best scored.

Gifted possession by the Sharks, the Novocastrians took advantage again when Dom Young finally got his four pointer as the defence put all their focus on Kalyn Ponga in attack which left the space open for Dom Young to score.

Things were going well for the Knights but they were left with a scary moment when Kalyn Ponga was hit extremely hard as he was passing in a legal tackle by Jesse Ramien leaving him with a shoulder injury as the home-side were able to get over through Bradman Best again.

Some soft defence from Cronulla gifted the Knights their last two tries when Greg Marzhew was able to get through even with defenders on him while Dylan Lucas took advantage of the lack of interest from the Sharks to get his first NRL try in the dying minutes.

Next weekend, the Knights head south for a clash with the Dragons meanwhile the Cronulla Sharks are left with a must win clash against the Canberra Raiders for a top 8 spot.