The Cronulla Sharks have gone down to the Gold Coast Titans, 30 points to 10 at a rain-sodden Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday night.
Played in what were terrible conditions in the first half, the Sharks were never able to get their night going as the home side ran away with the match in the wet.
The Titans opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Konrad Hurrell swooped on an Ash Taylor grubber.
Taylor’s conversion attempt was unsuccessful and the score remained 4-0.
For the duration of the half, both sides took it in turns to spill the ball and hand possession back to the opposition.
With conditions so poor though, neither team were able to break the deadlock and convert field position into points.
The break came though in the 35th minute when the Titans were deep in the Sharks end, Jarryd Hayne kicked in field.
8-0 at half time.
Early try in the 43rd minute when Ash Taylor stepped inside Wade Graham after he shot out of the defensive line.
Tyrone Roberts conversion successful and the score went to 14-0.
The Titans hit back in quick succession when they again worked the ball down their right edge once more, with the move proving fruitful as Kevin Proctor ran through another piece of flimsy Sharks defence.
Roberts’ conversion attempt was again successful and the score was 20-0 after 48 minutes.
The night became even tougher for the Sharks when the Titans turned on their flair, putting the ball through a series of hands before Joe Greenwood found himself on the score sheet.
Roberts was unable to convert the Titans fourth try of the night and the score remained 24-0.
With time running down on the clock, the Sharks tried to aim up in attack and get some respectability on the scoreboard.
The Titans had other ideas though and it would be a former Shark in the form of Pat Politoni who would shoot over from dummy half past some absent Shark defence to cross over for the Titans’ fifth try of the evening.
Roberts’ conversion was successful and the score went out to 30 points to 0 with 12 minutes on the clock.
The Sharks were down and needed to hit back on the scoreboard.
Working the ball down the right hand side of the field, the Jack Bird took on the Titans line and drew in the defensive line before putting centre Kurt Capewell through a gap to score the Sharks’ first try of the night.
Valentine Holmes converted the try and the Sharks were on the board, 30-6 after 72 minutes.
Continuing their frantic style of play late in the game and searching for point, the Sharks hit back once again when Sosaia Feki went over on the left edge following some nice lead-up play from Ricky Leutele.
Holmes’ conversion attempt was unsuccessful and the score remained 30-10.
The final two minutes were played out with no points being scored and the final whistle blew on a tough 30 points to 10 loss for the Sharks at Cbus Super Stadium.
Gold Coast Titans 30
Def.
Cronulla Sharks 10: Tries: Capewell, Feki. Goals: Holmes 1/2 convs.
Crowd: 14,333
