Close, but two losses for Sharks women

There was only one point in it when the Harvey Norman Sharks lost a thriller to the Bulldogs, while the Cronulla Tarsha Gale Cup side had every chance before going down to the Dragons in games played at PointsBet Stadium on Sunday.

The HNWP Sharks battled hard but came up short in a 22-21 loss in what was an exciting attacking contest, with the under-19 Tarsha team never able to recover from a slow start, the Dragons victorious by 22-14.

HNWP Sharks coach Ruan Sims, while disappointed not to come away with the two competition points, thought the Sharks v Bulldogs clash was a high-quality game.  

“It was a great game of footy, just one point splitting the two teams at the end. It hurts when you’re on the losing end but at the same time I saw some really great footy out of both sides. It was a great spectacle,” Sims said

After falling behind 10-0 through the opening 20 minutes of the match, the Sharks responded, tries to Kiana Takairangi and Monique Donovan sending the teams to the half time break with the Bulldogs narrowly ahead 10-8.

The Sharks would take their first lead of the match with a try to Rhiannon Byers, converted by Maddie Studdon, however the Bulldogs bounced back with a try of their own to retake the lead shortly after.

Again the Sharks would go back in front, however in a match featuring a number of lead changes, the Bulldogs regained the advantage at 22-20 heading into the final 10 minutes and were able to hang on, a Studdon field goal not enough to tip the final result in favour of the home team.

“We spoke about errors being our enemy, as well as our discipline but unfortunately the second half we gifted them a couple of extra possession and a team like that doesn’t need that,” the Sharks coach said.

“It was physical, there was a lot of skill on show, but of course we’re disappointed. We’ll just keep forging ahead with the season.”

With just one win to show for the opening four games the Sharks will need to regroup and do it quickly ahead of their next match against Souths on Saturday.

In the Tarsha Gale match played before the senior girls at PointsBet, the Dragons would score twice in a frustrating first half from the Sharks, the visitors taking a 10-0 lead to half time.

Falling behind 16-0 early in the second period the Sharks had it all to do, however a 36th minute try to Raphaela Stojoski, another to Tia-jordyn Vasilovski 10 minutes later and a third by Kalolaine Veikoso gave the Cronulla side hopes of a unlikely comeback win at 16-12 behind.

In the end though it wasn’t to be, the Dragons sealing victory with a four-pointer in the dying moments of the match.

For the Sharks and coach Neil Stanley, the game might have been one that got away.

“Credit to the Dragons, they came here hungry today and they were consistent in what they did, can’t fault them for their effort,” Stanley said.  “But it was unforced errors that really killed us today.

“When we put it together we looked good, I thought our back five did well in getting us out and laying the platform. It was just on the back of that we lost our way a little when we were trying to apply pressure. In patches they did well, btu we’ve got to put it together in a 60-minute performance,” he added.

The two Sharks women’s teams are next on deck when they take on Souths in matches to at the Sharks Academy Fields at Cronulla High School on Saturday.

HWNP
SHARKS 21
Kiana Takairangi, Monique Donovan,Rhiannon Byers, Brooke Anderson tries, Maddie Studdon 2 goals and a field goal
lost to
BULLDOGS 22

TARSHA GALE
SHARKS 12
Raphaela Stojoski, Tia-jordyn Vasilovski, Kalolaine Veikoso tries
lost to
DRAGONS 20