The Sharks blew away the Dragons on their visit to the Netstrata Jubilee Stadium with Nicho Hynes returning for the first time this season in fine style.
Result
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 40
Tries: (7) Jesse Ramien 31st, 59th; Ronaldo Mulitalo 43rd, 57th; William Kennedy 7th, Briton Nikora 50th, Sione Katoa 68th
Goals: (6) Nicholas Hynes 8th, 33rd, 52nd, 60th; Siosifa Talakai 80h.
St George Illawarra Dragons 8
Tries: (2) Ben Hunt 19th, Jadyn Su’a 24th
Goals: N/A
Field Goal: N/A
Report
Round 4 came to a close with the league’s worst defences taking on each other at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium after a round of defences being firmly in control. It was the worst defence in the NRL – the St. George Illawarra Dragons – that caved just seven minutes in with William Kennedy crossed for the visiting Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
The Dragons opened up the first half with very expansive attack, going away from their previously successful tactic of dominating the middle, but it was the Sharks’ failure to deal with a grubber that landed the Dragons on the score sheet; Ben Hunt regathered the ricochet of his own grubber 15 metres out and sliced through the appalling tackle attempts from the league’s second-worst defence. Zac Lomax has the chance to level scores up with a conversion but failed to strike the ball with any accuracy and the Dragons trailed by two with just over 20 minutes played.
Cronulla invited more pressure onto their line and struggled to number up and tackle, with Jaydn Su’a strolling through the defence untouched. Lomax struggled to hit the target for a second time and the Dragons’ lead stayed at just two points.
The defence didn’t get any better for either side: with the Dragons struggling to field a high kick due to interference with the catcher that was missed by referee Todd Smith, and subsequently failing to wrap up Jesse Ramien, who made metres down the Sharks’ right edge to offload to Sione Katoa and receive a return pass around flailing Dragons defenders to regain the lead 12-6 after a Nicho Hynes conversion.
The gaps continued to open with neither outfit able to shore up their defence. Cronulla looked certain to extend their lead with Teig Wilton going through down the left edge untouched, only to give a forward pass to Hynes upon meeting the fullback. Shortly after, the Dragons got the final chance at points for the first half with Cronulla asleep at the wheel with no hooker at the ruck, allowing the Dragons to pounce on the ball near 10 metres from their line. The Dragons’ attack couldn’t convert, however, and the Sharks went in to half-time 12-8 up.
The league’s worst defence caved very quickly in the second half, with the Sharks extending their lead through Ronaldo Mulitalo just three minutes in. This time, however, Hynes missed the conversion and the Sharks led by eight.
It took the Sharks just seven minutes to cross the whitewash with Briton Nikora running a great lead line to get over just to the right of the posts, once again untouched by the lethargic Dragons defence. Hynes slotted the straightforward conversion and Cronulla led 22-8.
Cronulla continued to make metres with ease off the kick-off and ultimately forced a goal-line drop-out with very little resistance from the Dragons. Hynes continued to impress, but couldn’t get his team over the line again and an unforced error gave the Dragons a let off.
Cronulla continued to dominate and Matt Moylan made the most of a six again call to spread the ball left for Sione Katoa to cross with ease, once again untouched. Nicho Hynes failed to convert and the Sharks led 26-8 with just over 20 minutes to play.
The Dragons continued to fall off tackles and allowed the Sharks to return the ball all the way for a try off the ensuing kick off, this time with Ramien bagging his second of the day off the back of some great ball play from Hynes and Nikora.
It looked as though Cronulla would extend their lead with 13 minutes to play as Braden Hamlin-Uele barged over to the right of the posts, only to be denied by Tyrell Sloan who showed a rare piece of pride in defeat from the Dragons team. It did very little for the Dragons, however, who proceeded to knock on and hand good ball possession back to the Cronulla Sharks – from which Hynes made a shift to the left and put Sione Katoa over in the corner, once again untouched.
The two sides exchanged sets for the final 10 minutes of the game – with the Sharks looking the most likely to score again and did so with no time left as Siosifa Talakai knocked over a penalty. The Dragons were saved any more blushes by the full-time hooter and the Sharks locked in a 40-8 victory.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 – Nicho Hynes (Sharks)
2 – Will Kennedy (Sharks)
1 – Ronaldo Mulitalo (Sharks)
