CRONULLA SHARKS 20
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 10

CRONULLA SHARKS will go through to the second round of the NRL finals series after overcoming Sydney Roosters’ territorial dominance to win in front of their own fans to counter accusations that they never perform well in the play-offs.
And the man they had to thank was Braydon Trindall, who was back in the side after recovering from an ankle injury and created both the Sharks’ tries in a spellbinding five minutes of rugby just before the interval to give his side a 12-4 lead that appeared to defy the match statistics relating to possession and territory.
The opening quarter of the game was a story of Roosters’ dominance, although they were unable to score until brilliant Mark Nawaqanitawase took a pass from James Tedesco to score in the right corner, brilliantly taking the try with a goose-step that made the two Sharks defenders Ronaldo Mulitalo and Will Kennedy hesitate just enough to allow the Roosters winger to touch down millimetres inside the touchline. Sam Walker couldn’t add the conversion.
The Sharks slowly came into the game, however, and on 28 minutes they had a successful challenge against a ball-steal penalty, giving them territory 20 metres from the Roosters’ line.
Jesse Ramien was tackled two metres out by five Roosters defenders. And then a grubber from Sharks hooker Blayke Brailey, who has expressed interest in playing for England in this autumn’s Ashes series to honour his English heritage, kicked to the line, the ball ricocheted and James Tedesco grounded it to concede a goal-line drop-out.
And that was when Trindall stepped up, demonstrating some brilliantly elusive footwork to attract five defenders, culminating in a great pass to Ronaldo Mulitalo. Nicho Hynes’ goal puts the Sharks ahead for a lead that they would never lose.
And immediately before the interval Trindall gave another scoring pass to Mulitalo for his second try, with Hynes’ conversion from wide out putting the Sharks eight points ahead and the Roosters no doubt wondering how they were behind on the scoreboard.
But after eight minutes of the second half they pulled six points back when Sam Walker grubbered to the Sharks’ line and the ball was touched down by Angus Crichton for his 50th career try. Walker converted and the Roosters fans in the crowd were no doubt sitting back expecting more of the same.
But it wasn’t to be, as a series of uncharacteristic errors started to creep into the Roosters’ game at just the wrong time.
Daniel Tupou knocked on a low pass from Walker; Robert Toia knocked on in a KL Iro tackle ten metres from his own line; and Billy Smith conceded a penalty for a steal from Addin Fonua-Blake, allowing Hynes to kick a goal for a four-point lead.
The Roosters then knocked on again when Connor Watson passed from dummy-half to Victor Radley and it dawned on their fans that they weren’t going to win this game.
And that was confirmed a minute later when Toby Rudolf scored a try from close range taking a dummy-half pass from Bailey, the sixth try of his career, proving to be too strong for Tedesco and sealing the victory for the team from the shire.
They will now visit the loser of Sunday’s game between the Raiders and Broncos next weekend.

GAME STAR: Braydon Trindall was outstanding, creating Cronulla’s first two tries for Ronaldo Mulitalo.

GAMEBREAKER: Toby Rudolf’s try with just four minutes remaining finally decided the outcome of a very tightly contested game.

SHARKS
1 Will Kennedy
2 Sione Katoa
3 Jesse Ramien
4 KL Iro
5 Ronaldo Mulitalo
6 Braydon Trindall
7 Nicho Hynes
8 Addin Fonua-Blake
9 Blayke Brailey
10 Toby Rudolf
11 Billy Burns
12 Teig Wilton
13 Jesse Colquhoun
Subs (all used)
14 Oregon Kaufusi
15 Siosifa Talakai
17 Braden Hamlin-Uele
21 Briton Nikora

Tries: Mulitalo (35, 40), Rudolf (76)
Goals: Hynes 4/4

ROOSTERS
1 James Tedesco
2 Daniel Tupou
3 Billy Smith
4 Robert Toia
5 Mark Nawaqanitawase
6 Hugo Savala
7 Sam Walker
8 Spencer Leniu
14 Benaiah Ioelu
10 Lindsay Collins
11 Angus Crichton
12 Victor Radley
13 Naufahu Whyte
Subs (all used)
9 Connor Watson
15 Egan Butcher
16 Blake Steep
17 Siua Wong

Tries: Nawaqanitawase (24), Crichton (48)
Goals: Walker 1/2

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 6-4, 12-4; 12-10, 14-10, 20-10

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match

Sharks: Braydon Trindall
Roosters: Mark Nawaqanitawase

Penalty count: 3-4
Half-time: 12-4
Referee: Todd Smith
Attendance: 12,842