THE Shellharbour Sharks have picked up an important mid-season win, with a 28-20 victory over the Gerringong Lions at Ron Costello Oval on Sunday afternoon.
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The win keeps the Sharks at firmly inside the top five, while the Lions have been left to rue their second straight loss after they couldn’t bounce back from the previous week’s loss to Kiama.
The Sharks jumped out to a 16-nil lead in the first half and despite their best efforts the Lions couldn’t find a way to peg back that lead, as the home side produced when it counted in the second half.
After weathering some early pressure, the Lions looked to be getting on top early with their speed through the ruck, until Sharks skipper Matt Carroll turned the field position with a 40/20.
Soon after the ensuing restart a second-man play caught the Lions short and centre Ezy Harper crossed out wide.
Carroll converted for a 6-nil lead.
That lead was soon doubled when successive penalties helped the Sharks downfield and this time they crossed on the right edge as fullback Jason Gray skipped to the outside of his defender and crossed.
It was then Carroll’s boot that again bought the Lions undone, this time a spilt bomb giving the Sharks another great attacking opportunity.
There was no finesse this time around as prop Jack Kavanagh crashed over of a ruck play for a 16-nil Shellharbour lead.
Along with the score line, the Lions were also falling behind in troops, losing prop Chris Mann and hooker Jacob Rein through injury early in the half.
They did get some reprieve when some ill-discipline saw Shellharbour back-rower James Ralphs earn a stint in the sin-bin.
The visitors made the most of the one-man advantage to peg back the Sharks’ lead prior to the break.
Replacement hooker Ewen McCarroll caught the Sharks napping on their line and dived over next to the posts.
Jake Taylor converted for 16-6.
The Lions soon found themselves on the Sharks’ line again and this time some enterprising play on the last tackle got the ball to Toby Gumley-Quine and the Gerringong centre crossed in the corner to put the score at 16-10 at the break.
While the Lions may have taken the momentum into the break, it was the Sharks who started the second half with more intent and they soon put the buffer back out to two converted tries.
Some determined running through the middle third put Gerringong under pressure and the Sharks made the most of the opportunity.
Just as the Lions looked to have weathered the early storm, Sharks pivot Nick Greenhalgh slipped perfectly timed offload and Kaine Edwards crossed under the posts.
Carroll converted for a 22-10 lead.
That score would stand for some time as the game became somewhat of an arm wrestle, as both sides turned in some committed defence.
It was the Lions who found a way through first, with their speed out of dummy half opening the Sharks up.
With Shellharbour on the back-foot, the Lions got the ball out wide and Gumley-Quine grabbed his second.
Taylor converted for 22-16.
As it looked like the Lions might be staging a comeback, it was Greenhalgh who again gave the Sharks some breathing room.
This time the five-eighth grubbered into the in-goal and Carroll swooped to ground the ball under the posts.
The halfback converted his own try for a 28-16 lead with around 10 to go.
The Lions kept up the fight however and winger Harry Phillips crossed in the corner to trim the lead to eight, but that would be as close as things would get.
For Shellharbour, Greenhalgh, Carroll and Kavanagh had strong games, while Kal Collins, Matt Winchester and McCarroll did all they could for the Lions.
