Sea Eagles fall down to Sharks in Flegg
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles suffered a 40-4 loss to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at 4 Pines Park today in Round 11 of the Jersey Flegg Cup.
The home team were unable to overcome an 18-4 deficit at half-time as the away side went on to score four more tries in the second half for a convincing 36-point win.
Late inclusion Una Uasi scored the Sea Eagles' lonesome try in an otherwise quiet match by the home side.
Cronulla halfback Cody Fuz opened the scoring in the second minute with a simple dummy pass on the right edge, freeing up space in the line for him to go over untouched. Five-eighth Max Riolo converted for an early 6-0 lead.
An overlap down the right edge saw Riolo send centre Noah Lester over with a well-timed pass to beat the fullback for a 10-0 scoreline.
The Sharks continued to pile on the points with a try through lock Blake Hosking in the 19th minute after some scrappy football, with several offloads and tackle breaks needed to send the forward over for a 14-0 lead.
Winger Cain Barnes scored for Cronulla four minutes before the break with a well-worked try for an 18-0 lead.
After a penalty at the halfway mark on the brink of halftime, Una Uasi scored with a breakaway try down the left sideline, outpacing several defenders to race away and score to cut the deficit to 14 points.
Barnes scored his second for the Sharks in the 43rd minute with a long-range effort. The winger ran support after one of his team-mates broke out of a tackle at their own 20-metre line and took a pass at the 40-metre line with only clear space ahead, diving under the posts to score. Riolo converted from in front for a 24-4 lead.
Cronulla’s halves partners combined in Manly’s territory to score their sixth try of the match in the 45th minute. Fuz hopped, skipped and jumped out of a tackle and offloaded inside the10m line to Riolo who dived over. He converted his own try to take the score out to 30-4.
Sharks utility Kobie Wilson set Kristian Dixon up for a try in the 68th minute with a pefectly placed pass out of dummy half metres out from the line, fooling the opposing winger to send Dixon over untouched in the corner for a 34-4 scoreline.
With five minutes remaining, Wilson scooted out of dummy half and pushed two defenders away to slam the ball down under the posts. Riolo converted to take the score to the final scoreline of 40-4.
The Sea Eagles have a bye in Round 12.
