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Cronulla have won their 4th match of the season with a golden point extra time win over Gold Coast at CBUS Super Stadium on Saturday Night.
With scores deadlocked at 22-22 after 80 minutes, Valentine Holmes would be the hero, with a field goal on the first attacking play for the Sharks in extra time.
It capped a big comeback for the Sharks with Cronulla down 14-0 after 35 minutes in the clash.
The Titans, who had a depleted bench at the end of the match, would rue the missed opportunities they had early in the second half. On another day they could have won the match by a few points.
In the opening stages of the match, both teams struggled, as scores remained level for 20 minutes.
4 minutes later, Gold Coast would score, with Ryan James barging over the try line to open the scoring for the match.
They would double the lead seven minutes later as David Mead ran the length of the field to score for the Titans.
After the Sharks lost the ball on the final tackle, Mead got the rebound, and sprinted away from the field to score.
The Titans would then add a penalty to race to a 14-0 lead.
Just before half time though, they made a mistake, which allowed the Sharks to score.
Valentine Holmes would score his first try for the night, after the Titans lost the ball, and reduce the margin to 10 at half time.
After the half, it was all the Titans, as they had multiple sets on the goal line.
In the 46th minute they got a penalty and the Titans opted to take the two points to move the margin to 12 points again.
Three minutes later, the Sharks attacked, and made the Titans pay for not putting scoreboard pressure on Cronulla.
Luke Lewis would score his first for the day and reduce the margin to six points.
The Titans would win another penalty in the 55th minute and opt to take the two on offer again.
This increased the margin to 8 but let the Sharks off the hook.
They would pay for this in a big way over the next few minutes.
Two tries, to Holmes and Jack Bird, gave the Sharks the lead in the 73rd minute as the Titans started to have problems on their bench.
Injuries to Nate Myles, William Zillman, and David Mead, reduced the bench to one for the last 10 minutes.
A mistake though by the Sharks gave the Titans a chance to score, which they did, when Anthony Don went over near the corner on the left hand side.
Sezer would miss the crucial conversion as scores were locked for the last 5 minutes.
With neither team have a chance to score a field goal, the match went to extra time.
The Titans opted to receive the ball first and couldn’t gain much field position from their first set.
Sezer would then kick poorly and provide the Sharks with good field position to attack.
A few tackles later, Cronulla had a golden opportunity, as Holmes had space 25 metres out.
The 19 year old, showing experience beyond his years, would line up and kick the field goal to give the Sharks the win.
It was a great performance from them as they were under pressure for most of the match.
For the Titans they will rue not putting more points on the board in the early stages of the second half.
Both teams will now have a bye in Round 11 with the Sharks in 11th after the win.
Gold Coast will be looking to bounce back from last week’s lost to Canberra when they take on Cronulla at CBUS Super Stadium on Saturday afternoon in NRL Round 10. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 5:30pm AEST.
This week hasn’t been a great one for the Titans. After losing 56-16 to the Raiders on Saturday, the club learnt during the week that Nat Myles is now on his way to Manly in 2016 on a three-year deal.
With big players leaving the Gold Coast that could also hurt the Titans as they try to keep Daly Cherry-Evans signed with the team for 2016.
They now face a Sharks side who had a heartbreaking loss last week to the New Zealand Warriors. In the last play of the game some individual brilliance from Shaun Johnson won the match for the Warriors. The Sharks now need to bounce back against a team that they lost to in Round 4.
In a match they should have won they conceded a late try to give the Titans their first win of the season. Since then both teams have won three matches but remain towards the bottom end of the ladder.
Saturday’s battle is between the 12th and 14th placed teams but a win could put either of them inside the top eight. The Titans, in a big surprise, have named an unchanged line-up after getting smashed last week. They have been given a massive vote of confidence by their coach.
Cronulla, on the other hand, have made three changes. Michael Gordon, Blake Ayshford, and David Fifita return at the expense of Anthony Tupou, Mitch Brown and Ricky Leutele. Unfortunately for Tupou he is out of the rest of the season after a nasty jaw injury sustained against New Zealand. He needed multiple plates inserted to fix the jaw and won’t be able to do much for a few weeks.
In the last match between the two teams the stats were even, as both sides struggled with errors, penalties, completion rates, and missed tackles. There was nothing between the two in Round 4 and there won’t be much between the two on Saturday.
The inclusions to the Sharks make them stronger and Michael Gordon will provide a big threat in attack. In comparison, the Titans will want to bounce back, and record the double over the Sharks.
Head to head this is the 13th match between the two teams. Both teams have won six times but this is the first match in Gold Coast since 2011. Predicting a winner in this game will be tough.
The Sharks look better than last week but can they defeat a team who will be looking for a good performance? That is the million dollar question. I lean towards the home team winning the match but not with any confidence.
Prediction: Titans by one point.
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