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The Cronulla Sharks have put together one of the best attacking displays you are ever likely to see in a 62-point thumping of the Newcastle Knights at Hunter Stadium.
REPORT: SHARKS ROUT KNIGHTS IN RECORD-BREAKER
The hosts were held to zero, as they fumbled and bumbled their way from low to low throughout the match, the Sharks never looking challenged after they opened the scoring.
Alarm bells might have been ringing early for Cronulla coach Shan Flanagan as they made a number of sloppy errors coming out of their own end, but they were alleviated quickly as the Sharks found their mojo.
While their defence didn’t have to do much in defence to keep Newcastle to zero, their attack was where it counted. They ran on 11 tries with every player on the same page. Execution was near perfect, and it seemed every time there was even a fraction of pressure Newcastle would crack.
Valentine Holmes would be the beneficiary of some extraordinary play from Ben Barba, pocketing four tries while all of Chad Townsend, James Maloney, Paul Gallen, Michael Ennis and Wade Graham has standout performances.
In truth, there wasn’t a bad Sharks player on the field though.
After that relatively sloppy start from the Sharks, it would be Valentine Holmes who crossed for the first try in the eighth minute as Luke Lewis grubbered into the in goal and holmes flew through the air to score.
The Sharks would then cross through Ben Barba who benefited from a series of offloads about 40 metres out. He broke through a hole and managed to outrun everyone to the line.
Valentine Holmes would score the next two tries, both having Ben Barba involved within 4 minutes of each other. One was in the corner, and the other back under the posts.
Siosaia Feki would complete the half with a try out wide after a perfectly executed set play that involved both Chad Townsend and James Maloney – but looked more like a training run.
After just 40 mintues of play, it was the Sharks already up 28-0.
Coming back for the second half, things went from bad to worse for the Knights as they continually dropped the ball, gave away penalties and didn’t look anywhere near threatening when they did get an opportunity as young halves Brock Lamb and Jack Cogger struggled.
Valentine Holmes added his fourth try just seven minutes into the second half to get things cracking. Chris Heighington took on the line, dragging defenders before passing along to Ben Barba who ran through a hole and put in a wonderful cut out ball for Holmes to score in the corner.
It was then the turn of Luke Lewis just four minutes later, bringing up 40 off a shallow crossfield kick from James Maloney. Lewis would catch it cleanly and then run through to score untouched.
Sosaia Feki has his second just eight minutes later after Holmes ran almost the length of the field, following by a quick spread to the other side.
Luke Lewis would then make it two tries after Jack Bird made a break down the right hand side, before linking with Lewis who was on the inside in support.
Wade Graham then added his name to the scoresheet just four minutes later after Ennis went left out of dummy half and threw a wonderful short inside ball for Graham to barge over.
The final try of the match would be scored just six minutes from fulltime as Feki came up with a hatrick. Holmes went close to scoring five before there was a shift left and an easy try.
A bad season for the Newcastle Knights continues to get worse, as they stay glued to the bottom of the table, while the Cronulla for and against elevates them to second place above the Melbourne Storm.
Final Score
Newcastle Knights 0
Cronulla Sharks 62
The Newcastle Knights desperately need a win to turn their season around, but things won’t be getting any easier when they host the in-form Cronulla Sharks. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 2pm (AEST).
Newcastle’s form, in one word, has been terrible. They sit bottom of the table, and hopefully for their sake they have used the representative round break to do something useful.
Having won only one of their first nine games, their season is virtually already over and the Knights will already have an eye to 2017. However, that doesn’t mean they should be giving games away for free – certainly contracts and positions in the team are up for grabs moving forward.
They would also like to get off the bottom of the table, but will need to start winning if they want to do that.
Along with their solitary win, the Knights have also recorded a draw against the Canberra Raiders back in Round 3. That leaves them on three competition points, but maybe in worse news they have been outscored 115-10 in the last three rounds against the Brisbane Broncos, Manly Sea Eagles and Sydney Roosters.
For Cronulla, it has been a complete opposite on the form line as they sit in fourth position having won seven of their nine matches.
Last time out it was a very solid win against the Brisbane Broncos, and many are beginning to sit up and take notice of the Cronulla outfit who are being considered the third favourite for the season – behind Brisbane and the North Queensland Cowboys. Of course the Melbourne Storm are also ahead of them on the ladder.
In team news, the Knights lose David Bhana and Will Pearsall, while Jacob Saifiti, Sam Mataora and Tyler Randell are all back, with Mataora straight into the front row. The Sharks welcome back David Fifita and Joseph Paulo, while Jason Bukuya is out.
Newcastle must find a way to shut down Michael Ennis. He has been on fire for Cronulla, and is the gel to their halves combination of James Maloney and Chad Townsend who have been working so well with with Ben Barba. Furthermore, the Cronulla forward pack have dominated everyone in their path.
Trent Hodksinon must stand up here. His kicking game is going to have to get Newcastle through some very tough periods of the game, and be creative when called upon.
Prediction
The Sharks form has been strong, and right at the moment the Knights look like the only easy game in the competition. This could get ugly.
Sharks by 24.
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Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde