A golden-point field goal has lifted Cronulla to a 21-20 victory over Canberra in a tense NRL clash at GIO Stadium.
Valentine Holmes nailed the kick to seal the win on a cool Saturday afternoon, marking his side’s fifth win in six matches.
The game was sent into extra-time after the score was levelled 20-20 following a controversial no-try ruling against the Sharks.
Andrew Fifita appeared to plant the ball with 45 seconds of regular time left on the clock, but was denied by the video referee.
Instead, a penalty was awarded in front of goal – which Michael Gordon duly converted.
Only moments earlier, the Raiders had taken the lead 20-18 via a controversial penalty kick of their own after on-field official Ashley Klein penalised the Sharks for stripping the ball.
It was the only time the home side had led the match.
The Raiders had been favourites to win, but have now dropped three of their last four.
Coach Ricky Stuart took a gamble with a last-minute line-up reshuffle, replacing the injured Sam Williams with fullback Jack Wighton.
Sisa Waqa took his place as the Raiders’ custodian, while Joseph Leilua started his first home match in the nation’s capital at centre.
Cronulla had their own late change, with Ben Barba scratched due to a knee injury.
It appeared to have little impact, though, as the Sharks drew first blood of the afternoon.
Luke Lewis set up Holmes on the right-hand side for a cruisy four-pointer in the eighth minute.
Their second came on the opposite edge, Ricky Leutele catching the Raiders short and crossing over for a celebratory try in his 50th NRL match for a 12-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes.
Canberra, normally difficult to contain in the opposition 20, struggled to piece together any meaningful play in attack.
But they somewhat redeemed themselves in the 23rd minute, capitalising on a Cronulla mistake with a try via Edrick Lee to end the half 12-4.
The Raiders came out firing after the break, with Josh Papalii rampaging over for his third try in two games.
An Andrew Fifita four-pointer appeared to end any hope of a fightback, only for Lee to bring up a double as the Raiders reduced the deficit to two points.
Skipper Jarrod Croker levelled it up with a penalty with less than 10 minutes left an then added a second as the Raiders snatched what looked like a match-winning lead.
To add to the Raiders’ woes, prop Shannon Boyd was put on report for a suspected crusher tackle on Sharks enforcer Luke Lewis.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
GTW Don't need tip sheets mate,just stating the obvious . A try disallowed that was as obviously a dead setter,go figure if the result should have been a win to the Raiders. Downward pressure on the ball with the hand ,no loss of contact with the ball in doing so,the ref giving it the thumbs up but yet referring it,the commentators stating so,suggests to me as a layman a fair try .The Sharks should not have needed to go to extra time. The game over there and then,thank you linesmen ,thank you ballboys.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
I guess he means the game should've been over in regulation time to a Fifita try
zim
Guest
I'm a raider's fan (sharks are my 2nd team as I am born and raised in the shire). We are definitely head and shoulders above 2014 and we are only going to get better next season. It was always going to be hard to win when we lost Williams. Any team in the league is going to struggle when they lose their half back. I don't understand sticky's choice of Waqa at fullback over Rapana and if the past weekend was anything to go by we will probably see McCrone in the number 7 next week (he was phenomenal for mounties) and Wighton back to fullback. In 2014 we would never have been in some of the games we have been in this year. Thrillers and must sees. It's all looking extremely positive for next year. If we are going to make the 8 this year we need to be much smarter with our offloading and Shaun Fensom needs a reality check with his ridiculous penalties. We looked a lot better once Kennedy replaced him (I never thought I'd say that.)
GTW
Guest
"Finally the result that should have happened" ... did you find one of the referees tip-sheets did you Crosscoder?
MAX
Guest
Next Sunday is worthy of a 50,000 crowd. Lucky are the 15, 000 ? who get a ticket. Naturally I am hoping for a Bulldog victory. The odds at best price $1.40 / $3.30 are an insult to Cronulla. Even with HGA I price the game at $1.85 / $2.00. Des would need to read the radar rather than fly under it. The Sharks on current form are a threat to any opposition. Hope it is a day of record low penalty count.
The eye
Guest
yep,Qlders just don't get it..
Renegade
Roar Guru
Paul Gallen's performance yesterday - 25 hit ups for 240m and 42 tackles. And people actually think that there might be a better forward in the game than him.... Puhlease. And yeah Valentine Holmes is still 19... Has the composure of a veteran that kid!
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Finally the result that should have happened ,when Fifita scored a fair try that was over ruled. Raiders always hard to beat in Canberra,2 points there worth double for the Shark's players emotionally. The much maligned Flanagan ,may well have the attacking formula for the backs melded with the always consistent forwards.
Renegade
Roar Guru
Definitely one of the games of the season... High intensity and you could feel the tension during the game with pretty much the whole second half played on a knifes edge. Important 2 points on the line - had a finals type feel to it. The Sharks keep getting better every week and keep climbing up the ladder along the way. Building very nicely at the right time of the year... Flanagan has done an outstanding job in ironing out the problems in attack. They are starting to ask plenty of questions now. They've got more big games to come and next Sunday's game against the Bulldogs at belmore will be huge. I think they'll beat them too.
GTW
Guest
Well that was a well balanced post. In many games, if a "good" team like the Storm, Roosters, Souths etc turn up with a really big effort, they win. Sometimes they play horribly and still win. It's a bugger when your team tries their guts out and keeps going close but loses consistently. A bugger.
GTW
Guest
Max, you're comments are true in regard to the last 5 minutes, but wrong for the game overall. I was at the game and the Raiders got some damned awful calls from both refs, but Ashley Klein just seems to hate the Raiders. There is NO doubt the Fafita try (no-try) was a try, and the controversial strip on Hodgson shouldn't have been given - but these two ruling were only newsworthy because the result of the game was on the line. Given many of the rubbish decisions given against the Raiders in the first 75 minutes, there had to be some get-even decisions. I don't think the refs cheat, but jeez they look at things in a weird way when they come to GIO Stadium. Maybe we don't put the heater on in the change rooms or something. The Raiders do some dopey things, combined with the refs decisions, and yet again they have to try to win with less than 45% possession. Klein ruled a forward pass against the Raiders that stopped a certain try - there is no way it was forward. Like Newcastle last week, Ennis passed so many balls that we're forward by a foot or so, yet they pick up a pass that goes backwards; it gets pretty annoying. I don't care if they stuff up evenly, but they don't. I'm not surprised the TV news showed that the Sharks would have been ripped off because of the bad refereeing decisions in the last few minutes, but it's not the true story. If it comes down to an assessment of making the right decisions at the right times, there's no doubt the right team won. The Raiders have lost almost a handful of games through a lack of footy intelligence this year. They have played below par on only two occasions though, the effort has been first class. 2015 may end up being on par with the wins in 2014, but the level of effort has been enormously different. They're down the bottom of the table with a positive points differential after 18 rounds, that is indicative of a good effort, we just need the brains to close out the close ones. I'm sure they'd have a bit more oxygen in their brains to make good decisions if they won some penalty counts and won the possession battle.
The eye
Guest
The only way they could have ruled against Fifita would be use of similar technology as at the tennis on a player's challenge...they don't,so we have this..good stuff sharks,well played raiders
MAX
Guest
Arguably, one of the best games of the season. Justice looks good, tastes great and has that smell to remember. The gods of League saved the game from the errant whistle and video.