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The Cronulla Sharks have beaten the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles by 28-22 in the NRL trial at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
In a match marred by some awful weather in the first half, as squalling winds and rain swept across the ground, the Sharks looked the better team for the final 60 minutes of the contest.
Early on, it appeared to be a night for the eagle rock as the visitors took an early lead, yet the Sharks used a little luck and some good management to claw their way back into the game.
Des Hasler has returned to the Eagles with a reputation for negative and grinding play that became the Bulldog’s trademark.
Their appeared little sign of that in the Eagles’ performance tonight, as the attacking potency of the men from the northern beaches was clear for all to see in the first half.
Later in the match, when Hasler had benched his stars, the Sharks looked far more comfortable and capitalised accordingly, yet one couldn’t help but feel that when the game was up for grabs, the Eagles had the ascendancy.
Martin Taupau was the standout for the Eagles tonight with a dominant display in the middle third of the field. Curtis Sironen and Dylan Walker also had good moments in the first half yet when the troops left the field in the second, Kane Elgey was left to command a ship that appeared to have no rudder and the Sharks took control.
The Sharks fans and coaching staff will be getting excited about the form of Bronson Xerri after a wonderful solo try and Kyle Flanagan tried hard in attack.
There were some excellent second half performances from members of the Sharks bench and Isaac Lumelume and Daniel Vasquez made a late impact on the match.
It was a real shame that Manly didn’t share their squad numbers with the media earlier in the week so callers could prepare for the action more diligently. Combined with the very poor quality of the NRL stream, it made for a tough night at the office if one was calling the game.
Hopefully things are far better prepared for the second week of trials. Both teams will walk away from this game knowing they did a lot right and aware of the handling and positional errors they made in defence.
Both Hasler and John Morris will be excited by what they saw.
Cronulla Sharks 28
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 22