Sharks show flair while flare-wielding pitch invader interrupts game as Tigers sink to fifth straight loss

Cronulla cemented their place among the NRL’s top four while the Wests Tigers have done likewise for 16th spot.

The Sharks don’t look out of place alongside competition heavyweights Melbourne, Penrith and Parramatta at the pointy end of the ladder, improving to a 4-1 record with 30-4 walk in the Shark Park. It’s the first time since 2008 that they’ve started a season with four wins from their first five.

And the Tigers, after five straight losses, are wondering where their next win will come from as pressure mounts on coach Michael Maguire with every winless week.

A pitch invader, draped in a cape, livened up the non-contest midway through the second half when he ran onto the field while letting off a flare. The Tigers provided no flair during the 80 minutes they were on the field.

The man, draped in a red “Fireproof Australia” banner, was able to get within touching distance of players before he was stopped by security and was at one point held by Tigers lock Joe Ofahenguae.

A short time later, three other spectators entered the field as ground staff attempted to extinguish the after-effects of the flare.

A female pitch invader was heavily tackled by security on the Gold Coast in Parramatta’s win over the Titans on Saturday night.

“To get that close to players, things like that, who knows what his intentions were,” Tigers skipper James Tamou said. “Luckily nothing happened but hopefully this situation puts a bit more urgency into upcoming games.”

The 26-point flogging was the last thing Tigers coach Michael Maguire needed as he fights to save his job despite being under contract until the end of 2023.

“Of course, every fan wants to win. We all want to win,” Maguire said.

“But you just can’t wave a magic wand when you have to change a few things in an organisation. It’s about looking at all the smaller areas.

“There are so many good things going on at our club from juniors upwards. But it takes time.

“We haven’t been able to do those things in the past. And that plays a big part in being able to establish yourself that sit at the top.”

And Maguire disagreed, as he would, with assertions from Andrew Johns in Nine’s commentary that his team were still yet to hit rock bottom.

“I disagree (with Johns),” Maguire said. “He is able to have his comments. But what I see is what is going on in internally.

“I have been able to see what it looks like at a number of organisations. And the commitment of the players every week have really turned up.”

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon was for the most part happy with his team’s performance but said there was still room for improvement.

“There is a balance between playing the style of football we want to play and also reining it in and getting to the end of our sets,” Fitzgibbon said.

“It’s a tough balance, because I don’t want them to stop playing either.”

Coming into the match on the back of four straight defeats, Wests Tigers copped a blow before they made the trip to Shark Park when Daine Laurie was ruled out after testing positive to COVID-19 and centre James Roberts (back) was ruled out. 

Starford To’a, acquired late in the off-season from Newcastle, was switched to fullback. 

The Tigers withstood some early pressure but coughed up the ball in their first attacking raid when Luke Brooks dished out a blatantly forward pass. 

Cronulla made them pay on the next set when To’s spilled a bomb and Briton Nikora galloped over for a 6-0 lead inside 10 minutes. 

They were lucky not to go further behind when Jacob Liddle spilled a pass from dummy half without a defender near him and Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo looked like he’d scored from the ensuing scrum. But a video review showed his boot just grazed the sideline as he crossed out wide.

Sharks prop Braden Hamlin-Uele was placed on report for a high shot on Kelma Tuilagi which left the Tigers second-rower looking dusty but the heavy hit didn’t appear to make high contact or constitute a shoulder charge. 

Cronulla’s other winger, Sione Katoa, zig-zagged over midway through the first half to make it 10-0, shredding the non-existent Tigers defence out wide. 

Katoa sliced through again close to half-time when the floundering Tigers gave away a needless blocking penalty and compounded the error by burning a captain’s challenge. 

At 14-0 down, the Tigers needed to be the first to score in the second half to have any chance of staging an improbable comeback.

It looked like Cronulla had extended their advantage four minutes after the restart when Siosifa Talakai touched down after Andrew Fifita claimed he had been stripped of the ball but replays showed he lost possession when hit in a tackle close to the stripe.

The last rights to this contest were delivered in the 49th minute when the Sharks spiralled the ball along the backs for Mulitalo to sprint in for a 20-0 buffer.

When the match was delayed for a few minutes in the 57th minute when the idiot ran onto the field carrying a flare with orange smoke billowing out across the turf, it could have helped the visitors in delaying the home side’s momentum. But even that couldn’t stop the onslaught.

“They should just throw them in the bar where all the Sharks fans are, let them deal with them,” Andrew Johns said on Nine commentary.

The Sharks claimed a fifth try in the 67th minute when prop Toby Rudolf latched onto a pinball sequence in the in-goal area but it was denied. A few tackles later Jesse Ramien made amends when he strolled through some flimsy defence out wide.

When Will Kennedy joined in the procession a short time later, the Sharks were up 30-0 and Maguire’s troops were counting down the minutes until full-time, the pain eased slightly when Ken Maumalo jagged an intercept try on the bell.

Tigers fans, desperate for some sort of change to arrest their terminal slide, are counting down the days until the club pull the trigger on the coach’s tenure.