Report
Bryden Sharp © Rugby League News Magazine
The Western Suburbs Magpies pulled off a massive upset defeating a disappointing Cronulla Sharks outfit at Henson Park.
The Magpies looked the hungriest to start the match with some heavy defence forcing some uncharacteristic errors from the Sharks. The Sharks were their own worst enemy gifting the Magpies some cheap field position with a number of errors in their own half. The Magpies' opened the scoring in the 11th minute after a Sharks' error saw Arthur Little win the race to a kick in behind the line. David Fifita missed with his first attempt of the afternoon leaving the score at 4-0. The game then went into a real dog fight with both sides squandering chances. The Sharks' continued to let themselves down with poor ball control but their defence kept them in the game. Wests' blew the game open with a try on the eve of halftime. This time it was a Sharks forward pass gifting the Magpies some handy territory and they made the Sharks pay with a try to Rhys Lenarduzzi. Fifita converted taking the half time score to 10-0.
The injection of Scott Porter seemed the right ingredient to spark a Sharks' revival. The Sharks' started the half brilliantly when John Williams flew over in the corner after some good hands from Porter. Williams failed to convert his own try leaving the score at 10-4. Mid way through the 2nd stanza Porter nailed a 40/20, from the scrum base the ball was dropped letting the Magpies off the hook once again. The Sharks got within two points in the 60th minute when a select ball from Porter hit Kose Lelei on the chest for a four pointer. Williams' kick from the sideline went wide leaving the score at 10-8. The Magpies extended their lead to a converted try in the 70th minute after Gus Aiga flew high, batted the ball back to Andrew Everingham who strolled across the line to score. Fifita missed the conversion attempt leaving the Sharks within striking range. The final nail in the Sharks' coffin came on the back of a 78th minute penalty goal to Fifita which took the lead out to eight.
Worst ive seen them play all season, with the Vulcans winning we drop to 3rd, Newtown had a shock loss to Manly but still have a bye up their sleeves, they are 3 points behind us
Two weeks time their is a double header at Henson, Us V Vulcans, Jets V Dogs, all top four teams, that round will more then likely set the positions for the top 4