A day to forget for Canberra
CANBERRA coach Matthew Elliott is a realist if ever there was one, and he had no plans to make excuses for his team's shabby performance in crawling out of the starting blocks before losing to Cronulla yesterday. -
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/a-day-to-forget-for-canberra/2006/05/14/1147545210887.html
A day to forget for Canberra
By Greg Prichard
May 15, 2006
CANBERRA 28 CRONULLA 38
CANBERRA coach Matthew Elliott is a realist if ever there was one, and he had no plans to make excuses for his team's shabby performance in crawling out of the starting blocks before losing to Cronulla yesterday.
"There is a base level about our sport which is to do with investing effort and energy and they [Cronulla] did more in every aspect of the game than us," Elliott said. "They tried harder than us, that's what happened."
Making it even more frustrating for the Raiders was the knowledge they had trained so well in the lead-up to the game.
"I've never been involved in a better week of training," said fullback and captain Clinton Schifcofske. "But what we produced in the game was unacceptable."
The beginning by the Raiders was as soft as you can get and after 13 minutes they trailed 16-0. The Sharks went into the game without not only their first-choice halfback, Brett Kimmorley, but also Adam Dykes, who had been deputising for Kimmorley after switching from five-eighth before he got hurt last weekend. Yet the absence of both of their regular playmakers didn't seem to matter.
Canberra provided minimal resistance as Cronulla scored three tries in the first 12 minutes through hooker Kevin Kingston, fullback David Simmons and five-eighth Nigel Vagana. Winger Luke Covell converted two of the tries to shoot the visitors to a 16-0 lead.
Raiders centre David Howell scored off an intercept in the 18th minute and Schifcofske converted, cutting the deficit to 10 points, but instead of that response being the launching pad for a comeback, it was only a short interruption to Cronulla's first-half dominance.
The Sharks scored again, through lock Paul Gallen, in the 21st minute, and three minutes later, centre Paul Bailey crossed. Covell missed with both conversion attempts, but Cronulla had kicked away to lead 24-6, an advantage that they took to the break.
Canberra had gone into the game with a scoring average of less than 24 points, so it was hard to envisage their overhauling the Sharks after the interval, particularly since the Sharks had conceded an average of just more than 22 going into the game.
As so often happens in these circumstances, the team that got turned on its head in the first half came back with a much better effort in the second, and the Raiders, after the Sharks had at first extended their lead to 30-6, scored three tries in seven minutes to cut the lead to 30-22.
But one more try from Cronulla was enough to take the edge off Canberra's revival and the Sharks pulled away again to a 38-22 lead before Canberra scored right on full-time.
Cronulla coach Stuart Raper was naturally delighted with the way his team had played, considering that not only were Kimmorley and Dykes both out but also that the Sharks lost second-rower Lance Thompson (knee) and five-eighth Vagana (eye) during the game.
Thompson will have scans to assess a problem in the back of his knee, but it is not considered serious and he will probably play this weekend.
Vagana got a scrape across the eye and was wearing a patch over it after the game, but there was no significant damage and he, too, should be OK for the next round.
"We ended up without the four most experienced players in our squad, and to win the game so well after that was a tremendous effort," Raper said. "They came back in the second half and we had to see that off, which we did.
"We've been going through a change of playing style in which we're trying not to rely too much on individuals and I think we saw a good example of that today. It was a great team effort."
Elliott, while disappointed with the way his team went about things, said the Sharks deserved congratulations for winning under tough circumstances.
"They had blokes backing up [from the City-Country match on Friday night] and they lost a couple of fellows during the game," he said. "I take my hat off to them. It was a really gutsy performance."
Elliott conceded it was a forgettable day but added that he wouldn't be able to forget it that easily.
"If you can arrange it [I'll forget it]," he said. "But it's pretty fresh in the memory at the moment."
MATCH FOCUS
THEY SAID
Canberra coach Matthew Elliott wasn't beating about the bush about why his team lost. "They [Cronulla] did more in every aspect of the game than us," Elliott said. "They tried harder than us, that's what happened."
STAR MAN
Cronulla halfback Brett Kearney is playing for a contract for next year and he's on the way to getting one after a fine effort running the game for his team yesterday.
