Relentless Hits Put Sharks On Victory Road
Relentless Hits Put Sharks On Victory Road
Daily Telegraph - Dean Ritchie
23/03/2011 3:12:52 PM
It was the set of six that rocked the NRL premiers.
In the 63rd minute of Monday night's Toyota Stadium boilover, a shellshocked St George Illawarra were forced to come out of their own end against a rampant and snarling Sharks pack.
What took place over the next minute was extraordinary. The harder the hits, the louder the crowd became. It was sustained ferocity.
Fired up and angry at being considered easy-beats, Cronulla surged towards the Dragons attackers, limiting them to just 14m in five tackles. It's difficult to imagine Saints being held to such a limited amount of metres again during 2011.
The sequence took away any hope Saints held that Cronulla would meekly fold.
Despite two late Dragons tries, Cronulla held on for a famous local derby win.
The set of six started with a Sharks turnover.
Dan Hunt was then crunched twice, Kyle Stanley copped the treatment, so did Mark Gasnier and finally Michael Greenfield. Stanley was then more than happy to kick on the fifth tackle. Paul Gallen was in the middle of the mayhem, as were Kade Snowden and Jeremy Smith.
Not one Saints player made more than 5m with a run.
"It certainly gave us a lift," Sharks coach Shane Flanagan said yesterday.
"It is something I know we are capable of doing regularly. We have some good defenders in our team.
"We held possession on Monday night so we didn't have to defend for too long. We had a bit of energy in our legs and that showed in our aggression.
"It was 16-0 at that stage and we were feeling pretty good and completing our sets.
"The challenge, though, is to consistently reproduce that controlled aggression."
The Dragons were bracing themselves for a torrid derby but seemed unable to stem Cronulla's wave of energy.
They weren't that bad - they just weren't given a sniff by the Sharks until a late try on full-time narrowed the lop-sided score.
Cronulla have been guilty in the past of roughing up opponents but then drifting off during patches in matches. But not Monday night. They stayed hungry, tough and focused for the entire game.
"We spoke about [bashing them] during the week, that's what we had to do," Cronulla skipper Gallen said.
"The big thing for us is playing next week, that's what we have to do.
"We've set a benchmark for ourselves today and there's no reason we shouldn't be able to play like that most weeks - if not every week. It was just a simple game.
"I'm not getting carried away ... we have to play like that next week."
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