Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldog’s late flurry was not enough to run down the Sharks 20-18 at Bankwest Stadium on Sunday night.
The home side put first points on the board with Sharks winger Sione Katoa touching down with an acrobatic finish, to lead 6-0 13 minutes into the match.
A brilliant running line saw Brandon Wakeham hit Will Hopoate through a hole to get the Dogs on level terms midway through the first half.
The dogs finished the half strong, though were not able to produce more points to end the half deadlocked at 6-all.
Brandon Wakeham was placed on report for dangerous contact on Josh Dugan. The five-eighth was sent to the bin due to repeated team infringements, which led to a second try to Sharks winger Sione Katoa.
Match Highlights: Round 6 vs Sharks
The winger completed a hat-trick 4 minutes later to push out Cronulla’s lead to 16-4 after 51 minutes.
A late fight back was on the cards when Kieran Foran dotted down on the end of an Adam Elliott grubber. A length of the field intercept to Bulldog’s winger Christian Crichton with 5 minutes to go set up a grand stand finish at Parramatta.
Though, time was not on Canterbury-Bankstown’s side with the Bulldogs falling short 20-18 to go down to Cronulla on a greasy track at Bankwest Stadium.
Cronulla Sharks 20 (Tries: Sione Katoa 3 & Bryson Goodwin; Goals: Shaun Johnson 2) defeated Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 18 (Will Hopoate, Kieran Foran & Christian Crichton; Goals: Averillo 3)
