CRONULLA coach Shane Flanagan labelled Saturday’s 18-14 win over the Warriors in New Zealand as the Sharks best defensive performance of the season — and has now set his sights on a top four spot.
Valentine Holmes was again the star as Cronulla continued their exceptional run of form.
The Sharks had to do without Andrew and David Fifita, who were stood down by the club earlier in the week until an investigation into their conduct at a junior rugby league match is complete, and Luke Lewis (knee injury).
A disappointing first half for Cronulla had their hosts with almost 70 per cent of possession as the Sharks struggled.
But as has so often happened in 2015, the Sharks refused to quit.
A gutsy second half fightback was complete when Ricky Leutele crashed over with nine minutes remaining to give Cronulla the lead for the first time in the match.
Flanagan hailed the effort.
‘‘We made some outstanding tackles,’’ he said.
‘‘A couple on our line there we made, and our centres made some crucial tackles there as well.
‘‘We got a little bit of possession [in the second half]; that was probably our best defensive effort of the season.
‘‘I thought we were outstanding defending our line; courageous.
‘‘Our defence in the first half ended up winning us the game.’’
Sharks captain Paul Gallen agreed.
‘‘We know we’re a tough side; it’s something that Flanno has been trying to drum into us all year,’’ he said.
‘‘If we can play a little smarter then we won’t have to do it so hard.
‘‘We’re not getting any smarter but we’re getting tougher, for sure.’’
Holmes, 20, produced two sublime finishes to get the Sharks back in the game after half-time.
The win was Cronulla’s seventh in their last eight games and moved them up to fifth place on 26 points.
Cronulla are one of the form teams of the competition and Flanagan admitted he now had one eye on the top end of the table.
‘‘If we keep performing like that I think we’re a chance [of making the top four],’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve got two tough ones for the next two [Cowboys and Storm].
‘‘But we’ve got some games at home and we’d like to think we can win all of them.
‘‘That’s the attitude in the playing group at the moment.’’
In other Cronulla news, Andrew Fifita will face the Cronulla board on Thursday over his alleged misconduct at a Penrith junior rugby league game.
Leader Scoreboard
Cronulla Sharks 18 (V Holmes 2, R Leutele tries. M Gordon three goals)
Defeated
New Zealand Warriors 14 (K Hurrell, S Mannering tries. T Lolohea three goals)
At Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland.
Crowd: 12,481.
Leader man of the match: Valentine Holmes.
Sharks’ next three: Cowboys (home), Storm (home), Tigers (home).
Can the Sharks do it again?
