A spirited performance from the Jersey Flegg Sharks, highlighted by a few brilliant individual tries, saw them beat Manly 36-12 at 4 Pines Park.
Coming off a frustrating loss to Newcastle last week, Cronulla’s under 21s dug their heels in in defence, their big men dominating the middle of the field, and prop Manako Piutau also jagged a first-half double.
Current Endeavour Year 12 students and Cronulla's most recent Aussie Schoolboys, halfback Liam Challenor and 203cm tall prop Jamie Curran, proved they can handle the step up in their Flegg debuts.
The Sharks got off to a flyer with front rower Manako Piutau scoring after just 4 minutes, and they were back on the board in the 12th as well. Slick hands from Cronulla’s left edge sent winger Pharrell Gray down a tight corridor, as he pushed past his man, then steamrolled the Manly fullback to run away for an impressive four-pointer.
The Sharks middles dominated the ruck and hooker Jai Camilleri made good use of it, making a clean break before he drew in the Sea Eagles fullback and passed to Piutau, who raced away for his second of the afternoon.
Cronulla's defence held up for most of the half but the Sea Eagles struck back with two tries of their own to go into the sheds only trailing by 6 points at 18-12.
Early errors from the home side after the break gave the Sharks attacking field position, and Ukrainian international Yuri Hromow took full advantage; he stormed through a hole in the middle of Manly’s defence to score the first of the half.
Hromow wasn’t so fortunate minutes later; after back-to-back contentious calls, he was sin-binned, and the Sharks were forced to defend for 10 minutes with 12 men. However, they did so brilliantly, keeping Manly scoreless in that time.
In the 67th minute, Cronulla’s halfback on debut, Liam Challenor, showed why he was named player of the tournament at the ASSRL National Championships; he threw a beautiful cut-out pass to set up winger Richard Whalebone for his 19th try in 17 games this season.
Challenor had a hand in the next as well, putting up a bomb that was allowed to bounce. Eventually, a Sea Eagle collected the ball but was met with a vicious shot from Sharks centre Nikora Williams, who forced a knock-on and regathered the ball to run away for the final four-pointer.
Fullback Callum Gratham was perfect with the boot; he kicked 6 from 6 as Cronulla ran away with it 36-12. That win moves the Sharks back into the Jersey Flegg top 4, and only one spot above next week's opponents; they play the Rabbitohs next Sunday at Ocean Protect Stadium.
