Sharks fight to make it two in a row
Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart may claim that he doesn't care or look at the NRL ladder but you can bet he'll have a peek on Sunday night to see his side has clawed their way out of bottom place.
The Sharks recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season and relegated the Sydney Roosters to 16th when they scored a 18-10 win over the struggling Warriors at Toyota Stadium on Sunday.
The three-tries-to-two victory was Cronulla's second win at home this season and just their third victory of 2009 after breaking a nine-match losing streak against Parramatta last weekend.
The Sharks raced to a 18-0 lead after just 29 minutes with tries to Matt Wright, Anthony Tupou and Nathan Stapleton, while Luke Covell had no problems with the conversions.
The Warriors, who now sit five points outside the top eight, in 12th, managed tries either side of halftime but paid dearly for starting the match slowly.
Coach Stuart praised the performance of his young side and said watching the NRL table was a waste of energy.
"I haven't looked at the table all year, 100 percent," Stuart said.
" It doesn't do me any good. You burn energy over and you only have to be half smart to know where you are.
"Getting away to an 18-nil lead is something that we're not real used to here so it was handy.
"Bit disappointing in the second half, we probably could have attacked a bit smarter ... it would have been nice to score another couple of tries."
Stuart singled out the impressive work done by newcomers Blake Ferguson, Nathan Stapleton, Matt Wright and reserved special praise for second-game halfback Scott Porter.
"I think we're a little bit too quick to judge young player in today's game," Stuart said.
"Scotty Porter, without his kicking game and his direction in and around the ruck, (five-eighth) Trent (Barrett) doesn't get a little bit of a break.
"Our kick chase has been terrific because of our kicking game and Scotty Porter ... is handling it really well, it all adds up and it all helps.
"I know that it's all nice and easy for me to sit here and to keep patting them on the back, but they've had a tough, tough , ten weeks and they're tough kids to be able to get through that."
Warriors coach Ivan Cleary admitted his side failed to fire after a physical encounter with the Wests Tigers last week.
"I felt like the game was there to come back (from 18-0 down) but it is hard consistently giving up points early in the game," Cleary said.
"The Sharks were obviously on a bit of a high early in the week, coming home and getting away to a good lead like that, inspires a bit of confidence and helps with that commitment.
"It's some comfort that we seem to be in this position every year so, been there and done that ,before so we've just got to be focused on what's next."
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