2006 Round 16 vs Cronulla Sutherland Sharks:
Cronulla Sutherland 26 defeated Newcastle 16.
Cronulla came up with the points, but Newcastle were left ruing several extremely tough refereeing decisions that cost them victory (as well as a Todd Lowrie dropped ball over the tryline) in a controversial round 16 clash at EnergyAustralia Stadium. Cronulla ended up prevailing 26-16, and even though Newcastle were denied 3 legitimate tries, they would be left cursing themselves at the mother of all blown tries by Todd Lowrie, that could equally have wrapped the game up.
Newcastle got off to a fantastic start with an almost perfect 40 minutes of football. Far from the tired and lethargic efforts that had seen them without a win in the last month, they were energetic, attacking in defence, and leaving Cronulla wondering what hit them at halftime. Newcastle lead 10-0 at the break, with first of all Anthony Quinn crossing after a lovely Kurt Gidley cut-out pass put him in space 20 metres from the Cronulla line in the 22nd minute. Andrew Johns missed the goal, but made up for it when Quinn crossed again in the 34th minute, by slotting the conversion for the 10-0 lead. This time it was George Carmont who sucked in two defenders, before providing a lovely pass for Quinn to run 30 metres, unopposed, to score.
The two tries were intersected by a try to Brian Carney in the 26th minute, which was called back for a non-existent forward pass, supposedly thrown by Andrew Johns.
If the first half was quality by Newcastle, the start of the second was dreadful. The carefully crafted 10-0 lead evaporated in the first 5 minutes. First of all Greg Bird took a Brett Kimmorley bomb 15 metres from the Knights line, and somehow got a cracker of a pass away to Nigel Vagana, who had a clear run to the line. Soon after Paul Gallen made a break, and put Brett Kearney away with a 20 metre run to the line. Twin conversion by Luke Covell gave Cronulla the lead 12-10.
Within 5 minutes Newcastle were in again, however. Finding themselves insides Cronulla's 20 metre zone, Andrew Johns elected to run the ball on the last tackle, finding Craig Smith on his inside, who barged his way over. It was Smith's second try fo Newcastle, at last adding to his tally, which had been stuck on one since he scored in his very first game for the Knights in early 2005.
Newcastle had their chance to wrap the match up between the 60th and 70th minutes of the game, but could not do so (at least to the satisfaction of the video referee). First of all in the 62nd minute Andrew Johns bombed towards the goalposts. Reegan Tanner and Brett Kimmorley leapt for the ball, with replays showing only Kimmorley touched the ball. Josh Perry was on the spot to regather the ball and dive over, but amazingly the video referee turned down the try.
Two minutes later Anthony Quinn appeared to have collected his hat-trick, and David Simmons spilt an Andrew Johns bomb on his own line. Quinn dived past Darren Albert to seemingly force the ball, but again the Knights were unbelievably turned down by the video referee. This time the video ref even missed the David Simmons knock-on, and incorrectly gave the Sharks a 20 metre tap.
Newcastle still had their chance to put the match beyond doubt in the 68th minute. Again hot on the attack, Andrew Johns gave a short ball to Todd Lowrie who appeared over for all money, but he had the ball punched out by David Simmons centimetres from the turf. Clinging to a 16-14 lead, Newcastle couldn't rally from yet another setback, and soon Cronulla took advantage of another missed opportunity by the Knights.
First of all in the 70th minute Brett Kimmorley threw a long pass to Luke Covell, and he found Beau Scott who crashed over in the corner, then with three and a half minutes remaining, Nigel Vagana snuck across from dummy-half to put the issue beyond doubt.
Newcastle had reason to be fuming after having three legitimate tries turned down by match officials, but would also recognise that they had their chance to win when Lowrie lost the ball over the line, and that they surrendered a commanding 10-0 halftime lead. It was at least the Knights best performance in over a month, but that would be little comfort as they continue their plunge down the ladder. A knee injury to Kurt Gidley that sees him sidelined for at least the next month is further bad news for Newcastle.
Cronulla again displayed their no-nonsense, never say die, brand of football that has seen them do so well in 2006, and collected another two-points in a tough encounter. On this form they will progress a long way into the semis.
What they said:
Michael Hagan:
"I think the better team lost, put it that way. We had a couple of tries disallowed and I'm not convinced they weren't tries. There was nothing in the footage that indicated they were not tries. We did everything but win the game."
"[On a NSW SOS for Andrew Johns] I have no idea if that is going to happen."
Stuart Raper:
"[On Brett Kimmorley's Origin chances] The way he steered us around the park tonight was superb, and he has done that for the past four weeks."
"He is ideal for what they need. I think if the selectors don't pick him they must have rocks in their head."