Saturday’s second NRL Round 15 match is between Cronulla Sharks and Manly Sea Eagles with the opening kick to commence at 19:35 local time. The game is to be played at Remondis Stadium which see’s away team Manly Sea Eagles hold favouritism in the market. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between Cronulla Sharks and Manly Sea Eagles.
Where and when: 19:35 | Saturday 21/06/2014 @ Remondis Stadium
Preview:
Cronulla sunk to their fourth straight loss and tenth of the season when defeated 30 – nil by the Dragons in round 13.
For the second game in a row, the Sharks failed to bother the scoreboard attendant and with their next three rounds against Manly, Broncos and the Roosters, they might find it hard to break that trend.
The Sharks recent form on the field mirrors the drama that surrounds the club off it but this week, some light at the end of the tunnel maybe?!
Along with the regular halves being named in the starting line-up (Todd Carney and Jeff Robson), the Sharks will also welcome back Anthony Tupou, Johnathan Wright and have named Origin stars Paul Gallen and Luke Lewis in their side.
It’s the strongest side the Sharks have fielded for a number of weeks and will at least give the side a much needed lift as they face this week.
MANLY
The Sea Eagles recorded a good win over the Bulldogs back in their last match at Brookvale Oval 32 – 10 in trying conditions.
Manly’s half-back Daly Cherry Evans was instrumental in most of the Sea Eagles’ first half tries before leaving the field early in the second period with a knee injury.
He has been named in the side to take on the Sharks and will be backing up from Wednesday night’s Origin.
Manly have posted a win/lose record over the past five weeks and only have recorded one win from their past four games away from Brookvale but here, against the struggling Sharks, they’ll be afforded no better opportunity to address that record and put a few wins back to back.
The Sea Eagles are second on the ladder only one win in front of five teams, two of which have the bye so a loss here, could see the Sea Eagles drop to potentially sixth if the Broncos and Bulldogs win.
HEAD TO HEAD
Cronulla only boast one win over Manly in their past ten attempts and were comprehensively beaten 24 – 4 when the two sides last met in round 6 of this year.
Manly led 20 – 0 at halftime in that match and clocked off in the second half, preventing what should have been a much more dominant score-line.
Daly Cherry-Evans and Anthony Watmough have been named in the side and will be backing up from Origin
The Sharks with the rarity of being able to field a near full strength squad will offer some resistance but not enough to see Manly winning this one.
Teams:
SHARKS: 1. Nathan Gardner 2. Sosaia Feki 3. Blake Ayshford 4. Jonathan Wright 5. Michael Gordon 6. Todd Carney 7. Jeff Robson 8. Siosaia Vave 9. Michael Lichaa 10. Bryce Gibbs 11. Luke Lewis 12. Wade Graham 13. Paul Gallen 14. Fa’amanu Brown 15. Chris Heighington 16. Anthony Tupou 17. Sam Tagataese 18. Tinirau Arona.
MANLY: 1. Brett Stewart 2. Jorge Taufua 3. Jamie Lyon 4. Steve Matai 5. Peta Hiku 6. Kieran Foran 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Josh Starling 9. Matt Ballin 10. Brenton Lawrence 11. Anthony Watmough 12. Justin Horo 13. Jamie Buhrer 14. Jesse Sene-Lefao 15. Dunamis Lui 16. Tom Symonds 17. Jason King 18. James Hasson 20. Jack Littlejohn
News:
Referees Shayne Hayne and Ben Cummins are under increased pressure to hold their spots for State of Origin III after being accused of losing control at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night.
In one of the more spiteful Origin games in recent memory, the niggle was non-stop throughout the 80 minutes and the whistleblowers were unable to set a clear marker early.
Through the referees’ microphone players were continuously heard pleading with Hayne and Cummins to get a handle on proceedings as the game went from one spot fire to the next.
Queensland forward Nate Myles was filthy about an alleged knee from a NSW player which fractured Matt Scott’s eye socket and ruled him out of the match – but went unpunished.
NSW were equally bemused when Myles threw a punch at James Tamou and stayed on the field, even though the rules state an almost mandatory 10 minutes in the sin bin for the offence.
The biggest boil over of them all came with two minutes left when Johnathan Thurston and Josh Reynolds clashed heads in an ugly exchange.
Asked about the performance of the referees, NSW hooker Robbie Farah told AAP post-game:
“I think they probably lost control a bit but I don’t really care now we’ve won the game,” he said.
Queensland were also reluctant to make a big deal of some perceived refereeing blunders, offering no excuses for the 6-4 defeat which ended their incredible eight-year reign.
But in the post-match press conference coach Mal Meninga said his team had copped two incorrect calls against them at crucial moments.
In the 52nd minute, Meninga believes forward Sam Thaiday should have been awarded a try when Blues fullback Jarryd Hayne dislodged the ball from his grasp.
Had the try been awarded it would have been 10-0 Queensland.
Then from the re-start after Trent Hodkinson had put NSW ahead 6-4 with nine minutes left, replays clearly showed the kick-off grazed Blues forward Aaron Woods’ chest before it went out on the full.
It should have been a drop out to Queensland, but instead NSW received a penalty on halfway.
Hayne and Cummins survived the axe from game one, despite NSW coach Laurie Daley and the Blues camp left fuming at a series of questionable decisions at the death.
