NRL Round Up – Round 23

Correspondent

Sydney’s recent good run of form came to a crashing end when they were beaten 18-12 by lowly Cronulla.

The Roosters had lead 12-6 at half time thanks to tries from Braith Anasta and Sean Kenny-Dowall.

But the resurgent Sharks grabbed second half scores from Dean Collis and the electric Nathan Gardner to steal the win and dent the Roosters’ top four aspirations.

Parramatta hit back at their critics by recording a vital 30-14 victory over Brisbane.

An early score to Jarryd Hayne was added to just before the interval by Krisnan Inu to hand the Eels a 12-4 half time lead.

Tries to Jaral Yow Yeh and Ben Te’o gave the Broncos hope but Parra grabbed further tries from Joel Reddy, Luke Burt and Anthony Mitchell to secure the win.

Gold Coast held on to record their fourth straight win, over North Queensland 37-18.

Titans tries from Scott Prince Nathan Friend and Steve Michaels helped the Titans establish a 19-0 lead at half time.

A double from Cowboys flyer Ty Williams and a score from hooker Anthony Watts gave the visitors hope, but the Titans regained control and registered further scores from Luke Bailey, Anthony Minichiello and Michaels to claim the win.

Canberra came from behind to record and encouraging 28-14 victory over Canterbury.

The Raiders, despite grabbing scores from, Josh Dugan and Alan Tongue trailed 14-12 at the break.

But the visitors built on their early dominance to record three second half scores from Jarrod Croker, Daniel Vidot and Josh McCrone to seal the result.

Newcastle spluttered to defeat against an impressive New Zealand Warriors outfit 22-10.

Manu Vatuvei grabbed a second half double to help the Warriors establish a 10-4 half time lead.

The big winger added to his tally after the break as did promising youngster Bill Tupou to hand the home side a comfortable 12-point winning margin.

South Sydney’s finals hopes hang by a thread following their narrow defeat at Melbourne 18-16.

Luke Capewell’s early score was cancelled out by an effort from Billy Slater for the Storm who took the lead when Ryan Hinchcliffe crossed for the first of his two tries.

Hinchcliffe score quickly after half time but a double from Nathan Merritt after the break looked to have sealed an important win for Souths.

Chris Sandow’s early conversion miss proved to be the decider as the visitors went down by two points.

Penrith’s late season drop in form continued when they were thumped 43-18 by Wests Tigers at Campbelltown.

The Tigers established an 18-6 lead at the break with scores from Robbie Farah, Andrew Fifita and Robert Lui.

Michael Gordon and Michael Jennings crossed for the Panthers after the break but the Tigers ran riot with English import Gareth Ellis grabbing two scores to go with Fifita’s second and a final try to Chris Lawrence.

St George re-affirmed their minor premiership credentials when they walloped Manly 32-10.

A superb individual score from Jamie Soward was followed by a generous video refereeing decision to award a try to Mark Gasnier to give the Dragons a 10-4 lead at the break.

Kieran Foran crossed for the Sea Eagles in the second period but it wasn’t enough to stop the rampant visitors who added further scores from Michael Weyman, Nathan Fien, Beau Scott and Brett Morris.

NRL