NRL Finals 2020: Canberra Raiders beat Cronulla Sharks 32-20 | Match Report, results

The Sharks started their finals campaign in perfect fashion, stunning the Raiders early, before it all completely fell apart after a controversial referee decision opened the floodgates for Canberra, ending Cronulla’s season.

The grand final rematch is on after Canberra survived a scare to come from behind to beat Cronulla 32-20.

Jack Wighton sparked his side in the second half scoring two tries in three minutes after the home side trailed 14-6 at halftime in front of 9602 people with the Raiders racing in 26 unanswered points.

What awaits Canberra now is a knockout match against bitter rivals the Roosters who lost by one point to the Panthers on Friday night.

The Raiders premiership dreams were shattered last year by the Roosters in controversial fashion. The sides are level at one win apiece this year. Raiders coach Ricky Stuart did not want to buy into the grand final rematch but praised his team for their efforts.

“I’m still digesting tonight,” Stuart said. “We are fortunate we were only down that amount of points at halftime. That first half gave us a wonderful opportunity to get back in the game. I wouldn’t have liked to have been down by more than that.

“I was quite amazed it was 14-10 at halftime.”

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Jack Wighton was unstoppable for the Raiders, scoring his tenth career double to snatch victory from the Sharks. Picture: Getty Images.

The Sharks finish the year without beating a top eight side and battled with injuries losing two hookers. Cronulla started easily the better side but two first half lapses cost them dearly allowing Canberra to score the first and last try of the opening half. With nothing but pure determination lock Joe Tapine carried four Cronulla defenders over the tryline to score the first try of the match after nine minutes. Tapine had extra motivation heading into the match.

“I haven’t scored many this year,” Tapine said. “I had a bet with my wife saying I would score. Let’s just say I’m getting paid.”

Skipper Wade Graham’s intercept threw an intercept pass to allow George Williams to race away and have the home side trailing by just four at the break.

The Sharks dominated possession with 64 per cent in the first half and forced four line dropouts led by the boot of Chad Townsend including one from the Sharks’ opening set.

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WIGHTON DOUBLE

With his team trailing Wighton turned it on scoring the first two tries of the second half and laying on the third. The first brought about remonstration from Graham who attempted to alert referee Grant Atkins to a captain’s challenge. While Graham yelled, Wighton took a quick tap and scored. Graham and Atkins exchanged words after the try was awarded with the Sharks skipper screaming at Atkins that he wanted to challenge. Atkins said he could not challenge because it was a ruck infringement. NRL head of football Graham Annesley backed the decision.

“A ruck infringement decision cannot be challenged as it a discretionary decision under the rules,” Annesley said. “A quick tap is permitted from a penalty awarded more than 10 metres from the goal line.”

Cronulla coach John Morris said his side should have done better in the lead-up to the try.

Wighton scored his second just three minutes later when he plucked a cross field kick before laying on Williams’ second.

Cronulla’s Sione Katoa raced 95 metres to score an intercept try to close out the scoring.

The moment it all fell apart for the Sharks. Wade Graham tried to use a captain's challenge after a penalty, while Jack Wighton took the quick tap to score.

STUART PRAISE

Stuart said Wighton can only get better but praised his combination with Williams, who are in their first full season as a duo.

“The two halves got us right back into it,” Stuart said. “They both played extremely well. I commended them on their performance to the boys downstairs. I don’t usually single out people. They threw the team on their shoulders. Basically took us forward. I love that in halves. You know, c’mon follow me.”

COSTLY TRY

Cronulla hooker Blayke Brailey scored his first finals try but it came at a huge cost. Canberra back-rower Elliott Whitehead fumbled the ball just metres out from his own line allowing Brailey to scoop it up and score to give the Sharks a 14-6 lead. But when scoring, Brailey injured his ankle. He tried to play on and lasted a few more sets before limping from the field with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. The injury forced a reshuffle with Scott Sorensen moving to hooker with Brailey leaving the ground on crutches. Sorensen then hobbled from the field after seven minutes in the second half with an ankle injury forcing Connor Tracey into the hooking role.

The Sharks struggled after losing hooker Blayke Brailey, leaving the match after an awkward collision with the goalpost padding. Picture: Getty Images.

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LUCKY BATEMAN

John Bateman was lucky to stay on the field after being penalised for tripping Braden Hamlin-Uele as the Sharks prop chased a Townsend kick. Townsend kicked for himself and went close to scoring the first try but fumbled the ball in the in-goal. Hamlin-Uele was tripped by Bateman as he chased the ball with the Raiders back-rower fortunate not to be sin-binned but he shouldn’t have worries with the match review committee. Tracey’s speed helped lay on Cronulla’s opening try with the five-eighth getting on the outside of Raiders defenders before firing a cut-out pass for Ronaldo Mulitalo to score midway through the first half.

Wade Graham was furious after the first Wighton try was awarded, after giving up on the play to challenge the penalty decision. Picture: Getty Images.

TOUGH LOSS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR YOUNG SHARKS

Cronulla coach John Morris knew no-one gave his side a chance heading into the match. But leading by 14-6 in the dying stages of the second half they let the opportunity slip letting in 26 unanswered points.

“Everyone wrote us off except ourselves,” Morris said. “We believed we could get the job done. We showed that with our first half performance, we were quite clearly the better team in the first half. “You’re not going to win a finals game off the first 40 minutes. We went away what was working for us. We beat ourselves in the end.”

The Sharks finished the match with just 15 players, losing two hookers. Blayke Brailey scored his first finals try but it came at a huge cost.

Blayke Brailey left Canberra on crutches after an awkward injury sustained while scoring a try. Picture: Getty Images.

Canberra back-rower Elliott Whitehead fumbled the ball just metres out from his own line allowing Brailey to scoop it up and score to give the Sharks an eight-point lead. But when scoring, Brailey injured his ankle. He tried to play on and lasted a few more sets before limping from the field with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

The injury forced a reshuffle with Scott Sorensen moving to hooker with Brailey leaving the ground on crutches.

Sorensen then hobbled from the field after seven minutes in the second half with a groin/hamstring forcing Connor Tracey into the hooking role. This coupled with Shaun Johnson missing the game through injury made it difficult for Cronulla.

Sharks coach John Morris hopes his young team can take some positives out of their difficult 2020 season. Picture: Getty Images.

“We’ve had a tough year,” Morris said. “We’re working with a young playing group. It’s about what we learn out of these moments. It hurts and I felt like we could have got the win. It’s a good learning curve for these youngsters.”

Cronulla Sharks halfback Chad Townsend said the reshuffle “rocked” the side.

“We were on our third string hooker,” Townsend said. “I’m very proud of the boys and the effort. We faced a lot of adversity but came up short.”

RAIDERS 32 (Tries: Tapine, Williams 2, Wighton 2, Whitehead & Goals: Croker 4/6) SHARKS 20 (Tries: Muliatlo, Brailey, Katoa & Goals: Townsend 2/3) at GIO Stadium, Canberra.

Originally published as NRL Finals 2020: Canberra Raiders beat Cronulla Sharks 32-20 | Match Report, results