Dragons run down Sharks to make it two from two

When the Sharks play like they did in the second half on Thursday night, it wouldn’t matter who wore No 1.

Cronulla’s Andrew Fifita is held up over the line by some determined Dragons defence at Southern Cross Group Stadium. Picture: AAP

Forget about the debate over who should play fullback for Cronulla. When the Sharks play like they did in the second half at Southern Cross Stadium in a 20-16 defeat to the Dragons, it wouldn’t matter who wears the No 1 jersey.

A litany of errors and penalties consigned Cronulla to their second loss in as many matches to open the season, even the sin-binning of St George Illawarra winger Jason Nightingale not enough to aid their cause.

The Sharks were actually at their worst when Nightingale was off the field. By the time Nightingale re-entered the fray, the Dragons held a 20-16 lead and they were in no mood to surrender it.

It capped a remarkable second-half turnaround after the Sharks had dominated much of the first half, using a strong breeze and mountains of possession to take a 10-point lead into the break.

At that point, coach Shane Flanagan’s decision to switch Valentine Holmes and Josh Dugan looked a masterstroke. Holmes had barely been sighted, but Dugan was a prominent figure at fullback.

By game’s end, the fullback position was the least of Flanagan’s worries, although Dugan had blotted his copybook when he lost the ball over the line with his side clinging to the lead in the second half.

At that stage, the Dragons were in the nascent stages of their comeback. It had begun six minutes into the second half when they struck back thanks to a slice of good fortune.

Ben Hunt attempted a short kick but barely made contact with the ball. It bounced back up into his thigh, he nudged it through and Tyson Frizell stormed onto the ball, racing over under the posts.

The gap was four points and by the 57-minute mark — three minutes after Dugan had bombed his try — St George Illawarra led for the first time in the match. The Dragons simply went through the hands and Euan Aitken stretched out to score.

Their lead lasted four minutes. Nightingale motored down Sosaia Feki after an intercept but then went on with the tackle. He was sent to the sin-bin, Chad Townsend kicked the penalty and the scores were level.

The Sharks had the numerical advantage on the field but the Dragons quickly regained it on the scoreboard.

Despite playing a man short, a succession of penalties meant St George Illawarra were back out to a four-point lead with 10 minutes remaining.

The comeback was complete. The Dragons remained undefeated and their closest neighbours the exact opposite.

“You don’t come here to win pretty,” Dragons coach Paul McGregor said.

“You come here to scrap to win. It wasn’t a great game to watch. Our draw was tough the first two weeks. To come away with two from two .... is pleasing.”

The winless Sharks meet Parramatta next up .

“It was really disappointing,” Flanagan said.

“One error in the first half and then we trotted 10 out in the second half. You just can’t do it.’’

Asked about the fullback switch, Flanagan said: “Both of them had errors in their game.”

Pressed on Holmes, Flanagan became agitated.

“He was the world’s best winger someone in the media told me today,” Flanagan said.

“I will talk to him about his game. He had some errors in it. We need to pick it up — not just him but everyone ”