SYDNEY - Inspired by halfback Brett Kimmorley, Cronulla routed defending champions Newcastle 64-14 in Sydney yesterday in the most astonishing result of the NRL this season.
While the Sharks have been on a roll over the past two months, the clash at Toyota Park had been expected to produce the closest
contest of the weekend.
But Cronulla, with Kimmorley winning his personal duel with Andrew Johns in the battle for the Kangaroos No 7 jersey, ran riot in the opening spell to lead 42-0 at halftime.
By fulltime they had run in 11 tries to three, with winger Matthew Rieck getting a hat-trick.
Kimmorley grabbed two himself and kicked 10 goals from 12 attempts to set a club record of 28 points in a match.
"It would have been nice to beat them by just two points, but today was something special," he said.
"It was a great feeling to have the game won by halftime. They are the premiers and we knew they would be fired up. We just matched their enthusiasm."
The victory, Cronulla's ninth in succession, was the biggest in their history and kept them in fifth spot.
For Newcastle, the defeat was their worst, eclipsing the 43-0 loss to the Warriors in Auckland in August 1999, and dropped them to fourth.
Competition leaders the Bulldogs are four points clear at the top, despite having their 17-match winning streak broken on Saturday night by the Warriors, who moved up to third courtesy of their rousing 22-14 win.
Brisbane stayed second but, after an upset 28-18 loss at home by the Sydney Roosters on Friday night, ended the round just a point ahead of the Warriors.
The Northern Eagles and Canberra both boosted their hopes of making the finals.
The Eagles beat St George Illawarra 20-18 at Aussie Stadium, thanks to a last-gasp try by skipper Steve Menzies.
Canberra, with centre Phillip Graham getting a hat-trick and Kiwis international Ruben Wiki also crossing, recorded an unconvincing 26-6 home win against Wests Tigers.
On Saturday, Melbourne kept their playoff hopes alive with a 40-30 victory over North Queensland in Townsville. The Storm outscored the Cowboys seven tries to six.
Parramatta made it another weekend to forget for bottom-of-the-table South Sydney, racking up a 54-0 whitewash on the back of 10 tries, one of them to Kiwis back David Vaealiki.
- NZPA
SYDNEY - Inspired by halfback Brett Kimmorley, Cronulla routed defending champions Newcastle 64-14 in Sydney yesterday in the most astonishing result of the NRL this season.
While the Sharks have been on a roll over the past two months, the clash at Toyota Park had been expected to produce the closest
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