NRL: Williams leads Raiders rout over Sharks

Dane Tilse of the Raiders celebrates after scoring a try. Photo / Getty Images

Canberra halfback Sam Williams made a dream National Rugby League debut as he guided the Raiders to a 40-12 thrashing of hapless Cronulla at Canberra Stadium today.

The 20-year-old was a late inclusion for high-profile recruit Matt Orford, who was ruled out with an adductor strain, and the Sharks could have been excused for thinking the youngster was a weak link in the Raiders side.

However the kid from Cooma was anything but.

Williams kicked a crucial 40-20 and also delivered a magic pass to set up Joe Picker to score one of the Raiders' seven tries.

The halfback said he felt his performance had countered criticism that at around 82kg he was too much of a lightweight to succeed in the NRL.

"I think that's just a challenge that I enjoyed, making sure that I proved a few blokes wrong, that I can handle it in the physical side of things," Williams said.

The Sharks were unable to stop Canberra from piling on the points as the Green Machine that rolled into the 2010 finals continued from where they left off last year.

Unfortunately for Cronulla, they also continued their form of last year.

Compounding their woes was the sending off of hooker Paul Aiton in the 74th minute for headbutting Raiders centre Joel Thompson.

Canberra also suffered a couple of setbacks.

Captain Alan Tongue injured an AC joint after a shoulder charge on Cronulla prop Kade Snowden in the opening minutes and took no further part in the match, while prop Brett White was placed on report for knee lifting.

The White incident in the second half resulted in young Sharks halfback Albert Kelly being stretchered from the field.

The Sharks dominated the opening stanza, with fullback Nathan Gardner crossing the line off a ball from Anthony Tupou but the pass was ruled forward.

Soon after, Luke Douglas scored for the Sharks in the 12th minute and winger John Williams converted.

From there, it all fell apart for the Sharks.

The Raiders took control, responding with a try to five-eighth Josh McCrone.

They followed with tries to Dane Tilse, former Shark Blake Ferguson and Jarrod Croker - and that was just before halftime.

Cronulla denied themselves any chance of fighting back with some sloppy handling and missed tackles.

Early in the second half, Gardner dropped a bomb and the Raiders punished him from the resulting scrum with a try to Croker.

A late try from Gardner was one of the few bright spots for the Sharks.

It was the first time the Raiders had won a season-opener in five years.

Sharks coach Shane Flanagan was a sullen figure and singled out his side's lack of ball control as his side's main downfall.

"Experienced Origin players coming out of dummy-half and dropping the ball on tackle two - not acceptable," he said after the match.

"If your first game is a result of your pre-season, it doesn't look like we had one."

Flanagan said the team was "back to our old Cronulla Sharks".
CANBERRA 40 (J Croker S Fensom B Ferguson J McCrone J Picker D Tilse D Vidot tries J Croker 6 goals) bt CRONULLA 12 (L Douglas N Gardner tries J Williams 2 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Adam Devcich, Ashley Klein. Crowd: 13,450.

- AAP