KEY POINTS:
The Cronulla Sharks made light of a busy schedule tonight when they upset the New Zealand Warriors 22-20 in their National Rugby League clash in Auckland.
Cronulla, who dominated the second half at Mount Smart Stadium, scored four tries to three, with stand-in five-eighth Greg Bird getting a brace.
The Sharks were without halfback Brett Kimmorley, who failed a fitness test today after being knocked out in the midweek New South Wales City-Country Origin match.
But the visitors, who had a short turnaround from their defeat to Newcastle last Monday, had four other players backing up from the Origin fixture.
Their reshuffled side featured the inclusion of former Warriors Misi Taulapapa and Henry Perenara.
In a lacklustre encounter with plenty of errors from both sides, centre Tony Martin opened the scoring with a penalty for the Warriors.
But he and fullback Patrick Ah Van were then involved in a mix up that let the Sharks on the board.
An Adam Dykes grubber into the in-goal fell between the pair, but neither reacted and it was left to centre Ben Pomeroy to pounce for an easy try.
The Warriors came back just before halftime, when young prop Sam Rapira showed his strength by powering over despite the attention of four tacklers.
Up 8-6 at the break, the home side went further ahead early in the second half, when Covell spilled a Grant Rovelli bomb and Witt was on hand for a simple touchdown.
Covell made amends four minutes later when his cross kick wasn't cleaned up by the defence and Bird scored.
Bird followed up with his second touchdown shortly after with a dab from dummy half, and Covell's conversion took the visitors 16-14 ahead.
There was worse for the Warriors when a Dykes kick into the in-goal wasn't cleaned up and Taulapapa scored a converted try.
But Louis Anderson helped to close the gap back to two points when he burrowed over with 19 minutes to go and Martin added the extras.
Five players were put on report for high or dangerous tackles -- Martin, Witt and fellow Warriors Logan Swann and Nathan Fien, and Cronulla second rower Lance Thompson.
Cronulla Sharks 22 (Greg Bird 2, Ben Pomeroy, Misi Taulapapa, tries; Luke Covell, 3 goals), New Zealand Warriors 20 (Sam Rapira, Michael Witt, Louis Anderson, tries; Tony Martin, 4 goals). Halftime:6-8. Crowd: 13,587.
- NZPA
