Dragons heap more misery on sorry Sharks

Cronulla's season of woe continued on Saturday with St George Illawarra strolling to
a 26-4 NRL victory at Toyota Stadium.
The Sharks fans turned out to support their beleaguered team, but it was a familiar
tale for the 15,201 hardy souls who braved a chilly evening as the Dragons blew away
Ricky Stuart's side with a ruthless second-half display.
Winger Brett Morris continued his outstanding run of form with a hat-trick of tries
and skipper Ben Hornby went over twice as the Sharks suffered a ninth consecutive
defeat.
The first half was a low scoring affair with Morris' fourth-minute try separating
the sides at half-time after the Sharks dominated possession but let themselves down
with a number of handling errors to curtail at least three good scoring
opportunities.
Luke Pomeroy was the biggest culprit with three dropped passes and Ricky Stuart's
side were made to pay dearly for their profligacy after the break as the Dragons ran
in four tries.
Nine minutes into the second period Hornby raced through to score following a
tremendous break from Jamie Soward.
Soward showed excellent awareness to burst through a gap in the Sharks' defence,
although the Shire club were convinced the former Rooster's pass was forward.
And matters got worse for the home side when Morris grabbed his second try of the
night in controversial fashion much to the fury of the locals, who were incensed by
a penalty awarded against Reece Williams for throwing a punch at Soward.
The centre was furious when Soward and Beau Ryan lifted him off the ground and
forced him over the line.
Following a melee involving players from both sides, referee Jason Robinson
penalised Williams and the ensuing set of six saw Cooper show great hands to send
Morris over in the corner.
Cooper and Morris combined again for the young winger's hat-trick on 64 minutes
after a piece of magic from Soward, who latched onto his own kick over the top of
the Sharks defence and slipped a flick pass into the hands of the NSW centre.
With the Sharks' spirit now broken Hornby stretched the lead further when he latched
onto a Dean Young pass and danced his way to the line.
Soward's third successful kick of the night made the score 26-0 as the home
supporters began to file out of the ground in their numbers.
Those who did stay until the bitter end were rewarded when Blake Ferguson scored a
late consolation in the corner.