Under-strength Sharks slip to heavy defeat on Lock Lane trip

Shaw CROSS Sharks slipped to only their second away defeat of the season in National Conference League Division One last Saturday when they were beaten 52-8 at Lock Lane.
The Sharks defence gets to grip with Lock Lanes James Woods during last Saturdays National Conference League Division One clash.The Sharks defence gets to grip with Lock Lanes James Woods during last Saturdays National Conference League Division One clash.
The Sharks defence gets to grip with Lock Lanes James Woods during last Saturdays National Conference League Division One clash.

The Sharks had a number of players unavailable and were forced into naming a makeshift squad for the game but head coach Brett Turner was full of praise for the players who took to the field.

The hosts got off to the perfect start after a break through the middle from Danny Sowerby.

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The stand-off nipped through a gap and passed to full-back Lewis Price who went over close to the posts.

Lock Lane then added another two tries through Joe Willock and James Woods to give them a 16 point cushion with just under half an hour played.

Cross replied when Sam Ottewell moved the ball wide to centre Benjamin Spaven, who broke the tackle to get over in the corner but half-time came at the wrong time for the Sharks who were slowly coming into the game after scoring.

Just before the break Danny Flowers and Brandan French combined and the ball was moved back inside to Ottewell but the referee blew his whistle for a forward pass.

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Lock Lane began the second-half the brightest and were rewarded with another try when Willock jinked through the line and touched down by the posts for his second try.

Spaven soon added his second as Shaw Cross attempted to get back into the game.

The Sharks kept the ball alive through the tackles with a number of offloads before Ottewell sent a looping ball out to Spaven who darted to the line to score.

Lock Lane began to run away with the game thanks to three quick-fire tries with Joe Turton crossing and full-back Price completing his hat-trick to take the scores to 40-8.

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The hosts scored their eighth try when Danny Holmes gathered a loose ball and raced 70 metres to score before substitute Mitchell Platt picked up the ball and raced away to score.

Turner ended with eight goals from nine attempts to seal his side’s comfortable win.

Defeat saw the Sharks slip to seventh place and they face an important game at home to Hunslet Warriors on Saturday.

The Warriors lie just one place and a point behind Cross.