Sharks take heart from second half performance after defeat to Dudley Hill

Shaw Cross Sharks remain bottom of National Conference League Division One after a 40-28 loss at Bradford Dudley Hill last Saturday.
Coach Paul March was encouraged despite defeat.Coach Paul March was encouraged despite defeat.
Coach Paul March was encouraged despite defeat.

The Sharks were superior in the second half, but the lead built by Bradford in the first half was too great to overcome.

The home side scored seven first half tries to build an unassailable lead.

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Brandon French was denied by solid Hill defence before the home side took the lead through an Alex Dickinson try.

Another Hill attack down the right with ended with Elliott Cousins scoring before Neil Wall and Alex Dickinson linked to send Ryan Dickinson over.

Lewis Evans crashed over from close range despite the efforts of a number of defenders.

The Sharks finally replied as Paul March sprayed a long pass over to French who, with the overload on the right, played in Thomas Stuckey.

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Dudley Hill responded with Alex Dickinson breaking down the middle and finding Cousins who put Dean Halley for the try.

Damian Smith added two more tries before half-time, and the Sharks also had French sin-binned.

Despite facing such a deficit, the Sharks came back with great spirit in the second half to make the scoreline respectable.

Ryan Chalkley continued his recent try-scoring run, and the Sharks then saw Ashley Anderson held up over the line.

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Bradford got their only try of the second period through Sebastian Russo, who darted over from acting half-back.

From that point it was all Shaw Cross. Joe Halloran raced over from halfway after an initial break by French.

Chalkley produced a lovely weighted kick behind the defence for Nathan Wright to score in the left corner.

Wright scored a second try with the last action of the game, finishing off a nice move folowing Halloran’s initial break down the right.

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Sharks head coach Paul March, who has confirmed he will remain in charge until the end of the season, said: “In the last few weeks we have tried to put things right and we are scoring plenty of points but it’s about defending it.

“Credit to the lads again, it’s a rebuilding stage at the minute and I think if we keep building on every performance, we’ll surprise someone and hopefully get a little bit of confidence back.”

“In the first three games we only scored four tries; in the past three games we’ve scored a handful, so it’s about making sure we sort our D out.

“We’re doing negative things on the field and then obviously they’re scoring on the back of those negatives so everything’s got to be positive out there and that’s what we’re trying to install in them.”