Shellharbour 20

IN A match marred by high tackles and players sent to the sin-bin Berry-Shoalhaven Heads Magpies and Shellharbour Sharks recorded a fourth successive draw.

The wild 20-all draw at Berry Showground saw five players sin-binned by the referee.

The Magpies drew first blood and scored in the opening set when captain-coach Trent Burns broke the line, ran 30-metres before passing to halfback Matt Gallagher who crossed under the posts.

Chris McCarron converted to put the Magpies ahead 6-nil.

A minute later Shellharbour scored a controversial try when they were awarded a penalty one metre from the line and Nathan Cooper reacted quickly to dive over for a converted try.

The Magpies were infuriated minutes later when a similar play occurred on Shellharbour’s line, only to have the try disallowed.

Adam Taylor was the next try scorer for the Sharks off the back of a 40/20.

Berry was slow off the line and the Sharks worked the numbers and the ball found Taylor’s hands.

The kick was unsuccessful and the score went to 10-6 at the 20-minute mark.

The misery continued for the Magpies and their shape was terrible in attack, but they were being held together by the energetic play of their mentor.

Frustration and passion boiled over 10 minutes from the break when a Shellharbour penalty led to Lloyd Williamson and Matt Michalowski exchanging blows.

Both players were sent to the bin and Shellharbour capitalised on the disruption when Ryan Shuster made a strong run up the wing before flicking the ball off to Aaron Carney on his inside to score.

The conversion was wide and the score was now 16-6.

Berry’s discipline was poor and they allowed the Sharks to extend their lead by further four points before halftime.

In the final five minutes the Sharks played it safe opting to take the two-points when they were awarded two penalties for high tackles.

At the break the Sharks led 20-6.

It was crucial for Berry to score first in the second half, and they came out firing.

In their first set the Magpies looked dangerous as the ball was wrapped up 10 metres from the Sharks’ line.

In a snippet of Gallagher magic the halfback made a charge down the centre from first receiver, stepped off his right foot through three defenders to score.

McCarron missed the easy conversion to put the score at 10-20.

The try kept Berry in the match and reignited their enthusiasm.

Things continued to pick up for the home side when the third sin binning occurred, relegating Shellharbour’s Nathan Cooper to the sideline.

Minutes later Gallagher made a strong run from dummy half and then the ball was spread wide, went through five sets of hands before centre Dan Struber scored out wide.

The conversion was unsuccessful and Berry trailed by six.

Panic set into the Shellharbour side and their structure fell apart.

The Sharks were given a leg up 17 minutes

from full time when Brett Strong was penalised and given 10-minutes in the bin for a ruck infringement.

Despite the setback the Magpies continued to dominate play and possession.

Five minutes out and Berry lost another man when Kurt Simpson argued with the referee, who then made his fifth sin binning for the match.

A man down and six behind on the scoreboard it seemed unlikely that Berry could make a comeback.

The miracle began with a charge down the centre by Burns, who off loaded to Paul Skewes who beat four defenders to put Gallagher under the posts.

The home crowd were on their feet and a roar carried throughout the ground.

With one minute on the clock, McCarron converted to level the scores.

Best for the Magpies were Matt Gallagher, Dan Struber and Rhys Sharpe while Simon Rushby, Shayne Wills and Nathan Cooper performed well for Shellharbour.