Gerringong Lions down Shellharbour Sharks to book Group Seven seminal berth

The home side Lions victory at Michael Cronin Oval was built on the back of an impressive opening 25 minutes where Gerringong raced to a 14-0 lead on the back of tries to Liam Holland, Rixon Russell and Hamish Holland.

Both the Sharks and Lions were missing key players but it was Gerringong young gun Taj Ford and live-wire fullback Wesley Pring who really stepped up for the Scott Stewart-coached Gerringong.

Pring was dangerous every time he ran the ball and one occasion made a big bust up the middle before setting up experienced halfback Rixon Russell to score a brilliant try.

Ford, with his older brother Nathan Ford out injured, stepped up to the play-making duties and laid on numerous opportunities for his outside backs.

The five-eight's deft kick through on 25 minutes resulted in Hamish Holland regathering and scoring the Lions third try of the half.

The Sharks though refused to lie down and five minutes later reduced the deficit to 14-6 after Jye Brooker's try was converted by Isaac Morris.

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The Sharks tried hard in the second half but once Nathan Buchanan and Isaac Laughton scored to extend the lead to 24-6 with just under 15 minutes left, the writing was on the wall.

The try to Laughton was especially impressive, with the winger the benefactor of a clever kick through by second-rower Jake Taylor.

Shellharbour scored on the last play of the game, with Kyron Ebbs-Windish crossing over in the corner.

It was the second week on the trot the Sharks were forced to fight back from 12 plus points deficit.

Once again Abed Atallah's chargers tried hard but fell just short.

Shellharbour have now dropped two on the trot after winning 11 straight during a patch where they were considered the competition's hottest team.

Atallah though was adamant the bubble hadn't burst and the Sharks would get back to winning ways sooner rather than later.

They will hope to do so next Saturday when they battle the Nowra-Bomaderry Jets, who took care of Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs 37-30 in the elimination final on Saturday.

The season will be over for the loser of the Sharks v Jets game, while the winner will play the loser of the Stingrays of Shellharbour v Gerringong Lions game.

Stewart will be hoping to have some key players back for the Stingrays clash but praised his young side for grinding out a tough win against the Sharks.

"I thought our whole game was good," he said.

"We obviously had a fair few guys out, we had six under eighteens playing and I couldn't be prouder of the effort they put in, I thought our defence was outstanding.

"Our older blokes and some of them aren't that old, but just thrived off the young blokes enthusiasm.

"I thought they were all good across the park, I couldn't single one out for any special mention."

The coach did however laud the game of his experienced halfback Rixon Russell, who guided the team well over the park.

Stewart also conceded his young chargers fed off the Lions success in big games over the years.

"I said to these guys who've sat on the sidelines and watched plenty of semi-finals that now was their time," he said.

"They probably wondered whether they would ever be out there and all of a sudden they were so, it was good to see them respond in that way. A lot of them were from our under 18s side which has enjoyed a bit of success, which definitely helped."

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