Match Details
Match Date	19th Jun, 2011
Opponent	Cronulla
Result	Loss 10-26
Coach	Kevin Moore
Captain	Andrew Ryan
Venue	Homebush (ANZ Stadium)
Crowd	14,879
Referee	Steve Lyons Alan Shortall

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have slipped out of the top eight for the first time this season following a disappointing 26-10 loss to the Cronulla Sharks in their round 15 NRL clash at ANZ Stadium.

The Bulldogs (6-7) are in ninth place on 16 competition points, training eighth placed Newcastle, the seventh placed Warriors and sixth placed Wests Tigers on points differential after the four tries to two defeat.

The loss comes as the Bulldogs were held scoreless in the second half, having pegged back an early 12-nil deficit to head into half time down by two at 12-10.

The Bulldogs had to deal with the loss of NSW State of Origin hooker Michael Ennis before kick off, with Ennis ruled out following complications to an ear cut he suffered in Origin two, to compound the loss of Jamal Idris after he missed training on Monday.

And after showing some promise in the opening minutes the Bulldogs allowed the Sharks too much control on both sides of the ball, and once their attack clicked into gear they skipped away to a 12-nil lead after 26 minutes.

After opening proceedings with a 12th minute penalty goal through Chad Townsend, the Sharks looked to fullback Nathan Gardner who played a lead hand in their first try, grubbering behind the line for Ben Pomeroy to score for an 8-nil buffer.

The Bulldogs then lost the ball in the tackle coming out of trouble and from the next play, Gardner went in on a set play to make it 12-nil.

The match was half an hour old before the Dogs found their way into the contest, and even then it came as the Sharks were threatening the line.

Sam Kasiano swooped on a spilt ball from Pomeroy, feeding Barba who raced 95 metres to score his 12th try of the season to get the Dogs back in the hunt at 12-6.

On the cusp of half time Kasiano played creator again, hitting a hole off a Josh Reynolds short ball and in turn feeding back to Reynolds who raced away to score his maiden NRL try wide out.

In keeping with the tone of the match the next score didn't come until 16 minutes into the second half and when it did it went the way of the Sharks once more, that man Paul Gallen steaming onto a well times pass to score from close range.

With the Bulldogs consistently giving up possession on early tackles and penalties late in the count, and Townsend adding a second penalty goal to stretch the lead to 10 points at 20-10, things were grim for the home side heading into the final ten minutes of play.

The death knell came with six minutes of play remaining, when Wade Graham went in to score off some good lead up by Paul Gallen who ran for over 150 metres in an inspired performance just four days after his 80 minute effort in State of Origin Two and Anthony Tupou to establish a final score of 26-10.

The Bulldogs have just five days to wait until they're in action again, when they take on the Wests Tigers in round 16 at Campbelltown Stadium.

Source: AAP

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