- Radradra conspicuously quiet on return
- France move prompted ex-partner to act
- Eels forced to pay even if Semi doesn't play
So, who's going to stop the Cronulla Sharks?
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Sharks stage comeback win against Eels
A Bevan French hat-trick wasn't enough for the Parramatta Eels as the Crounlla Sharks bit back to win 34-24 continuing their streak to 12 straight.
Cronulla have set a new club record for consecutive victories, rallying from 18-0 down to score an impressive 34-24 win over Parramatta on Saturday night.
On a chilly night in the shire, the Sharks scored their 12th straight win in front of a sellout crowd of 19,142 at Southern Cross Group Stadium to keep them on top of the table and pose the question to the rest of the NRL – who's next?
The Cronulla teams of 1978 and 2002, who the current side had shared the record of 11 consecutive wins with, were swept aside as Shane Flanagan's team provided further evidence – if any more was needed – that they are genuine premiership contenders.
Last season it was Cronulla who snapped North Queensland's 11-game winning streak – having also trailed 18-0 that night in Townsville. But the Sharks overcame another sleepy start to run out deserved 10-point winners.
The Sharks were without star winger Valentine Holmes, who was a late withdrawal with a hamstring strain, only for Sosaia Feki to make his timely return from a groin problem.
After a fortnight of speculation, Parramatta's own star winger Semi Radradra played for the Eels as Michael Gordon returned to play his former club.
The Sharks started slowly and, after a couple of repeat sets, Parramatta opened the scoring before Cronulla had touched the ball.
Bevan French scored in the corner from a deft Corey Norman grubber kick after five minutes and the young winger had his second try of the night eight minutes later.
A poor James Maloney pass along the ground bounced up into French's arms allowing him to run 70 metres untouched to give Parramatta a 12-0 lead.
The Eels stormed to an 18-0 lead after 22 minutes when Danny Wicks barged over from close range.
Cronulla finally snapped out of their slump just before the half-hour mark when Feki scored in the corner following a sweeping backline move.
Ricky Leutele scored out wide for Cronulla three minutes later from a pin point Wade Graham cut-out pass before Gerard Beale put the Sharks right back in the game.
The former Kiwi international batted back a cross field kick for Jayson Bukuya, who showed great strength to hold off two Parramatta defenders and offload for Beale to score in the corner.
A Maloney penalty goal on the stroke of half-time reduced Parramatta's lead to 18-16 and five minutes into the second half Cronulla had surged into the lead.
Another shift to the left saw Leutele score his second try – though Parramatta would have felt hard done by after Ben Barba's final pass looked to have gone forward.
The Eels could have regained the lead 10 minutes later only for Clint Gutherson to drop the ball just short of the try line after some quick thinking from French.
Cronulla could have extended their lead when Paul Gallen crashed over, only for referee Ashley Klein to penalise the Sharks skipper for a double movement.
A second try to Beale with 10 minutes to go after a clever short side raid from Chad Townsend looked to have sealed the points for Cronulla only for French to complete his hat-trick and set up a nervy finish.
But Feki's second try in the final minute finally sealed the points for Cronulla.
The win also saw Cronulla retain the Johnny Mannah Cup played for in honour of the former Sharks and Eels forward who died after a battle with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2013.
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