Halfback Brett Kimmorley was the hero for the Cronulla side, scoring two tries and laying on two others for Sharks teammates with a brilliant short kicking game.

The Raiders led 18-12 at half time but couldn’t keep up their strong play running against the breeze in the second half, the loss costing them a place in the NRL top eight.

Kimmorley, who kicked accurately for the Sharks, ended with 20 points for the match.

After an error prone start the Raiders went ahead in the 8th minute with a try to five eighth Mark McLinden. Canberra skipper Simon Woolford darted from dummy half and found space for support player Alan Tongue, who drew Sharks fullback David Peachey to give McLinden a clear path to the line.

Clinton Schifcofske made no mistake with the conversion, giving Canberra the 6-0 lead.

The Raiders, with a strong wind behind their backs, extended their lead in the 14th minute with a converted try to Schifcofske. The Sharks paid the penalty for some sleepy defence on the right hand side, complaining of obstruction instead of attempting to tackle the Canberra fullback.

After the Sharks received a doubtful penalty from referee Steve Clark for Canberra stripping the football, Cronulla halfback Brett Kimmorley skipped past some lax defence on the fringe of the ruck to score his seventh try of the season.

He converted his own try to cut the Raiders margin to 12-6 midway through the first half.

Kimmorley scored his second try five minutes later by picking up a Matt Bickerstaff grubber kick before Schifcofske was able to corral the football, and touching down besides the posts. His second conversion evened the scores at 12 points all.

The Raiders, who felt themselves unlucky to concede two tries to Kimmorley, went back in front with a try in the corner to winger Jamaal Lolesi. Schifcofske used the breeze perfectly to convert from a difficult angle, making the score 18-12 in favour of Canberra.

With just seven seconds left in the half, Schifcofske missed a field goal attempt that would have given the visitors a seven point buffer at half time.

The Raiders kept up their aggressive play after halftime despite running against the wind, but poor last tackle options kept them from putting the game out of the Sharks reach.

Cronulla were able to gather themselves and another grubber kick, this time from Kimmorley, enabled Peachey to elude the Raiders defence and get downward pressure to score his side’s third try. Kimmorley’s conversion evened the scores with just on 25 minutes remaining.

Two minutes later Kimmorley knocked another grubber kick into the in goal, and this time lock Nick Graham was the Shark on hand rewarded with a try for his support play.

Kimmorley, who was controlling play brilliantly for Cronulla, added the extras to extend the home side’s lead to 24-18.

After Schifcofske conceded a penalty in his own territory for raking the ball, Graham got close to the line and passed of to Paul Gallen who scored the match sealing try for Cronulla.

The Raiders though weren’t going away easily and got the ball back from a short kick-off. The resulting set of six pushed the ball out wide, where Phil Graham crashed over from a difficult angle.

Unfortunately though, Schifcofske couldn’t convert against the wind, Cronulla ahead 30-22 with just 12 minutes remaining.

Soon after the Raiders were in again when Schifcofske bustled over from dummy half, but again the angle was too much and the Cronulla side kept their four point lead.

Try as they might Canberra couldn’t get over for the final try, and the Sharks Paul Franze scored with one minute left to seal victory.

Kimmorley’s sixth conversion made the final score 36-26 in favour of Cronulla.