SIONE Katoa scored two tries against is future club as Cronulla ended North Queensland’s season.
The winger signed a two year contract with the Cowboys back in May but probably would not have been welcome in their dressingrooms at Allianz Stadium after the ?-? victory which put his Sharks into a preliminary semi-final against either Penrith or Sydney Roosters.
The Sharks held a 12-6 lead at at halftime on the back of tries to replacement Siosifa Talakai and Katoa.
Talakai went perilously close to knocking on while Katoa crossed from a scrum with fullback Wiliam Kennedy making the extra man on the right.
For the Cowboys, it was winger Braidon Burns crossing in the 27th minute.
Katoa snatched an intercept from Scott Drinkwater and raced 70 metres to post his second, eight minutes into the second half.
But Tom Dearden threw a glorious cut-out pass for Zac Laybutt to score at 52 minutes, before fullback William Kennedy’s 61st minute response.
Then half Nicho Hynes sighted a gap around the ruck, close to the North Queensland line, and took it plunge over between the posts in the 67th minute.
Determined not to lose touch, Jaxson Purdue scored for the Cowboys off Drinkwater’s pass.
CRONULLA 26 (Katoa 2 Talakai Kennedy Hynes tries Hynes 3 goal) beat NORTH QUEENSLAND 16 (Burns Laybutt Purdue tries Drinkwater 2 goals) at Allianz Stadium. Crowd: 17,429
Teams:
CRONULLA: William Kennedy; Sione Katoa, Riley Jones, KL Iro, Ronaldo Mulitalo; Brayden Trindall, Nicho Hynes; Addin Fonua-Blake, Blayke Brailey, Jesse Colquhoun, Briton Nikora, Teig Wilton, Cameron McInnes. Res: Siosifa Talakai, Billy Burns, Oregon Kaufusi, Tom Hazelton, Toby Rudolph, Niwhai Puru.
NQ: Scott Drinkwater; Braidon Burns, Jaxson Purdue, Tom Chester, Tom Laybutt; Jake Clifford, Tom Dearden (c); Griffin Neame, Reed Mahoney, Jason Taumalolo, Heilum Luki, John Bateman, Reuben Cotter. Res: Jeremiah Nanai, Soni Luke, Coen Hess, Kaiden Lahrs, Ethan King, Sam McIntyre.
Referee: Grant Atkins.
