A right-side blitz from Cronulla has helped the Sharks score their first win of the season, downing Gold Coast 20-6 on Saturday.
Cronulla ran in four first half tries in front of more than 15,000 fans at Shark Park with Shaun Johnson and Matt Moylan running riot against Gold Coast's left side defence.
The Sharks were also able to celebrate Yarrawarrah Tigers junior Chad Townsend's 100th game in the black, white and blue as captain Paul Gallen equaled Andrew Ettingshausen's record for most appearances for Cronulla.
New Sharks head coach John Morris was also able to celebrate his first victory as an NRL head coach.
Both teams entered the game with zero and one records after the opening round, desperate to kick start their seasons.
Gold Coast started strongly and went close to scoring twice in the opening five minutes. Ryan James was firstly denied a try after video referee bunker officials ruled he had knocked on after on-field officials had ruled a try. The bunker then disallowed Jai Arrow's effort after Matt Prior somehow held him up over the line.
It was Cronulla's turn to go close shortly after when Johnson attempted a short side raid on the last tackle only for Josh Dugan to be bundled into touch.
The Sharks did open the scoring on 17 minutes through Sione Katoa. Katoa gave the Sharks field position with a 50 metre run after Moylan had drifted across field and hit the winger with a cut out pass.
The set continued with Cronulla again going to their right, with Johnson finding Katoa with a long cut out pass for the 21-year-old to finish acrobatically in the corner.
The Sharks doubled their advantage five minutes later again through Katoa. Another slick right side shift involved Townsend, Johnson and Dugan before Katoa dived over.
Cronulla lost Jayden Brailey to a head knock after 25 minutes, with the hooker replaced by his younger brother, Blayke, in just his second NRL appearance.
The Sharks extended their lead to 14-0 just before the half hour mark through a bizarre try.
With Cronulla on the attack, Andrew Fifita danced across field before trying an underarm pass to Johnson. The ball went behind the five-eighth and rolled 15 metres across field. Tyrone Peachey looked certain to scoop up the ball only to knock on. With the ball loose Fifita, having continued his run across field, toed the ball back for Dugan to pick it up and score.
The Sharks continued their excellent goal line defence from last week against Newcastle, holding up James over the line twice before half-time.
And Cronulla made the Titans pay, with young back-rower Briton Nikora barging over from a short Moylan pass for his first NRL try three minutes before half-time.
The Titans went close through AJ Brimson just before the break only to be ruled to have knocked on chasing his own kick, though Sosaia Feki was placed on report for leading with his feet in attempting to challenge Brimson.
Cronulla left the field with their 20-0 lead in tact to a standing ovation but the Titans only needed seven minutes of the second half to hit back, with Brenko Lee touching down out wide for Gold Coast's first points of the season.
The Sharks then lost Sosaia Feki to injury, with back-rower Kurt Capewell shifting to the wing, and Jayson Bukuya to the sin bin for slowing down a play the ball with Gold Coast on the attack.
Cronulla then lost Nikora to a head injury assessment, leaving the Sharks down to 14 players.
The Sharks almost extended their lead despite being outnumbered, only for Katoa to be denied his hat-trick for an obstruction. Katoa then bombed a chance to claim his treble when he failed to control a Johnson pass.
It was a much-needed win for Cronulla in what was their only home match in the first month of the season.
Leader Scoreboard
Cronulla Sharks 20 (Sione Katoa two, Josh Dugan, Briton Nikora tries. Shaun Johnson two goals)
defeated
Gold Coast Titans 6 (Brenko Lee try. Michael Gordon goal)
at Shark Park, Woolooware
Crowd: 15,217
Leader man of the match: Shaun Johnson (Sharks)
Sharks' next three: Cowboys (away), Eels (away), Roosters (home)
