With Nicho Hynes back running the show from halfback, Cronulla have returned to the NRL winners' list by defeating Gold Coast 25-18 at a rainy CBUS Super Stadium.
After an underwhelming move to fullback last weekend, Hynes returned to the No.7 jersey on Sunday in style, scoring a try and setting up another with a peach of a pass as the Sharks ran in four tries to three.
The Sharks' star then iced the game after a Titans' fightback with a last-minute field goal, adding to his four conversions and 445 kicking metres.
"He understood the flow of the game and not to push the boundaries on how we've been playing," Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon said of Hynes.
"I thought he kicked well, understood the battle of field position and then when an opportunity came he iced it.
"I thought it was a real polished performance and defensively I thought he was really good tonight."
Former Australian Rugby Sevens international Lachie Miller, making his NRL debut at fullback for Cronulla also shone in the wet.
The Olympian ran for 201 metres, made 10 tackle busts and scored a sensational breakaway try as the Sharks moved to 7-4 for the season.
A fortunate bounce from a Jayden Campbell bomb in the 53rd minute allowed the ball to fall into Miller's arms and the 27-year-old sprinted through a staggered Titans' line before streaking 70 metres to score.
His moment capped a three-try burst at the start of the second-half where the visitors took control of a game that had been locked 6-all at halftime following tries from Gold Coast forward Jarrod Wallace and Sharks' centre Connor Tracey.
Hynes was central to the match-winning spell, finishing off a break by Ronaldo Mulitano in the 43rd minute to put his team ahead before firing a wonderful pass in the 51st minute for Mulitano to dive over.
Miller's break came minutes later and it was a relief for the Sharks' No.1 after he'd earlier nearly been embarrassed when a Campbell bomb eluded him, ricocheted off the crossbar and Sam McIntyre thought he'd scored for the Titans.
The bunker however denied the bizarre try with replays showing Esan Masters had deflected the ball onto the woodwork before finding McIntyre's grasp.
A smart gather by Wallace from Toby Sexton's grubber with nine minutes to play allowed the Titans' prop to score his second try of the night and gave the hosts' hope.
Wallace and Sione Katoa then got into a scrap after the Titans' forward took exception to the Cronulla winger's treatment of AJ Brimson.
From the resulting penalty against the Sharks, Masters scored to give the Titans hope of an unlikely comeback before Hynes' ice-cool field goal conversion sealed the points.
"We fought really hard until half-time to keep it to six-all but then we didn't have that same fight in the second half, letting in three quick tries," Titans coach Justin Holbrook said, as his team slumped to 3-8 and 13th on the ladder.
"The disappointing part is that we leak one (try) and we've got to do something about it then rather than after three.
"The shackles are off and they fight hard to the end, which is better than not fighting until the end, but we need to do something about it when it is only the one."
Australian Associated Press
