Dragons, Warriors perfect after 4 rounds in Australia's NRL
SYDNEY (AP) St. George Illawarra beat Newcastle 30-12 Sunday to keep pace with the New Zealand Warriors as the only undefeated teams after four rounds in the National Rugby League.
On Saturday, the Warriors stayed perfect on the season with a 30-6 win over the Sydney Roosters. Tom Trbojevic set up four tries and scored one himself to lead Manly to a 32-16 win over Canberra.
Cronulla had a 14-4 upset win over defending champions Melbourne in a match featuring 33 penalties. Chad Townsend kicked three second-half penalty goals to give the Sharks the edge.
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan said the high penalty count wasn't the referees' fault because they were just following orders from NRL headquarters.
''We've talked about this for a month now. What you saw at the end of the game (when there was pushing and shoving among the players) was because of the penalty count,'' Flanagan said. ''Players are getting frustrated. But you can't blame the referees. Someone needs to go and ask Todd (NRL chief executive Greenberg).''
South Sydney scored twice in the final five minutes for a 20-16 win over Canterbury. The Rabbitohs were trailing 16-10 when Hymel Hunt crossed in the 75th minute to pull Souths close before Cameron Murray scored a try with three minutes left.
James Maloney scored a try and set up three others as Penrith beat the North Queensland Cowboys 33-14.
Wests Tigers play the Parramatta Eels on Monday to conclude the fourth round.
