Turner calls for improvement as Sharks look ahead to big Underbank kick off

Brandan French opened the Sharks account as he scored in the right corner but Eastmoor responded with a score of their own before French was on hand to put Nathan Wright over in the same corner.

Eastmoor scored back to back tries soon after the interval to take the lead but Nathan Smith got Shaw Cross back in the game as he stepped a tackler and dived over the line.

An error strewn second half started to frustrate the visitors as Eastmoor extended their advantage with three unanswered tries, the pick coming minutes before the end as a looping pass found the right winger who gathered well to score.

Sharks head coach Brett Turner was frustrated with his side’s performance in their final warm-up game but is confident they will be prepared for the opening game of the league season at Underbank on March 11.

Turner said: “I’m bitterly disappointed I thought we were absolutely terrible,

“I’ve never known us to play well on an evening but that is no excuse. As soon as things were going against us we started moaning and looking for excuses but that is never going to get you anywhere.

“We have got a couple of weeks to turn it around in training and we were missing a bit of experience (at Eastmoor).

“We missed Danny Flowers badly, bossing us around the pitch a bit, and we miss John Rourke’s leadership whenever he is not playing.

“When people get injured you need to learn to cope.

“We lack experience but the players are only going to get better by playing and I’m happy that what we’ve got will do well for us this year.”

Shaw Cross open their National Conference League Division One campaign at home to Underbank Rangers on Saturday week.

The Sharks are celebrating their 70th year anniversary in 2017 and will aim to make a winning start to their historic campaign against a side who they had mixed fortunes against last season, winning one and losing the other.