Late Kalyn Ponga try stuns the Sharks and seals victory for Newcastle

Cronulla’s wretched week suffered a heartbreaking end as a sick Kalyn Ponga took time out between bouts of vomiting to give Newcastle a 26-22 win over the Sharks.

Kalyn Ponga celebrates a try for the Knights. Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images

Routinely down on his haunches in back play as he battled illness, Ponga bagged a double and set up two other tries with sensational offloads.

After the Sharks had worked their way back from 20-12 down late to lead 22-20, Ponga broke their hearts with a 77th-minute try to win the match.

Playing in just his 10th NRL game, Brodie Jones was brilliant as a makeshift centre as he scored one try, saved two and got a ball away for Ponga’s match-winner.

Taking a Blake Green kick that went backwards, Jones threw an offload for Tyson Frizell who flung the ball back for Ponga to charge onto it and score.

It was a cruel end for the Sharks, who had shown plenty of resilience given the axing of popular coach John Morris just three days earlier.

After Morris told them on Thursday he would continue to support them this season from afar, he would’ve been proud of their first effort under caretaker Josh Hannay.

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They didn’t make a second-half error until the final two minutes chasing the match, while Will Kennedy was again great at fullback.

Chad Townsend also kicked what looked likely to be a match-winning sideline conversion in the 69th minute after a flying Mawene Hiroti effort in the corner.

Connor Tracey also starred filling in on the left wing as he scored another late try to put the Sharks back in the hunt, while Briton Nikora also looked dangerous and claimed a four-pointer.

But still, a sick and sorry Ponga proved too good.

He had the Knights’ first when he ran around onto a Mitchell Barnett ball, before the fullback laid on an offload for the second-rower to score minutes later.

Barnett’s try was a piece of work from Ponga, as he pushed through the line with power before getting the ball away late.

It still had nothing on his second-half effort to send Jones over.

Just as the Sharks looked as if they had the ascendancy after fighting back from to 14-12, he got a perfect ball back to the centre while falling in a Matt Moylan tackle.

It summed up the night for the Sharks, who also left with both Aiden Tolman (crusher) and Nikora (late contact) on report to go with the loss.