Upton's historic night helps Broncos feast on Sharks

The 29-year-old achieved the tally in emphatic style, scoring a hat-trick to pull the Broncos back from the brink. 

Despite trailing 12-4 at halftime, Sharks interchange Jaydika Tafua crossed for her first career try to put Cronulla right back into the contest. 

Minutes later, halfback Chantay Kiria-Ratu crashed over to help the home team take the lead, but the Broncos shifted right and found centre Julia Robinson to level the scores. 

Upton, who had already pounced on an Ali Brigginshaw dink in the ninth minute before wrestling over in a strong solo effort 20 minutes later, then found her third by slamming the ball over the try line in the 60th minute.

The Sharks had one more opportunity metres from their line, but the defending premiers' compact defence cruelled their chances of a last-gasp try.

It wasn't just Upton who starred for Brisbane, with Newcastle recruit Jesse Southwell looking comfortable in her new team, posting two try assists, while lock Bree Spreadborough had an equal game-high 38 tackles. 

"I'm actually pretty disappointed with the performance at the back. I got a big job to do in the rain there, and I put us under a bit of pressure," Upton told Channel 9. 

"But I'm pretty lucky, I got little Jesse Southwell steering the ship ... she was doing all the work for me."

Adding to Cronulla's disappointing night, star second-rower Rhiannon Byers picked up a shoulder injury. 

Byers, a rugby sevens convert, emerged second best from a tackle early in the second half and was left in tears as she gripped her shoulder while walking off the field.

The 27-year-old is set to undergo scans and will hope the injury doesn't deal another blow to her rugby league career, having already battled through a number of setbacks. 

Cronulla's loss put another dent in their ambitions of making back-to-back preliminary finals after they suffered an 18-4 loss to Newcastle last Thursday.