Two tries in the opening five minutes of the second half allowed the Breakers to jump out to a 14-4 lead after the scores were locked at 4-all at the break.

Coach Di Lawrence said it was pleasing to not only play their first match in a month, but to also jag a win that lifted her side into second spot on the ladder.

"There has been a lot of adversity there because we haven't played for four weeks," Lawrence said.

"Our match fitness definitely showed at the end for them to come back, but so many girls have been sick and injured and two went down (in the match) so it was hard-fought win.

"I'm pretty proud of the girls."

Mahala Hopwood, Kara Lewis and Amy Goodman crossed for tries while fullback Leilani Grainger and hooker Shelby Grainger all put in strong performances.

The victory was largely due to a strong first-half defensive effort where the Sharks were camped inside the Breakers' half with the aid of a strong south-westerly.

"Unfortunately for them they didn't capitalise on the conditions and we were able to come out in the second half and use it in our favour," Lawrence said.

"It's always nice to get one up in the local derby, but Sharks played well and came back. It wasn't easy."

Sharks coach Greg Gleeson conceded his side were flat and didn't utilise the conditions.

"We started okay and probably needed to score a few more points in the first half with such a strong wind at our backs, but we were a little bit flat today and there was a little bit of a lack of effort," he said.

"We'll work on that, we're still working on a fair few things. We've got a big squad so we'll work on where each player is best suited."

Gleeson said his side played well in patches with Sophie Heeney, Mandy McKinnon and Molly Styles arguably their best.

The Sharks had their chances, but couldn't convert possession into points although they did have a number of tries disallowed.

"I think we had one certain try disallowed for some reason, but it's a bit hard when there are no touch judges and it's left to one guy on the field," Gleeson said.

"We don't lose by much; we're in every game but we haven't played very well as a unit just yet. We'll keep working on that."

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