Sitting fourth leading into Sunday’s third round, the Warriors were confident of causing an upset victory to not instil confidence in the side, but stay in touch with the top three.

It wasn’t to be as Shellharbour completed a clinical 72.5 - 42.5 victory away from home, continuing the Sharks’ perfect start to their title defence after victories over Mittagong (89-25) and Newcastle (76-38) in the opening two rounds.

“We just aren’t quite there yet I don’t think, not to be able to beat those top three teams,” Orange coach Jason Brown said.

“It was another pretty good performance in terms of averages though, but Shellharbour are a very good side and bowled well.”

Brown said after a good performance in the singles Orange faltered in the doubles section of the tie, giving the Sharks a chance to build an all but unassailable lead.

Needless to say, the Warriors were unable to make up the deficit in the teams category.

“We bowled quite well in the singles, we were actually leading after that,” Brown said.

“But we really fell away in the doubles. We bowled well again in the teams, but couldn’t quite peg them back, we couldn’t catch them.”

Despite the loss Brown said his side remains in a steady position after three rounds of the 2015 season, with the Warriors’ opening round win and performance in rounds two and three pointing towards a resurgence this season.

Orange's next clash is with Tenpin City.