Penrith were brave, very brave but ultimately inaccurate goal-kicking from the normally reliable left boot of Jamie Soward, cost them victory.
Cronulla held on in the closing stages to win in what was one of the games of the season, 20-18 in front of a 14,273 crowd at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
The Panthers as they have done all season, they showed tremendous resilience to remain in the contest despite being forced to play the final 45 minutes with 15 men after losing Waqa Blake and Te Maire Martin to injuries in the first half.
Waqa Blake was an early casualty after succumbing to a hip injury sustained in pulling down a runaway Andrew Fifita who look certain to score early in the match after some strong lead-up work from Wade Graham and Ben Barba.
But most concern centres around boom rookie five-eighth, Te Maire Martin who was forced from the field late in the first half with a suspected fractured shoulder after copping a hit on suspicion from Valentine Holmes.
Those injuries would have ended the hopes of a lot of other sides, but the Panthers’ seem able to be cope better than most having the flexibility to shift Isaah Yeo moving into the centres while Tyrone Peachey seamlessly alternated between the back-row, halves and even hooker.
A long-range converted try in the 73rd minute to winger Valentine Holmes after he palmed off Jamie Soward to break a 14-all deadlock, appeared to put paid to the Panthers hopes of an upset win.
But the Panthers, whose every game this year has gone down to the final five minutes, almost forced the game into golden point when interchange forward, James Fisher-Harris finished off an extraordinary 77th minute team movement that featured eleven sets of hands that took play from right to left and back to the right.
However, Jamie Soward’s near-sideline conversion attempt sailed just wide of the posts, condemning the Panthers to their third two-point loss of the season, while the Sharks now consolidate their spot in the top four, having won five games in a row.
The first half was played a frantic pace as both sides were willing to promote the ball with some terrific second phase footy (featuring 25 offloads).
The longer the half progressed, the more Penrith began to dominate everywhere statistically but the scoreboard, thanks to some incredible goal-line defence from the Sharks.
Former Panther Luke Lewis produced the biggest hit of the season, with an absolute bell-ringer on Panthers skipper Matt Moylan, who ran an inside line off Peachey.
But Sharks hooker Michael Ennis almost undid his teammates’ good work when he unnecessarily charged into Moylan’s back, causing a scuffle to break out and conceding the penalty.
Ennis’ misdemeanour fortunately didn’t prove costly as his team remained resolute in defence on their own tryline to deny Penrith yet again and send the Mountain Men into the sheds at halftime trailing 8-0. The lead was courtesy of a second-minute trademark burrowing try from dummy half by that man, Ennis and two James Maloney penalty goals.
Soon after play resumed, Penrith opened their account through bizarre circumstances which allowed Moylan to score his first try of the season.
Soward’s spiralling bomb was allowed to bounce by Sharks winger Sosaia Feki, who then for some reason tried to trap it with his foot only for the ball to bounce into the waiting arms of the Penrith skipper to score.
Penrith almost took the lead in the very next set when Cartwright again tested the mettle of Cronulla’s left edge with a surging run only for his cut-out pass to an unmarked Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to travel forward.
But the Panthers, who by now had all the momentum, soon took the lead in the 54th minute after Cartwright and Moylan combined to put Isaah Yeo over in the right corner, with the Bunker confirming there had been no double-movement from the makeshift centre in scoring his first try for 2016.
The flashpoint came in the space of two minutes midway through the second half, when the bunker correctly denied the Sharks a try at one end but controversially awarded one to Penrith at the other.
Trailing 10-8, Sharks half Chad Townsend looked to have regained the lead when he regathered a Jack Bird in-field grubber, only to be correctly ruled offside by the Bunker on the kick.
Next set, the Panthers scored a contentious but incredibly skilful try midway through the second half to extend their lead to 14-8.
Despite suggestions that Fisher-Harris appeared to lose control of the ball in the tackle, play was allowed to continue when Soward picked up the loose ball 40m out from the Sharks try line. He sent Cartwright away down the right before an interchange of inside-outside passes between he, Yeo and Soward ended with the back-rower showing incredible ability to return to his feet and back up to score his maiden NRL try.
But the Sharks hit back with back-to-back long-range tries to regain the lead.
Chad Townsend got the better of an isolated Peter Wallace, who was defending out in the backs, streaking away downfield from halfway before setting up James Maloney to score his 50th NRL try with 14 minutes remaining before Holmes’ 75m try put the Sharks in front 20-14.
Ironically the try came just moments after Penrith, who had received a seven-tackle set in the previous play oddly decided on the fourth tackle to kick to the corner instead of setting it up for a potential match-winning field goal.
While the win entrenches the Sharks firmly in the top four, Soward’s missed
conversion of Fisher-Harris’ incredible try condemned the Panthers to their third two point loss of the season.
Panthers coach Anthony Griffin praised how his side kept staying in the contest despite being reduced to 15 players before half-time but bemoaned the conceding of “soft points”.
“We had 15 guys that kept coming and put ourselves into a position to win the football game,” Griffin said.
“But we just found a way to defensively break down at times.”
“The tries they scored were pretty soft (while) we had to work hard for ours.”
“Ennis’ try in the first half and the try from when we had them plugged in their half at 14-14, they’re just soft points we shouldn’t be conceding.”
Despite outscoring the Sharks four tries to three, only to miss three conversions, Griffin refused to use that as an excuse for the loss.
“We missed three kicks but I’m proud of their efforts and we’re moving forward,” Griffin said.
“I just thought out of nowhere we let a couple of tries in and you can’t do that.”
“We have to be honest with ourselves about why we didn’t win.”
“We didn’t defend well enough to win it.”
Griffin nonetheless praised his side’s resilience.
“I couldn’t be prouder of their effort and the direction we’re moving in and today against that team on their home ground to be two men down on the interchange it’s a fantastic effort,” Griffin said.
“We’re not given anyone a minute’s peace.”
“Although we’re not winning on the scoreboard at the moment we are winning in a lot of ways.”
“The team we are building and the resilience we are showing, (while) it hurts at the moment when we get better and mature a bit more we’ll win games like that.”
Moylan added “It tough to lose a game at any time but it doesn’t help when you fought hard, scored more tries but it’s just part of rugby league.”
While man of the match Paul Gallen admitted his side was perhaps lucky to get the two points.
“In the end I think we got lucky (Soward) left his kicking boots at home.”
Cronulla Sharks 20 (Michael Ennis, James Maloney, Valentine Holmes tries; James Maloney 4 goals) defeated Penrith Panthers 18 (James Fisher-Harris 2, Matt Moylan, Isaah Yeo tries; Jamie Soward 1 goal) at Southern Cross Group Stadium. Half-time: 8-0 Sharks. Crowd: 14,273.
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