The Cronulla Sharks have comprehensively outplayed the Penrith Panthers at Pepper Stadium in their 13th straight win for a 16-point victory.
The Sharks controlled the game for a dominant victory, and despite having to do a lot of defence in the first half used that to build their win and run away with the match during the second half.
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To say they never looked challenged wouldn’t be correct, but Penrith never really threw enough at them to have them under serious pressure – although that was a result of the Sharks’ excellent goalline defence.
Cronulla just continually turned up, doing a brilliant job on scramble defence during the first half – in saying that, they gave away a lot of dumb penalties early in the game with a 5-1 penalty count at halftime that constantly allowed the Panthers to mount their attack.
From a Penrith point of view they looked to have no flow, momentum or rhythm to their offence. Bryce Cartwright overplayed his hand and failed to create anything while Nathan Cleary added little to the contest.
Leilani Latu quickly turned into Penrith’s best player, running the ball hard and adding plenty in defence while also creating with some good short balls at the line.
It was simply a disappointing effort for Penrith, and that continued into the second half as they continued to make errors when on the attack, pick poor last tackle options and not look like scoring. With possession evening up during the final 40, it allowed Cronulla to run away with it.
Cronulla, on the back of their forward pack domination, were able to score points almost at will. Ben Barba had an absolutely fantastic game being involved in what seemed like everything, scoring a double himself and having a wonderful combination with Chad Townsend.
Michael Ennis also added plenty to the game.
The first try was set up by Fa’amanu Brown as he broke through the line and threw an inside ball for Barba who burned the Panthers’ defence to the try line.
Barba would then score his second, getting a shaky offload to bounce off his knees before he would regather the ball and run away to score under the posts, running circles around the Panthers defenders.
Right on the stroke of half-time, the Panthers would hit back through Leilani Latu off an excellent short ball from Peter Wallace right on the try line.
The Panthers would then make a big last play of the half and pick up a penalty only for Nathan Cleary to miss the penalty goal.
The second got underway with the match in a sort of holding pattern – neither team was able to, or wanted to, do much more than have a set of hit ups and kick for the corner.
An error from Will Smith coming out of trouble would prove to be the turning point though as Mitch Brown and Joseph Paulo ran on tries within a couple of minutes of each other.
Brown would score thanks to some good work from Barba and Townsend on the right side before a great kick from Townsend, a strong kick chase and another error from Smith led to Paulo crashing over.
The Sharks then controlled the game with Barba being denied a try through the bunker, before Luke Lewis used some great footwork to crash over.
Issah Yeo would score a long-range consolation try, but in the grand scheme of things it meant absolutely nothing in a terrible day for Penrith.
So, the Sharks with their 13th straight win at Pepper Stadium with plenty of stars out and they continue to confirm themselves as premiership favourites.
Final score
Penrith Panthers 10
Cronulla Sharks 26
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