Crafty Sharks put away Panthers

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The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks have been wonderfully led by Todd Carney to a 38-10 victory over the Penrith Panthers today at Remondis Stadium in front of over 14,000 fans.

What started a relatively even contest soon blew out in Cronulla's favour, with a poorly disciplined first half from Penrith handing the Sharks possession in prime field position. Carney subsequently made them pay, having a hand in plenty of scoring plays including a wonderful individual effort. Sosaia Feki nabbed a try on the stroke of halftime, putting the Sharks up 20-0. The Panthers main chance of the half had come after 24 minutes, when James Segeyaro burrowed over - but was denied because he used the man playing the ball as an obstruction.

Cronulla continued to make a strong statement early in the second half, the opening tackle of the half seeing Sam Tagataese hitting Sam Anderson solidly. The Sharks took six minutes to extend their lead, Michael Gordon scoring his second try.

From there the momentum turned for a while, the Panthers getting themselves on the board through some clever kicking. James Roberts scored both the mountain-men's tries, the second from sheer determination near the line to ground the ball.

Ben Pomeroy and Sosaia Feki closed out the game for the Sharks, Pomeroy scoring in the final ten minutes before Feki got the ball down just inside the dead ball line right on fulltime to record an important boost to the Sharks' for and against.

Penrith's task gets no easier when they head home to host the Roosters on Friday night, while the Sharks head across the Tasman to face the rejuvenated Warriors in the first Saturday afternoon match of the season.

Match Details
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 38 Penrith Panthers 10
Venue: Endeavour Field
Crowd: 14120
Halftime Score: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 20-0

LeagueUnlimited.com Players of the Match:
3 points - Todd Carney
2 points - Michael Gordon
1 point - Sosaia Feki

CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS (38)
Tries: Michael Gordon (2), Todd Carney, Ben Pomeroy, Sosaia Feki (2)
Conversions: Todd Carney (6/6)
Penalty Goals: Todd Carney (1/1)

PENRITH PANTHERS (10)
Tries: James Roberts (2)
Conversions: Luke Walsh (1/1), Matt Moylan (0/1)

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary

Sharks: 1. Michael Gordon 2. Sosaia Feki 3. Ben Pomeroy 4. Jonathan Wright 5. Nathan Stapleton 6. Todd Carney 7. Jeff Robson 8. Andrew Fifita 9. John Morris 10. Bryce Gibbs 11. Jayson Bukuya 12. Wade Graham (c) 13. Chris Heighington
Interchange: 14. Isaac De Gois 15. Tyrone Peachey 16. Sam Tagataese 17. Ben Ross

Panthers: 1. Matt Moylan 2. James Roberts 3. Lewis Brown 4. Dean Whare 5. David Simmons 6. Isaac John 7. Luke Walsh 8. Jeremy Latimore 9. Kevin Kingston (c) 10. Tim Grant 11. Clint Newton 12. Sika Manu 13. Adam Docker
Interchange: 14. James Segeyaro 15. Ryan Simpkins 16. Cameron Ciraldo 17. Sam Anderson
Welcome to a trippy Remondis Stadium, where the groundskeepers have provided entertainment by mowing crop circles into the field. See what we mean here, thanks to Matt Russell at FOX Sports.
Both teams sit on the cusp of the eight and will be keen to set their final weeks on the right path with a win today. The Sharks can keep their top four hopes alive with a win, while the Panthers have dropped out of the eight and can take the Sharks' place there with a win today.
TEAM CHANGES? None. Both sides are as per program, with the Sharks' extended bench of Mills & Taufua dropping off.
Penrith wearing their pink Women-in-League strip again today, the fourth time this season. Cronulla in their traditional hoops for the 16th time this year. Solid crowd in at Remondis Stadium for this one.
We are UNDERWAY. Cronulla with it first.
2 min: PENALTY Panthers, Sharks' prop Andrew Fifita hanging around in the tackle too long.
3 min: Panthers go high and wide on the last, David Simmons comes down with it, but doesn't ground the ball. Sharks handover.
5 min: Sharks penalty now, Jeremy Latimore for Penrith the culprit, lazing around in the tackle.
13 min: Penrith applying early pressure here, forcing a line dropout on the Sharks.
15 min: James Roberts forced into touch by a school of Sharks. Cronulla scrum on their own 40m.
18 min: TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS
Scored by Michael Gordon. Conversion attempt by Todd Carney successful.
After several attempts down the left wing, the Sharks find success with Gordon slicing through off a beautiful inside ball by Wade Graham. Carney converts.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 6-0
20 min: UNFORCED ERROR PENRITH PANTHERS
Clint Newton makes an unforced error.
Newton spills it with the line beckoning. Cronulla scrum.
23 min: Penalty to the Panthers... alleging the Sharks were offside - the refs got that clearly wrong there. Unlucky Cronulla.
24 min: VIDEO REFEREE - NO TRY Panthers. James Segeyaro has used Tim Grant as a "bore". Sharks penalty.
26 min: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS
Penalty goal attempt by Todd Carney successful.
Carney kicks, and is taken out by Docker after the play. He elects to take the two.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 8-0
27 min: Ah dear. Offside from the kickoff Penrith. Penalty Sharks.
28 min: Sharks winger Sosaia Feki held up over the line. Tackle three.
29 min: Neat kick forces Dave Simmons to bat it dead. Penrith drop-out.
31 min: TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS
Scored by Todd Carney. Conversion attempt by Todd Carney successful.
Carney gets the ball at second receiver, sells a huge dummy and steps inside to score near the posts. Conversion of his own try sees his side fourteen in front nearing halftime.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 14-0
37 min: Sharks let a Segeyaro grubber go dead, get a 20m restart.
38 min: Penalty Sharks... one last chance to exert their dominance inside Penrith's half for Cronulla.
40 min:
Feki gets outside his man and he won't be stopped in the corner! Carney extends the lead on the stroke of halftime
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 20-0
That's HALFTIME at Remondis Stadium with Cronulla dominating 20-0 over Penrith.
41 min: Play resumes, Sam Tagataese SMASHES Sam Anderson in the opening tackle. Penrith with it.
45 min: Cronulla force a line drop-out.
47 min: TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS
Scored by Michael Gordon. Conversion attempt by Todd Carney successful.
Gordon is in right adjacent to the posts, he has two! Great start to the second half for the hosts! Carney converts.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 26-0
51 min: Penrith with an error on the attack. Sharks scrum on their own 10m line.
54 min: Penrith's attack looking quite pedestrian, James Segeyaro doing whatever he can but not being ably supported by his outside men. Luke Walsh then throws a huge cutout pass to Roberts on the wing... Stapelton attempts the intercept and drops it. Panthers scrum.
56 min: NO TRY for the Panthers off a video referee referral. Hayne said no try initially, and he was correct - Matt Moylan ruled to be offside chasing through... and he didn't ground it anyway. Sharks penalty.
58 min: David Simmons with a confident break down the right touchline but he's dragged down with no support runners to offload to.
60 min:
TRY Panthers - scored by James Roberts. Conversion unsuccessful by Matt Moylan.
A grubber through the line is chased by James Roberts and he gets there first... JUST inside the dead ball line. Moylan misses from out wide.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 26-4
64 min: UNFORCED ERROR CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS
Chris Heighington makes an unforced error.
Heighington spills it. Sharks to defend here inside their own half from 40m.
66 min: Lewis Brown looks to score... no he's spilled it trying to collect a kick in the goalmouth. Sharks 20m restart.
69 min: VIDEO REFEREE possible TRY for Penrith winger James Roberts. Checking grounding...
69 min: TRY PENRITH PANTHERS
Scored by James Roberts. Conversion attempt by Luke Walsh successful.
James Roberts has burrowed over for the Panthers... making things interesting with just over ten remaining... Walsh converts.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 26-10
72 min: TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS
Scored by Ben Pomeroy. Conversion attempt by Todd Carney successful.
Ben Pomeroy scores out wide to seal the result for Cronulla. Carney adds two more.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 32-10
76 min: Play winding down here now with the result beyond doubt, a few errors creeping in from both sides.
77 min: Cronulla penalised for a strip.
78 min: Clint Newton steps several Sharks defenders, goes for the line, but he's lost it thanks to the attention of the cover defenders. Sharks scrum.
80 min: VIDEO REFEREE possible NO TRY for Sharks winger Sosaia Feki... checking grounding.
80 min: TRY CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS
Scored by Sosaia Feki. Conversion attempt by Todd Carney successful.
Feki's got it down with his fingertips and the referee's decision is overturned... and then Carney converts from the touchline. Superb stuff!
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 38-10
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