Penrith know when to hold em' as they survive an almighty Cronulla scare

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Penrith Panthers v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

The NRL's time in Las Vegas has ended with a bang as Penrith held off a fast-finishing Cronulla side by 28-22 at Allegiant Stadium. 

Penrith suffered a cruel blow early when excitement machine Casey McLean was taken off the field in the first five minutes suffering from category 1 concussive symptoms. Cronulla soon capitalised on the new look Panther left edge. A beautiful pass from Nicho Hynes and Jesse Ramien ran straight at that new look combination to put the Sharks in front 4-0. The four-time premiers had some rough initiations early, with several passes going to ground and an uncharacteristic clunkiness about their play. That changed after 26 minutes courtesy of their captain Isaah Yeo. After getting the ball from first receiver, the best on ground was able to beat the clutches of Tom Hazelton and Addin Fonua-Blake to score the Panthers maiden try of the 2025 season. 

Blayke Brailey booting it out on the full from the restart gave Penrith a second try in as many minutes. Nathan Cleary chipped over the top, into the arms of Izack Tago and the Panthers opened up a 12-4 lead and looked set to go on with the job, but they weren't without their chances with several scoring chances going astray. But, the rusty start continued as they invited Cronulla to have a final say before the break. Braydon Trindall held up the defence brilliantly and kicked in behind with Dylan Edwards out of the frame, Briton Nikora got there for the Sharks to trail 12-10 at the break.

Both sides had further scoring opportunities to start the second half. Cronulla going closest with Braden Hamlin-Uele almost going over off a Nicho Hynes pass. Penrith capitalised on that miscue to open the scoring in the second half. It was a nicely worked play from Cleary and Jack Cole to send Daine Laurie (who had replaced McLean) over out wide in the corner. Nathan Cleary overcame an object thrown into his line of kicking to nail it from touch. A brain-snap from Ronaldo Mulitalo saw him concede a penalty in possession, which in turn allowed Penrith to punish the Sharks once more. Cleary went deep into the line, found Edwards who sent Paul Alamoti away and scored in the corner vacated by Mulitalo who jammed in on the full-back and Penrith were on their way.

Cronulla weren't finished and staged an almighty comeback to get to within two points. Trindall delivered a magical ball before the hour mark to send  Kayal Iro through almost untouched to score for the visitors. The conversion kept the gap at eight points but there was clearly a momentum shift happening. With just over 10 to play, Fonua-Blake said "follow me lads", charging his way to the line in a sensational individual effort from the big signing for the Sharks to cut the gap to two. 

Despite some near misses, the Sharks couldn't crack the line with Cam McInnes going inches away from giving the lead back to Cronulla. As a result, Penrith only needed one opportunity to seal the win. After holding their line mere minutes ago, from the play the ball, Cole and Cleary combine nicely with Luke Garner who finds Laurie to get a double. Cronulla tried a Hail Mary but it was to no-avail as Penrith survived an almighty scare in the Sin City to go back to Australia with the two competition points.