Cronulla-Sutherland 21–20 Penrith Panthers — Semi-Final, 2018 NRL Finals Series
14 Sep 2018 · Allianz Stadium, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 19,211
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Semi-Final, 2018 NRL finals series: Cronulla-Sutherland 21–20 Penrith Panthers, at Allianz Stadium, Sydney, NSW on 14 Sep 2018.
Sourcing caveat: Try-by-try and field-goal minute markers could not be independently confirmed to a reliable standard. No official player-of-the-match award was found for this fixture.
Scorers
| Cronulla-Sutherland | Tries: Holmes; Lewis; Townsend Goals: Holmes (4/5 conversions) Drop goals: Townsend (closing minutes, match-winner) |
| Penrith Panthers | Tries: Blake; Cleary; Yeo Goals: Cleary (4/4 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Cronulla-Sutherland | Penrith Panthers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valentine Holmes | Fullback | Dallin Watene-Zelezniak | 1 |
| 2 | Sosaia Feki | Wing | Josh Mansour | 2 |
| 3 | Jesse Ramien | Centre | Waqa Blake | 3 |
| 4 | Ricky Leutele | Centre | Tyrone Peachey | 4 |
| 5 | Edrick Lee | Wing | Christian Crichton | 5 |
| 6 | Matt Moylan | Five-Eighth | James Maloney | 6 |
| 7 | Chad Townsend | Halfback | Nathan Cleary | 7 |
| 8 | Andrew Fifita | Prop | Trent Merrin (c) | 8 |
| 9 | Jayden Brailey | Hooker | Sione Katoa | 9 |
| 10 | Matt Prior | Prop | Reagan Campbell-Gillard | 10 |
| 11 | Luke Lewis | Second-Row | Viliame Kikau | 11 |
| 14 | Kurt Capewell | Second-Row | Isaah Yeo | 12 |
| 13 | Paul Gallen (c) | Lock | James Fisher-Harris | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 12 | Scott Sorensen | Tyrone May | 14 | |
| 15 | James Segeyaro | Moses Leota | 15 | |
| 16 | Aaron Woods | Corey Harawira-Naera | 16 | |
| 17 | Jayson Bukuya | James Tamou | 17 | |
| Shane Flanagan | Coach | Cameron Ciraldo | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Ashley Klein |
Match report
In an elimination semi-final at Allianz Stadium, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks raced to an 18-2 halftime lead behind tries to Valentine Holmes, Luke Lewis and Chad Townsend, with Holmes adding the goals. Penrith, needing a win to keep their season alive, staged a furious second-half comeback, scoring three unanswered tries through Waqa Blake, Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo, with Cleary converting all four of his side's goals to draw the Panthers level late in the match. Sharks five-eighth Chad Townsend slotted a field goal in the closing minutes to seal a 21-20 victory and send Cronulla through to a preliminary final against reigning premiers Melbourne. Penrith's players were visibly devastated at fulltime, their season ending agonisingly short. The win extended Cronulla's finals campaign to a second straight week, a rare feat for a club that had gone almost the entirety of its history without a top-four finish, let alone consecutive finals wins, in the years either side of their sole 2016 premiership. It was also a measure of revenge of sorts for Penrith, who under first-year coach Anthony Griffin had surprised many by reaching the finals in 2018 after several lean seasons, with the emerging halves pairing of Nathan Cleary and James Maloney central to that turnaround; Cleary's faultless kicking in this match, converting all four Panthers tries, did little to soften the blow of a season ending one win short of a preliminary final. For Cronulla, the victory set up a preliminary final against the reigning premiers Melbourne Storm the following week, a rematch of the 2016 Grand Final between the two clubs, though the Sharks would ultimately fall well short in that contest.