Penrith Panthers 20–16 South Sydney Rabbitohs — Preliminary Final, 2020 NRL Finals Series
17 Oct 2020 · ANZ Stadium, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 30,116
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2020 NRL finals series: Penrith Panthers 20–16 South Sydney Rabbitohs, at ANZ Stadium, Sydney, NSW on 17 Oct 2020.
Sourcing caveat: Try/goal minutes are sourced from secondary reports rather than an independently triple-verified primary scoresheet. No official player-of-the-match award was found for this fixture.
Scoring timeline
| 3′ | South Sydney Rabbitohs — try, Johnston |
| 7′ | Penrith Panthers — try, To'o |
| 26′ | Penrith Panthers — try, May |
| 49′ | South Sydney Rabbitohs — try, Gagai |
| 66′ | Penrith Panthers — try, Edwards |
| 72′ | South Sydney Rabbitohs — try, Allan |
Tries with a sourced minute, in order scored, with the conversion kicked/missed alongside each one where source data lets us match a kicker to that specific try. Tries whose exact minute isn't recorded in available sources appear in the Scorers table below but not here; goal tallies we can't attribute to one specific try are shown as descriptive text in Scorers rather than guessed into this timeline.
Scorers
| Penrith Panthers | Tries: To'o 7'; May 26'; Edwards 66' Goals: Cleary (3/3 conversions) 8', 28', 68'; Cleary — penalty goal 39' |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | Tries: Johnston 3'; Gagai 49'; Allan 72' Goals: Reynolds (2/3 conversions) 5', 50' |
Team sheets
| Penrith Panthers | South Sydney Rabbitohs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dylan Edwards | Fullback | Corey Allan | 1 |
| 2 | Josh Mansour | Wing | Alex Johnston | 2 |
| 3 | Tyrone May | Centre | Bayley Sironen | 3 |
| 4 | Stephen Crichton | Centre | Dane Gagai | 4 |
| 5 | Brian To'o | Wing | Jaxson Paulo | 5 |
| 6 | Jarome Luai | Five-eighth | Cody Walker | 6 |
| 7 | Nathan Cleary | Halfback | Adam Reynolds | 7 |
| 8 | James Tamou | Prop | Tevita Tatola | 8 |
| 9 | Apisai Koroisau | Hooker | Damien Cook | 9 |
| 10 | James Fisher-Harris | Prop | Thomas Burgess | 10 |
| 11 | Kurt Capewell | Second Row | Jaydn Su'A | 11 |
| 12 | Liam Martin | Second Row | Liam Knight | 12 |
| 13 | Isaah Yeo | Lock | Cameron Murray | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Brent Naden | Mark Nicholls | 14 | |
| 15 | Moses Leota | Jed Cartwright | 15 | |
| 16 | Zane Tetevano | Keaon Koloamatangi | 16 | |
| 17 | Mitch Kenny | Hame Sele | 17 | |
| Ivan Cleary | Coach | Wayne Bennett | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Gerard Sutton |
Match report
In a tense, error-riddled arm-wrestle at ANZ Stadium, Penrith Panthers defeated South Sydney Rabbitohs 20-16 to book their first grand final berth in 17 years, setting up a decider against Melbourne Storm. Penrith led 14-6 at halftime after tries to Brian To'o and Tyrone May either side of an Alex Johnston opener for Souths, with Nathan Cleary's boot proving decisive — he landed all three of his conversion attempts plus a 39th-minute penalty goal, while Souths' Adam Reynolds converted only two of three. Dane Gagai hauled Souths back within four points with a 49th-minute try, and Dylan Edwards restored Penrith's buffer before a late Corey Allan try made for a nervy finish. Coach Ivan Cleary lamented that his side "left a lot of points out there" despite the win, in a match played amid the pandemic-affected season's shifted finals calendar.