NRL: Field goal earns Sharks late win

Todd Carney of the Sharks runs the ball during the round one NRL match between the Wests Tigers and the Cronulla Sharks. Photo / Getty Images.

A long-range field goal from Todd Carney six minutes from fulltime has given Cronulla a gritty 15-14 NRL victory over Penrith at Centrebet Stadium.

The Sharks survived a late scare when a poor field-goal attempt from Panthers five-eighth Travis Burns was touched down by winger David Simmons with two minutes remaining only for the video referee to correctly rule the speedster offside.

It was instead Carney who walked away from Penrith the hero with his 40-metre field goal capping a brilliant game from the playmaker who put his hand up for the NSW State of Origin five-eighth spot on Saturday night.

Scores were locked with eight minutes remaining when Penrith skipper Luke Lewis, who was celebrating his 200th game for the Panthers, was penalised for lying on Cronulla captain Paul Gallen too long.

Carney slotted the penalty and it was 14-14.

Sharks coach Shane Flanagan will surely be wondering how it got so close after Cronulla were cruising at halftime when they led 12-4 after dominating play from the opening whistle.

Penrith did well to only trail by eight at the break after a superb opening 40 minutes from the Sharks, who opened the scoring through a converted try to back-rower Jason Bukuya in the sixth minute after a lovely short ball from Jeremy Smith.

Cronulla continued the onslaught with Carney running the show, stretching the ball from one side of the field to the other.

Burns was penalised again for lying on the tackled player and Carney stepped up and slotted a goal from right in front to make it 8-0.

Carney continued to pepper the Panthers with his kicking game and got one to stop in front of fullback Lachlan Coote, who knocked on 10 metres out from his line.

The Sharks made them pay immediately with replacement back-rower Wade Graham scoring an unconverted try in the left corner to make it 12-0 after 30 minutes.

Penrith hit back just before the break with a try to interchange forward Blake Austin.

Shortly after the break, Sharks fullback Nathan Gardner produced a coach killer when he dropped a bomb right in front of his posts with no Penrith chasers in sight.

The Panthers scored minutes later with centre Michael Jennings crashing over in the corner in the 54th minute.

Penrith hit the lead six minutes later when Coote scored after trailing hooker Kevin Kingston, who broke through some soft tackles up the middle before finding his fullback who scored under the posts with Walsh converting to make it 14-12.

-AAP