Sydney Roosters have jumped into second on the NRL ladder with a controversial, nail-biting, 16-14 win over Cronulla on Saturday night.

With the scores locked heading to the final two minutes, Sharks skipper Paul Gallen gave away a penalty for holding onto Boyd Cordner too long and Michael Gordon booted the penalty conversion from 20 metres out, handing the visitors an invaluable win.

James Maloney and Mitchell Pearce both missed field goal attempts in a frantic closing stanza at Southern Cross Group Stadium, which was marred by a series of controversial decisions.

With nine minutes remaining, Luke Keary was sin-binned for a strip on Luke Lewis after a break.

The next set, the Sharks took advantage of their one-man advantage with Lewis steaming through the hole where the Roosters five-eighth usually defends to even up the scores.

However, the Roosters held on and the premiers could now sink as low as sixth if results run against them on Sunday, putting their NRL title defence on thin ice.

Cronulla also have a headache after losing Wade Graham in the 20th minute to a suspected corked calf.

Lewis’ try was the only four-pointer of the second half and the Roosters bombed a certain try when Mitchell Aubusson — who had the tryline seemingly open in front of him — inexplicably flung the ball to Blake Ferguson but it ended up over the sideline.

Earlier, the Sharks lost Graham in the opening quarter and the Roosters immediately sought to exploit his loss, attacking down their left side where the NSW Origin back-rower defends with Ferguson powering over Ricky Leutele to make it 12-2.

The visitors looked to be well on top, however, the momentum turned when Pearce kicked out on the full.

The next set Maloney grubbered to find a flying Valentine Holmes in the in-goal to reduce the margin to four at the break.

However, the Roosters did enough to grab the points.