South Sydney inflicted more misery on Cronulla at ANZ Stadium on Friday by sealing a 32-26 victory to keep Ricky Stuart's side firmly at the bottom of the NRL ladder.

Souths were irresistible in attack running in six tries with Beau Champion crossing twice and halfback Chris Sandow rediscovering his best form with a virtuoso display.

However, it was a game punctuated by poor tackling in defence from both sides with Souths only marginally better at stopping their opponents' forward forays than the Sharks to emerge victorious.

The poor defending led to an entertaining first half that saw the sides share seven tries.

New Zealand international David Kidwell opened the scoring when he gratefully received a Chris Sandow pass to barge over after nine minutes.

Souths extended their lead midway through the half with Champion scoring his first of the night before David Fa'alogo reacted quickest to John Sutton's grubber kick.

Paul Gallen, returning from suspension, got his side back into the game with a well-worked try after a neat inside pass from Corey Hughes.

But almost immediately Souths extend their lead again through Roy Asotasi's barnstorming 35-metre run which was converted by Sandow to make the score 20-6 nine minutes before half-time.

However, it was the Sharks who finished the half the stronger when Luke Covell and David Simmons went over late on to cut the lead to 22-18 at the interval.

The second half followed a familiar pattern to the first with the Sharks starting fastest from the blocks but Matthew Wright was unable to take advantage of Terence Seu Seu's 70-metre break when he was brought down by a swarm of Souths defenders.

With the chance gone, Souths took advantage with Champion adding his second after more shoddy defending from the visitors on 49 minutes, and the big centre was on hand again two minutes later to set up Nathan Merritt to score what proved to be the winning try.

Simmons had a glorious chance to score a second, but he somehow fumbled the ball with no Souths defenders in sight - much to the delight of the home crowd.

The Sharks refused to throw in the towel and scored two tries from Ben Pomeroy and Luke Covell instigated by the impressive Barrett but it proved to be too little too late as Souths held on for their fourth win of the season.

Sharks coach Ricky Stuart said he was proud of his side despite the defeat and praised their attitude in coming back from 22-6 down before half-time and once again in the second period.

"These blokes have been under a lot of pressure and scrutiny and we constantly talk about attitudes but a lot of teams would have thrown in the towel .. but the spirit and attitudes of these players makes me proud to be involved with them," said Stuart.

The former Kangaroos mentor was less complimentary about the two referee system which he said is not working due to a lack of experienced referees.

"Players are getting put under unnecessary pressure from mistakes. My players are improving but the two referees on the field aren't," he said.

"Last week we had two referees that hadn't done two games in the NRL. On Monday night I see a game where they have 180 each ... refereeing one game. Why?

"One of those experienced guys should have been at our game in Adelaide which was a pretty important game for us and the Cowboys. They have got it wrong."

"I'm accountable for the position we are in and I take that - but we have had some rough decisions go our way and I feel for them."

Souths coach Jason Taylor said he felt the system did work and was in favour of it although he admitted there were aspects that needed looking at.

Taylor was more critical of his side who he accused of conceding soft tries and allowing Cronulla back into the game.

"We invited them back into it before half-time and again in the second half and it made it a long night for us," said Taylor.

"We've got to improve and work at being consistent, but we are young and still learning and we are heading in the right direction."

The Sharks will have to wait until next week to find out if any action will be taken against skipper Paul Gallen over a high tackle on Craig Wing.

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