Penrith’ young guns have secured their third win in a row, beating the Titans 26-6 at Sportingbet Stadium this evening.
The Panthers’ defence was outstanding, with only one try conceded throughout the entire game. We were fierce in attack and made very few mistakes, and overall we put in a brilliant performance.
Just before the game we were boosted by the news that young gun Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was returning to the side at fullback after a couple of weeks playing first grade. He was outstanding for the whole 80 minutes, scoring two tries along with Waqa Blake who bagged two of his own. It was a combination of these two superstars that got the first points of the match!
After getting the ball on the 20m line in front of the uprights, Dalling ran around a couple of defenders to the right, and then offloaded to Blake who ran through the Titans backline to score. Corey Harawira missed the conversion, so the home side took an early 4-0 lead.
For the next 30 minutes, the ball went from one end of the field to the other with no result. The Panthers defence was impeccable, with our boys holding the Titans out on numerous occasions, managing to hold them up even when they barged their way over their line.
Then, with four minutes until half time Penrith finally got the breakthrough they were looking for. Speedy halfback Sam Scarlett got the ball on the 20m line and ran left across the field, breaking through 6 tackles before eventually barging through the Gold Coast’s back line to score! Bryce Cartwright took the kick this time but it bounced off the posts, so the score went to 8-0.
HALF TIME: 8-0 Panthers
The first 10 minutes of this half was played like much of the first, with the ball travelling the length of the field several times without a result.
Then in the 53rd minute, the ball found the hands of Dallin on our 20m line and the speedy youngster left the Titans defence stunned when he sprinted straight through them and over the line to score. This time Harawira’s kick was on target and the Panthers extended their lead to 14-0.
And 15 minutes later he did it all again! After getting the ball about 15m out from Penrith’s line, he ran straight through the Titan’s backline and dived over to score. Harawira converted again and the score went to 20-0.
Play continued like a tennis match for the next 14 minutes before the Gold Coast finally managed to break through the Panthers stronghold to put their first points on the board. Five-eighth Christian Hazard put bomb high up into the air and winger Zac Spring plucked it out of the air and dived down to ground the ball. The conversion was good so the score went to 20-6, with 8 minutes until full time.
With less than 2 minutes on the clock, Waqa Blake put the icing on the cake with one final try. It came courtesy of a beautiful over-the-head basketball pass from Bryce Cartwright, and Blake side-stepped a couple of Gold Coast players before diving over to score. Harawira’s kick went straight through the uprights, handing the Panthers their third win in a row!
FULL TIME: 26-6 Panthers
