Panthers NYC have lost their trial against the Roosters, going down 32-16 at Sportingbet Stadium this afternoon.
We started off very strongly and dominated most of the first two quarters despite the score at half time, but we couldn’t keep up for the second 40 minutes, and we let the visitors get on top of us.
Here’s how the match played out.
We had several attempts at our line early and often got to within a metre of scoring, but just couldn’t get past the Roosters defence. Finally, winger Josh Jay took a beautiful ball out wide and beat everyone to the line, diving over near the corner post. The sideline conversion by Regan Haika missed, so we took 4-0 lead.
The Roosters hit back a few minutes later when they found a hole in our backline and side stepped a handful of our defenders, before throwing a few quick passes to send their five-eighth under the posts to score. The conversion from in front was successful, and they took a 6-4 lead.
The visitors got another one a few minutes later thanks to some very sloppy defence from Penrith. The #8 simply pushed his way through our backline and fell over the line without too much resistance. They made it two from two with conversions, and had extended their lead to 12-4 just before the siren sounded.
FIRST QUARTER: 12-4 Roosters
Penrith started the second quarter a lot stronger, and within two minutes we had our second try. Again it was Josh Jay who scored the points, after receiving a perfectly timed pass from Matt Boss to dive over in the right corner. Regan Haika’s kick was good, and the score went to 12-10.
Penrith was defending well against a strong Roosters outfit and they were performing a lot better than they have in previous weeks. They were making tackles and forcing errors from the opposition, which is something they’ve failed to do in the last two trials.
But the Roosters weren’t giving up without a fight, and they soon blew the score out to 16-10 when the Panthers lost their backline formation. The visitors capitalised on a hole down the left side and after drawing our players in different directions, their halfback got the ball and sailed over the line for another 4 points.
HALF TIME: 16-10 Roosters
The Roosters had the better start in the second half with some good goal line defence, and they were the first to put points on the board, extending their lead to 22-10.
Penrith quickly hit back thanks to a lovely short ball by Jarrod Brackenhoffer which put us over, and with a successful conversion we had narrowed the score line to 6 points.
But it seemed that was all we had for this game, and the Roosters quickly took control. As the clock ticked down to quarter time, the visitor’s half back ran to the line and executed a great left foot step to get through our defence and run in to score beside the posts.
THIRD QUARTER: 28-16 Roosters
Penrith did well to hold the Roosters out in this final quarter, only letting them in once just before full time.
FULL TIME: 32 – 16 Roosters
