Trent Barrett’s Under 20’s side have posted another win as they work to cement their spot in the top 8, beating the Cowboys 38-16 at Sportingbet Stadium this evening.
Despite some lazy defence at times, the Panthers youngsters put in a solid performance and attacked aggressively, leaving North Queensland a few steps behind for most of the match.
We opened the scoring in the 4th minute of the game after a beautifully timed ball from Soni Luke found the hands of Waqa Blake, who dived through a pack of Cowboys defenders to get over the line. The kick was waved away, so the home side took a 4-0 lead.
The Cowboys hit back a few minutes later when they put a cross field bomb high into the air and it was batted back into the waiting arms of Ty Carucci, who ran around the back of our defenders and dived over to score. The kick missed so the scores were locked at 4-4.
The Panthers were next to cross when Sione Katoa collected the ball at close range and barged his way over the line. Jarrod Brackenhofer converted from in front to put us in front 10-4.
Chris Smith ran in our third try in the 18th minute after collecting the ball from 10m out, breaking through a tackle and running straight through another group of Cowboys defenders to dive over under the posts. Bracks sent the ball straight through the uprights to extend Penrith’s lead 16-4.
Some very lazy Panthers defence let North Queensland in for their next try in the 24th minute, when big Corey Jenson ran hard at our line and pushed his way through to fall over and score. The kick was off target, so the score went to 16-10.
With just over 10 minutes until the half time break, Waqa Blake crossed for his second try of the day after collecting a quick pass on the sideline and sprinting towards the corner post, diving over just before being taken out by the Cowboys defence. Bracks made the very tricky conversion look easy, giving Penrith a 22-10 lead.
HALF TIME: 22-10 Panthers
It was 23 minutes into the second half before another try was scored, and it was Penrith who added the points to their tally when Bracks broke through North Queensland’s defence and took off down the field, before offloading to Eddie Aiono, who flicked the ball to Brent Naden who sprinted down the sideline and dived over the score. The kick was waved away so the score went to 26-10.
The Cowboys narrowed the gap in the 67th minute with a try through their hooker Josh Chudleigh who took a quick dart out of dummy half and found his way across the line. With the successful conversion, the score moved to 26-16.
In the 71st minute, Penrith extended their lead when Logan Geyer was on the end of a shift to the left hand side, and with a show and go, made his way through the line and scored under the post. This was after a strong run by Moses Leota and, following the successful conversion, made the score 32-16.
The final try of the match was scored by Myles Taueli who barged over the line, with a number of Cowboys players hanging off him, and planted the ball down adjacent to the posts. Brackenhofer converted the goal and the match finished 38-16.
FULL TIME: 38-16 Panthers
