The Panthers have come from behind to beat the Cowboys 32-22 in wet conditions at Pepper Stadium tonight.
We started off slowly and struggled with discipline a little in the first half, but after the half time break we really kicked into gear. Our defence improved and we only let the Cowboys in one in 40 minutes, while piling on three tries of our own to take the lead and run away with the game.
The Cowboys scored first when halfback Cooper Bambling sent the ball to fullback Yamba Bowie, and he offloaded to speedy winger Gideon Mosby about 25m out and he sprinted to the line to score. The conversion gave the visitors a 6-0 lead.
The Panthers answered back 3 minutes later when Maliko Filino broke through North Queensland’s defence, finding a hole about 15m out before palming off a couple of players to dive over the line! The kick was waved away though, so the score went to 6-4.
In the 24th minute the Cowboys scored their second try when Brandon Smith collected the ball from dummy half about 2m out and dived underneath a group of Panthers defenders to get the ball over the line next to the posts. The kick from in front added the extra two and put North Queensland in front 12-4.
The Panthers fired back in the 26th minute when Brent Naden collected the ball from dummy half and sent it left to Soni Luke, who threw a long cut out pass to Braidon Burns on the wing, and he sprinted a few metres and dived over to score just inside the corner post. We missed the kick again, so the score went to 12-8.
A Penrith fumble handed North Queensland their next try with 6 minutes until the half time break. Cooper Bambling passed to Akeripa Tia Kilifi on the 10m line and he put a grubber kick over to the left corner. A couple of Panthers players tried to dive on it but lost it, and Mosby jumped on the ball to ground it over the line. The conversion sailed straight through the posts to extend their lead to 18-8.
With 47 seconds on the clock, Tyrone May added a few more points to the board after running around the back of the Cowboys defensive line and sidestepping a couple of players to find a hole and dive over to score! Dylan Edwards kicked the conversion to take the score to 18-14.
HALF TIME: 18-14 Cowboys
The Panthers were first to score this half when Tyrone May offloaded to Corey Harawira-Naera in front of the posts from 15m out, and he ran behind a defender and palmed off another to sprint to the line and get the ball down. The kick from in front put Penrith in front for the first time in the match, 20-18.
We had definitely kicked into gear this half and a few minutes later we were over again after Kaide Ellis picked up a nice pass from Dylan Edwards and barged his way over the top of some Cowboys defenders to get the ball down! Edwards kicked the conversion to extend our lead to 26-18.
We had our third unanswered try in the 62nd minute after Naden kicked a grubber to the corner where a Cowboys defender went to grab it but missed, and Braidon Burns dived on it to get the points. Edwards converted to take the score to 32-18.
North Queensland’s Gideon Mosby scored the last try of the game after spreading himself wide on the wing just shy of the halfway line and waiting patiently for the ball, before sprinting 60m to run the ball over the line unopposed. The kick bounced off the uprights, so the score narrowed to 32-22.
FULL TIME: 32-22 Panthers
