The ISP Panthers overcame some early jitters to pile on the points and beat Newton Jets 46-10 at Henson Park on Saturday.
Wingers Maika Sivo and Christian Crichton each bagged a double as the Panthers overturned a sloppy start to eventually claim a comfortable victory.
Errors from their opening two sets put the Panthers on the back foot early to allow the home side to open the scoring in the fifth minute through Edrick Lee. The rangy centre broke free of the defence to put the Jets in front 6-0 after Joseph Paulo’s successful conversion.
Continued errors and penalties were hurting the Panthers cause until Jarome Luai provided a moment of magic midway through the half to get his side back level. His mazy run eventually opened the defence to race through and tee up Liam Coleman to dive over, before Darren Nicholls converted to make it 6-all.
The Panthers worked their way in to the lead on the half hour mark when Corey Waddell found Sivo in space on the wing to make it 12-6 following Nicholls’ sideline conversion.
With the half winding down, the Panthers would explode away from the Jets thanks to a quick fire double from Crichton.
The winger was on the end of a sweeping raid down the left edge to extend their lead, before again benefitting from a left-sided move when put in space to streak away and dummy the opposition fullback on his way to the line.
Nicholls would convert one of his conversion to hand the Panthers a 22-6 lead at the break.
HALF-TIME: Newtown Jets 6 – 22 Penrith Panthers
The home side benefited from a penalty on the opening set of the half and capitalised through Tyla Tamou when the winger rose above Luai to claim a Paulo kick to bring it back to 22-10.
However, the Panthers were quick to respond when Mitch Rein put them on the front foot with a 40/20 out of dummy half in the 50th minute.
Another repeat set would follow before Viliame Kikau capitalised with a strong run and step close to the line for a 28-10 lead following Nicholls’ simple conversion.
The onslaught continued in the 55th minute when some quick hands and thought from Dean Whare put Sivo in space to get his second try. Nicholls would again add the extras from the sideline to make it 34-10.
Nick Lui-Toso charged on to a short ball close to the line next to the uprights allowing Nicholls a simple conversion, before Tom Eisenhuth put the icing on the cake with a try on the stroke of full-time, which Nicholls would again convert, to seal a 46-10 victory.
FULL-TIME: Newtown Jets 10 – 46 Penrith Panthers
