The Panthers scored a convincing 28-10 win over Sydney Indigenous Academy in the opening round of the Tarsha Gale Cup competition at Panthers Stadium on Saturday.
Litiana Tuifua impressed all over the park, recording a try, try assist and forced dropout while Hope Tevaga nabbed a double in the win.
Penrith were gifted an early opportunity when they forced a mistake from Sydney off the kick-off. And they were quick to capitalise, with Emelia Kaafi crossing over out wide in the second minute.
Ten minutes later the Panthers had their second when Tuifua surged through the line to extend the home side’s lead to eight.
A nicely-weighted kick from Tuifua forced the first dropout of the afternoon. Penrith pushed further ahead moments later when they created an overlap on the left edge, with Jasmine Lepua putting Tevaga over for a simple try.
The Indigenous Academy hit back shortly after when Brandi Davis-Welsh streaked down the left touchline and stepped inside to reduce the deficit to eight.
After forcing a scrum feed ten metres out from Sydney’s line, the Panthers shifted the ball left and Tevaga strolled over for her second of the morning.
Penrith’s lead was cut to six when Zahli Dymock darted out of dummy-half to burrow over but it mattered little as Hayley McGregor sealed the victory with a try in the 52nd minute.
The Panthers pushed the final score line out to 28-10 when Emelia Kaafi took advantage of a quick play-the-ball to dive over in the left corner in the final moments of the game.
