The SG Ball Panthers paid full toll for their errors in a 42-18 defeat to Sydney Roosters at Panthers Stadium on Saturday.
After overcoming a sin-binning and fighting their way back into the contest midway through the second half, Penrith were unable to complete the comeback.
The Roosters opened the scoring when Amer Ghazzaoui surged over in the right corner. Bailey Hayward’s attempt at conversion drifted left of the posts, leaving the score line at 4-0 after nine minutes.
Penrith gifted Sydney cheap passage upfield after they were penalised for being offside off the restart and were punished as Asolelei Fretton steamed down the left touchline to score.
Aporosa Kurucake then extended his side’s lead to 14 when he stepped through to post the Roosters’ third try of the afternoon.
With few chances in the early stages of the first half, the Panthers eventually hit back in the 25th minute when halfback Ben Farr took on the line and scored. They then reduced the deficit to just two when Thomas Affleck pounced on a clever kick from Sadee Sublaban.
But Penrith suffered a cruel blow on the stroke of half time when Faima Matila crashed over, with the successful conversion seeing the Roosters take a 20-12 lead into the break.
HALF-TIME: Panthers 12 Roosters 20
And they carried the momentum from that try into the early stages of the second half, with Jordan Swann steamrolling his way over to extend Sydney’s lead to 14.
Matila then surged through the middle to heap Penrith under more pressure and they succumbed, with Bailey Hughes coming in late in an attempt to slow down the charging forward. He was sin-binned as a result.
Despite being a man down, the Panthers scrambled well to deny the Roosters anymore points and were rewarded for their efforts in the 51st minute when Brodie Henderson muscled his way over.
But just as Penrith appeared to be gaining momentum, Sydney scored again with Fretton doing well to chase down a kick and keep it in play for Logan Muir to score.
The Roosters sealed the victory in the 65th minute when Swann powered over out wide before Ghazzaoui sprinted away from inside his own 20 to put an exclamation point on the win.
FULL-TIME: Panthers 18 Roosters 42
