The Penrith Panthers have secured their third consecutive win with a 28-24 victory over the Newcastle Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium.
A dominant first-half performance from the Panthers proved to be the difference on Saturday afternoon despite a second-half surge from the Knights.
A line break from Panthers second rower Aston Warwick saw the away team march up the field early in the game. A line dropout gifted the visitors with another set of six close to their line.
Prop Adam Runchel found space within the Knights defensive line, breaking past defenders to open the scoring for the day. Winger Luke Philp successfully converted Runchel’s try taking the score to 6-0.
Back-to-back penalties saw the Knights on the attack within Panthers' territory. Testing Penrith’s defensive line with the ball in hand, the Knights quickly shifted the ball out to the right with centre Chris Vea’ila finishing of the set play and scoring in the corner.
The conversion from halfback Ryan Rivett was unsuccessful leaving the score at 6-4.
An error of the kick off saw Newcastle hand the ball over to Penrith who had a fresh set of six close to the home team's try line.
Capitalising off the back of the error, the Panthers wasted no time sending the ball out to the left with centre Angelis Hotere-Papalii offloading the ball out to winger Luke Philp who crossed for a four pointer.
Philp failed to convert his own try keeping the scored at 10-4.
Hotere-Papalii collected the ball off the back off a Knights knock on which saw the centre race 30 meters downfield to place the Panthers back into Newcastle’s half. Halfback Ryley Smith created space within the defensive line before passing the ball to second rower Harry Hassett who crossed over for the visitors third try of the day.
Philp’s kick was on target for his third conversion, extending his team lead out to 12 points.
The Panthers went back-to-back, scoring another four pointer through hooker Connor Mason who stepped around defenders to find himself close to the line, before offloading the ball to interchange player Zac Lipowicz who finished off the play.
Philp’s conversion was successful extending the score out to 22-4 with eight minutes remaining in the half.
A penalty was rewarded to the Panthers after a line dropout in the 36th minute was kicked out on the full.
The visitors opted to take the two points from right in front of the posts, with Philp successfully converting and extending the lead out to 24-4 heading into half time.
HALF TIME: KNIGHTS 4 – PANTHERS 24
The Knights started the second half strong, marching their way up the field early in the half.
Off the back of a penalty in the first set of the second half the Knights found themselves only 20 metres out from their try line. Interchange player Declan Pettet found space within the defensive line, charging his way through the line to cross for the first try of the second half.
The conversion attempt was unsuccessful leaving the score at 24-8.
With momentum behind them, Newcastle continued to add points scoring off the back of the kick off. Centre Chris Vea’ila crossed for his second four pointer of the day, carrying defenders with him over the try line.
Rivett successfully kicked his first conversion of the day from out wide closing the score to ten points.
Off the back of a penalty, Knights hooker Noah Nailagolvia opted to take the quick tap and sprinted 20 metres through defenders to cross for the home teams fourth try of the day.
Rivett’s conversion was on target brining the score to 24-20.
With Knights knocking the ball on within their 10 metres, the Panthers were gifted with the perfect attacking set of six close to their try line. The visitors capitalised off their great field position with a set play which saw the ball shifted out to the right sending winger Cody Lawson over in the corner.
Philp’s conversion was unsuccessful leaving the score at 28-24.
Penrith player Zac Lipowicz was sent off in the 67th minute for a high tackle on the fifth play.
Newcastle were given a penalty for the high tackle and the home team were back on the attack with only three minutes remaining in the game.
Winger Freeman Forsythe found space on the right wing, stepping past defenders to find the line for the home team, closing the score to only four points.
With 20 seconds remaining in the game, the home team opted to not convert Forsythe’s try, instead going straight to the kick off.
Penrith’s defence held strong in the final ten seconds of the game to hold the Knights out and secure the win.
FULL TIME: KNIGHTS: 24 – PANTHERS 28
