The Penrith Panthers Harold Matthews Cup season is over, falling to the Canterbury Bulldogs 30-16 in the semi final at Leichhardt Oval.
Off the back of a fortnight break after defeating the Bulldogs 52-6 to wrap up the minor premiership, the Panthers looked to quickly shake off any cobwebs, making a break down the left wing through Cooper Hale before a run of offloads inside set up Kye Raven to score under the posts in the 3rd minute.
The Panthers defence was put under enormous pressure in the 8th minute, however they held on thanks to an extraordinary one-on-one tackle by Harry Wald, holding Solomone Tupou up over the line.
An opportunity down the other end moments later ended with a Panthers try denied due to an obstruction.
Defending their line for three straight sets, the Panthers again managed to stop Tupou short. They finally cracked shortly after when Itula Seve crashed over under the posts from an offload.
The Panthers were forced to defend back-to-back sets in the 20th minute, but again managed to hold on. A penalty and set restart gave them rare attacking field position and they took advantage, with Tua Patea diving over from dummy half to take back the lead, 10-6.
They were immediately forced to defend their own line again when they took the kick off dead before the Bulldogs forced another drop out. From the ensuing set they scored again as Sosaia Alatini crashed over under the posts, setting up a 12-10 lead for Canterbury at half time.
The strong defence that kept the contest tight in the first half deserted the Panthers in the early minutes of the second, quickly conceding two tries to fall behind 22-10.
Momentum slowly started to turn the Panthers way midway through the half as the defence strengthened again and started to force errors from the Bulldogs. Harry Wald went close to scoring, however he stepped on the sideline in the process.
Wald then came up with an intercept, but again was forced into touch. Another Panthers error seemed to let the Bulldogs off the hook, however they made an error of their own at the scrumbase.
That gave the Panthers an opportunity that they finally took, scoring out wide through Casey McLean. Wald converted to reduce the deficit to 22-16.
The Panthers continued to attack for the final ten minutes but were unable to break through again. They added a penalty goal in the final minutes, before scoring a converted try after the siren to push the final margin out to 30-16.
