Friday 20th August at Credit Union Australia Stadium
Penrith 54 – Tries: Gordon (3), Burns (2), Earl (2), Iosefa (1), McKendry (1); Goals: Gordon (9) | South Sydney 18
More: themightypanthers.com/match1026.htm
A converted try to Sam McKendry within the opening three minutes gave the visitors an early 6-0 lead.
Soon after, winger Sandor Earl took a cut out pass on the flanks and stepped back to score, with the try converted for a 12-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes.
The Panthers kept up the rate of better than one point a minute when Travis Burns finished off an attacking raid that started with a Luke Walsh line break 70 metres further up the field to lead 16-0.
Two back to back tries on either side of the 20 minute mark, with a second try to both Burns and then Earl gave Penrith a 28-0 lead.
The clock eventually caught up with the scoreboard but the Panthers kept it running over when Michael Gordon latched on to a Nathan Smith flick pass to cross under the uprights.
Penrith finished off a remarkable first half with an eighth try in the shadows of half time when Masada Iosefa ran on to a bomb bat back from Luke Lewis, with the home team holding an incredible 40-0 lead at half time.
After 52 minutes, the Panthers extended the lead to 46 with a superb individual try to Gordon, where he took the ball from dummy half, dummied at the line, busted the line and then sidestepped the Rabbitohs fullback to cross under the posts.
Souths hit back with three quick fire tries to make it 48-18 with 17 minutes remaining but that burst would be the only points from the visitors.
In the last minute, Gordon burrowed his way through the defensive line to make it a hat trick of tries, and his ninth conversion gave him a 30 point haul and overtaking the club record held by both Ryan Girdler and Amos Roberts for most points in a match.
The Mighty Panthers 