Friday 20th June at Penrith Stadium
Penrith 34 – Tries: Priddis (2), Rooney (2), Campbell (1), Lewis (1), Whatuira (1); Goals: Campbell (3) | Newcastle 6
More: themightypanthers.com/match0845.htm
The Panthers opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Luke Lewis finished a movement of the ball to the right wing, touching down in the corner.
This lead was doubled to 8-0 after 22 minutes when the other winger Luke Rooney touched down in the opposite corner after a quick ball movement stripped the Knights defensive line of numbers on that edge.
The hosts held that lead into half time, and nine minutes into the second half was extended when hooker Luke Priddis ran the ball from dummy half only metres out and powered his way through a gap to touch down adjacent to the right upright. Preston Campbell’s first successful conversion made it 14-0.
Only minutes later, it became 20-0 when Campbell converted his own try, finishing off a 40 metre movement that started with a Craig Gower line break, offloading to Tony Puletua who then drew in the Newcastle fullback and a chain of passes to the left ended up with Campbell who touched down under the posts.
Whilst the visitors finally got onto the scoreboard after 57 minutes with a converted try to make it 20-6, the Panthers finished off the contest with three tries in the final 20 minutes – Priddis had a second when he charged on to a Ryan Girdler pass from dummy half and spotted a gap in the Knights goal line defence, with Rooney also registering a double, when Girdler was once again the provider with a well timed blindside pass again from dummy half and running 10 metres untouched to touch down in the corner.
The rout was completed on the stroke of full time when the Knights turned over possession on the halfway line, with Lewis picking up the loose ball and running down the right edge, and despite being ankle tapped only metres out, was not held and found Paul Whatuira in support to score to make it a 34-6 victory – over an albeit significantly weakened Knights team due to State of Origin commitments.
The Mighty Panthers 