Friday 26th August at BlueBet Stadium
Penrith 46 – Tries: May (2), To’o (2), S. Crichton (1), Kikau (1), O’Sullivan (1), Yeo (1); Goals: S. Crichton (7) | New Zealand Warriors 12
More: themightypanthers.com/match1328.htm
The visitors posted the first points inside three minutes to lead 6-0.
At the midway point of the first half, the Panthers on the fifth tackle swung the ball left and after Jarome Luai feigned a grubber kick, passed it to Viliame Kikau who in one motion swung 180 degrees to have his back to the try line but passed the ball to Taylan May unsighted on the left wing, and planted the ball in the corner. Stephen Crichton’s sideline conversion made it 6-all.
Brian To’o bagged a double in a nine minute period later in the half and Penrith led 18-6.
With less than 30 seconds remaining, Penrith ran the ball on the last tackle of the set, with Kikau converged by Warriors defenders near the touch line, and then offloaded to Izack Tago who from a standing start dummied back in field and then drawing a two on one found May who then ran along the sideline and drawing the fullback found Sean O’Sullivan looming in support to score in the left corner. Crichton’s conversion pushed wide but Penrith still held a commanding 22-6 half time lead.
Five minutes after the resumption, the hosts pushed the lead out further when Crichton ran back inside against the Warriors sliding defence and sliced though to ground the ball over the line. They soon after passed 30 when Kikau hit a hole off 10 metres out a well-timed O’Sullivan pass to score untouched.
The Warriors scored their second try at around the mid point of the half to make it 34-12.
However, the Panthers would finish off the contest with two more tries.
May got a double when he was unmarked on the left edge only had to walk the ball over the line from only metres out, and then with only a minute remaining captain Isaah Yeo was awarded a penalty try when he was struck in the head as he was in the process of scoring.
The victory made it the second season in a row that the Panthers had won 20 (or more) matches within the regular season.
The Mighty Panthers 