Sunday 2nd October at Accor Stadium
Penrith 28 – Tries: To’o (2), Crichton (1), Sorensen (1), Staines (1); Goals: Cleary (4) | Parramatta 12
More: themightypanthers.com/match1332.htm
Stephen Crichton opened the scoring in the tenth minute when he ran back infield off an inside pass and sliced through the Eels defence on a 30 metre run, sliding in adjacent to the right upright post.
Seven minutes later, Penrith made it 10-0 when Brian To’o regathered an Izack Tago pass one handed and barged his way over in the left corner.
A penalty conversion off the boot of Nathan Cleary at the 20 minute mark further pushed it to 12-0.
In the 27th minute, Cleary grubbered a kick into the vacant in goal area and Scott Sorensen ran through to ground the ball to claim Penrith’s third try of the half. Cleary’s conversion made it 18-0 and would remain so until half time.
The Panthers pushed their advantage out further early in the second half when Cleary dummied the kick on the fifth tackle and instead passed left. A chain of kick passes resulted in an unmarked To’o on the left edge and simply had to run a few metres to score. It was ruled a try by the NRL Bunker even though there was some contention on an Eels defender being taken out in the lead up.
Two key defensive plays in the space of three minutes kept Parramatta at bay – firstly a Crichton tackle on their try line resulted in the ball popping out from an Eels player only metres out, and then soon after Dylan Edwards pulled off a cover tackle that bundled the Parramatta winger into touch.
Charlie Staines got on to the scorer’s list in the 58th minute when he spotted a defensive gap about 15 metres out and powered his way over the line, managing to ground it.
The Panthers were up 26-0 with just under 20 minutes remaining, and although Parramatta scored two consolation tries in the last four minutes, it was not enough to dampen the spirits for the Panthers as they won their fourth premiership title.
The Mighty Panthers 