Penrith Panthers bounced back with a hard-fought win against an excellent New Zealand Warriors side.
Result
Penrith Panthers 18
Tries: (3) Dylan Edwards 17th; Brian To’o 26th; Spencer Leniu 74th
Goals: (3) Nathan Cleary 19th, 28th, 50th
New Zealand Warriors 6
Tries: (1) Addin Fonua Blake 9th
Goals: (1) Shaun Johnson 10th
Report
On a run of excellent form, the New Zealand Warriors ‘hosted’ defending champions Penrith at Suncorp Stadium.
With the majority of the crowd backing the Warriors, Addin Fonua Blake led the line for the New Zealand Warriors in the early exchanges, and was rewarded early with a try under the sticks after some uncharacteristically soft defence from Penrith.
Penrith – riled up – soon replied with Dylan Edwards squaring the ledger off the back of a try-saving tackle to then bustle over and level the scores after a Nathan Cleary conversion.
Penrith produced stout defence and worked into the Warriors half, eventually working a goal-line drop-out from a fatigued Warriors defence.
The boys in pink worked the ball down into the Warriors’ danger zone and converted on the edge with excellent shape for Brian To’o to go in at the right-hand corner.
The Warriors battled back with just under 15 minutes to play and nearly levelled the scores, but were held close to the line; the two sides – after trading sets – went into the sheds with Penrith up 12-6.
The New Zealand Warriors fell foul of the new hip drop directive and Jackson Ford was sent to the bin. Soon after, Cleary made sure to impose his mark on the game and forced a goal-line drop-out with just over six minutes gone in the half. Penrith pressed the Warriors’ line but to no avail, with Mitch Kenny knocking on in attacking shape.
Penrith, however, regained possession and ascendency soon after with strong middle carries that culminated in a hip drop penalty. From which Cleary landed a fairly straightforward chip off the right-hand upright to put his side eight in the lead.
The Warriors – seemingly buoyed holding the defending champions to two points – made a huge effort to control the middle, and did so for 20 minutes until Cleary led from the front and nailed Josh Curran to force the ball and gift his side excellent field position to attack the line.
Following the tackle, a fracas ensued and Demitric Sifakula was sent to the bin for his involvement – albeit terribly soft – from the referee.
The two-time defending champions eventually made use of the extra man – with Spencer Leniu crossing to stretch the led to 12 points with six minutes to play. That was enough for the Panthers.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 – Nathan Cleary (Panthers)
2 – Dylan Edwards (Panthers)
1 – Brian To’o (Panthers)
