Panthers give palpitations in Penrith

v BYE

Yet again the Penrith Panthers have almost blown what looked to be a certain victory after a 28-26 win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs at a bitterly cold and windy Pepper Stadium in front of 13,000 fans.

The Rabbitohs were looking to break a losing streak and it started off well for the visitors when Kyle Turner crossed almost untouched to open the scoring for the Rabbitohs after 10 minutes. Not long afterwards the current NSW fullback Matt Moylan showed why he is there, with a great cut out ball to Dallin Watene Zelezniak, who scored untouched and after Nathan Cleary's pinpoint kick from the sideline it was locked up at 6-6.

Souths hit the scoreboard next with a penalty goal which was followed by Josh Mansour touching down in the north-west corner after being put over the line by Bryce Cartwright, who resisted the temptation to throw the early pass and gave the newly re-signed Penrith favourite a try.

Not long after half time, South Sydney got back into the lead when a Panthers error gave possession to the Rabbitohs in good field position, and Greg Inglis strolled through some more weak Panthers defence.

A string of errors from the Bunnies and penalties from the whistle of referee Gavin Badger gave the Panthers momentum and they took advantage when barnstorming young prop Leilani Latu had too much strength and speed from close range and he scored, despite Badger needing a seemingly pointless bunker referral. Penrith didn't need another set beyond the one from the kickoff, when some Bryce Cartwright and Matt Moylan magic set up Nathan Cleary to get his second career try, and after converting his own try it went out to 22-14 in the hosts' favour.

Chris Grevsmuhl got one back over his former teammates when he barged over and was able to get the ball down after steaming on to a pass by Cartwright, and after that moment Penrith had a comfortable 28-14 margin.

As Panthers fans got more and more confident, Penrith's usual heart attack football came into play when Sam Burgess scored just one tackle after the bunker knocked back another Souths effort, then inside the final minute Burgess got a double off a break from Cody Walker.

The game went into the last seconds when the Rabbitohs almost looked certain to score and a ring of expletives flew around Pepper Stadium, but luckily for the home side a half pause by Aaron Gray just delayed his chase on a Cody Walker kick enough for it to bounce on and go into touch, and win the Panthers the game - with the wrong bounce it could've lost them the game.

Next week the Panthers play second fiddle to the Federal Election when they take on the Tigers at ANZ Stadium next Saturday, whilst the Rabbitohs have a trip north to Cairns to take on the Cowboys next Sunday.