Panthers pounce on busted Broncos

v BYE

The Penrith Panthers have leapt into the Top 8 after they upset the Brisbane Broncos 31-12 in front of 30,878 fans at Suncorp Stadium tonight. The win was the club's biggest ever victory at Suncorp Stadium and elevated the Panthers to seventh position on the ladder , leaving the Broncos only two points ahead of them in sixth position.

Last year's runners up have now slumped to just two wins from their last eight matches, after being touted as competition favourites earlier on in the season. Wayne Bennett's men have now conceded 30 points in consecutive matches at Suncorp Stadium for the first time in their history.

Both sides came into the match with plenty to play for after coming off wins last start, but it was the visitors Penrith who flew out of the blocks in the first half with a dominant display to lead 18-0 at halftime. From there Penrith were always in control and were never really threatened by the home side.

Panthers lock Trent Merrin was outstanding in his 150th NRL game, running for over 250 metres and scoring a well deserved try at the death to put an exclamation mark on their crucial away win. He was ably assisted by rookie halfback Nathan Cleary whose kicking game was first class, managing to force several repeat sets with some well weighted last tackle options.

The visitors didn't get off to the greatest start in the match when Panthers centre Waqa Blake had an golden opportunity to open the visitors account in just the 7th minute when he received a short ball from his captain Matt Moylan who put the ball right on his chest, however the Panthers centre spilled the ball with the line wide open.

Two minutes later Blake totally redeemed himself when he juggled a Ben Hunt bomb on his own line, the Broncos almost stopped and waited for the knock on and Blake picked up the ball and took off to run the length of the field. The Video Ref had a close look at Blake's fumble and agreed with on field referee Matt Cecchin who was on the spot to rule a knock back and Penrith led 6-0.

The Panthers clearly had a tactic to bomb Corey Oates, with Nathan Cleary continuing to kick to his wing and put him under pressure. The tactic worked when Oates spilt the ball just 12 metres from the Broncos line. The Panthers took advantage of Oate's error when a subtle short ball at the line from Suaia Matagi found a steamrolling James Fisher-Harris who just managed to get the ball on the line for the Panthers second try of the night. Nathan Cleary made it two from two and it was 12 nil to the visitors.

Penrith continued to complete their sets and build pressure on the last, gaining multiple repeat sets thanks to halves Cleary and Bryce Cartwright. The pressure of repeat sets continued when winger Josh Mansour found the ball from a blind side run from Tyrone Peachey, he managed to measure his kick enough for Anthony Milford to force the ball dead. The pressure got to Brisbane when from the ensuing dropout halfback Ben Hunt tried a short dropout which went into touch on the full. Referee Cecchin awarded a penalty in front and Cleary took to gift two points on offer.

The Panthers then scored a crucial try just before halftime when off the back of another superb kick from Nathan Cleary which forced another Broncos drop out, skipper Matt Moylan found English centre Zak Hardaker who crashed his way over for his first try in the NRL and Penrith went to the break leading 18-0.

Brisbane knew that they needed to score first in the second half and Broncos hooker Andrew McCullough then came up with a crucial 40/20 to give Brisbane excellent field position. Despite yet another error from the Broncos they were given a second chance when Josh Mansour was penalised for a sloppy Sam Thaiday play the ball. The Broncos then shifted the ball and Darius Boyd managed to crash over for the home side's first try of the night.

The game was then put to bed in the 65th minute, when half Nathan Cleary put a kick deep inside the Broncos in goal forcing Brisbane winger Lachlan Maranta to pick up to ball where he was met by a wall of Panthers jerseys and forced in goal to give young half Cleary his third forced repeat set for the night. Off the ensuing set Trent Merrin managed a trademark offload which was quickly relayed to skipper Matt Moylan who zipped through the line to score next to the posts to make it 24-6.

Brisbane then managed to get their second try, when Ben Hunt picked up a loose pass and found speedster James Roberts who busted through two tackles to run 65 metres to score under the posts. Matt Moylan then had a field goal attempt charged down by a desperate Josh McGuire but made no mistake when given another opportunity adding the one point to make it an unassailable 13 point lead. Trent Merrin then managed to put the icing on the cake crashing over late for a well deserved try to seal the win for the visitors 31-12.

Penrith now make the trip across the Tasman with plenty of confidence, where they face fellow top 8 contenders, the Warriors in Auckland next Saturday. Brisbane meanwhile face the Roosters at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night, where they will be desperate to get their season back on track or risk slipping out of the top 8 altogether which seemed unthinkable only a month ago.