Panthers pounce on Top 8 spot

v BYE

The Penrith Panthers have cemented their top 8 position with a strong 42-6 victory of a passionate Newcastle Knights side in front of just under 14,000 fans at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle

Despite the dominant scoreline the opening 40 was far from dominant for the Panthers with the Knights winning all the important stats in the first half with possession and territory favouring the Knights 60-40 as well as an 8-2 penalty count helping. The Panthers opened the scoring first through Josh Mansour when the Panthers chose to shift the ball and the Knights defence were caught napping.

The Knights took advantage of the momentum they had but couldn't turn it into points until Waqa Blake just let Brendan Elliott take a high ball then stroll to the line with the Panthers defence inexplicably standing and watching the Knights take a surprise lead. Right before half time the Panthers got a penalty and the choice of taking the two gave levelled the scores up at 6-6.

With scores level the Knights were full of confidence and the opening few minutes showed when luck is down it stays down with the Knights copping a knock on call that was a pass backwards then the next set the Panthers put on a play with what looked to be a textbook obstruction which referee Dave Munro chose not to penalise despite putting the whistle to the mouth.

Just 90 seconds after that incident the Panthers re-took the lead through Matt Moylan who ran onto a Peter Wallace pass after the Panthers hooker darted from dummy half to score under the posts.

Points flew at regular intervals for the Panthers mostly through poor defence from the home side which saw Tyrone Peachey run 20m from dummy half, DWZ scored in the corner 60 seconds after being denied by the bunker. Soon after his first try DWZ had his second after Matt Moylan enticed the Knights defence to rush up before throwing the long pass to the winger who scored untouched outwide. Right on the stroke of full time the man who opened the scoring Josh Mansour finished the scoring running onto a pass from Zak Hardaker to score out in the corner and after Nathan Cleary's conversion the Panthers ran out to their biggest win of the season.

Next week the Panthers have a short turnaround to keep their top 8 hopes alive against a Tedesco-less Tigers outfit on Friday night at Pepper Stadium, whilst the Knights play host to Jarryd Hayne and the Gold Coast Titans.