Panthers Demolish Warriors

The Panthers maintained their recent dominance of the New Zealand Warriors with their fifth win in a row over the Kiwi side in today's trial match at North Harbour Stadium.

Penrith won 34-12 after a shaky start and the early loss of Joe Galuvao with a dislocated finger. At this stage it is not known how bad the injury is.

Earlier, Luke Swain had pulled out of the side with a stomach bug, so when Galuvao went off, the Panthers were without three of their most potent forwards - the third being Tony Puletua, who was not selected because of a shoulder injury.

According to Penrith CEO Shane Richardson, Trent Waterhouse and Ben Ross each had an outstanding match. Frank Pritchard also had a big second half, scoring two tries and setting up another.

The match was played in wet, windy conditions.

The Panthers opened the scoring with an early try to Galuvao, which Preston Campbell converted.

But in the eighth minute the Warriors struck back a try by Tony Martin which Sione Faumuina converted to make it 6-all.

They went ahead 12-6 when Henry Fa'afili scored from a kick ahead and Faumuina converted that, also.

The score remained unchanged at halftime.

In the second half, the Panthers were a different side - scoring five unanswered tries.

Luke Rooney made the first of them, followed by Campbell and Ross.

Frank Pritchard grabbed himself a pair - one a 95 metre solo effort with Mark Tookey chasing him all the way.

Penrith Panthers 34 (tries: F. Pritchard 2, J. Galuvao, L. Rooney, P. Campbell, B. Ross; goals: P. Campbell 5) New Zealand Warriors 12 (tries: T. Martin, H. Fa'afili; goals: S. Faumuina 2)