Down on men, Penrith found a way to get it done at Allianz Stadium tonight with a 22-16 win over a fast-finishing Roosters.
From the start, Penrith dominated this contest - with strong line-speed in defence and tough carries in attack. With big shoes to fill, Brad Schneider looked comfortable as ever, coming up with a good kick leading to Penrith's first try. With the Panthers making a mid-air take on the last, an offload was knocked on by the Roosters with a loose ball finding its way to Dylan Edwards who put Sunia Turuva over. Kicking in Cleary's absence, Edwards was solid converting from the sideline.
Only 5 minutes later, the reigning premiers did it again. A scrappy set where Jarome Luai had the ball on the last, he stepped and danced in circles and seemingly, nothing was on. Any other team would've been tackled, but not Penrith. Luai found Turuva who found Edwards, with the star fullback kicking for himself and pouncing on the ball to score. Penrith led 12-0.
A couple penalties to Sydney found them in with a chance, and some solo brilliance and strength from Joseph Manu had Allianz on their feet - until the bunker called the play back. Jared Warea-Hargreaves was found to have stopped in the line and obstructed Dylan Edwards from defending.
Penrith continued to dominate up the middle with only Sam Walker's solid kicks keeping the hosts out of trouble. An escort penalty gave Edwards the chance to kick a penalty goal from right in front and he made no mistake, giving the Panthers a 14-0 lead with under 10 minutes to go in the half.
Out of nowhere, with under a minute to play, a Sam Walker kick found a charging Sitili Tupouniua who grounded the ball just before the dead ball line. Despite being dominated all half, Sydney managed to walk into the sheds only 14-6 down, but it got worse from there. 9 minutes into the second half and Sunia Turuva scored a simple but clinical try. Edwards missed the conversion, but Penrith led 18-6.
Only 5 minutes later, Turuva completed his hat-trick through some expansive ball playing where he finished the try off flawlessly. At 22-6, it was dire - but the Roosters kept giving up silly errors and missing chances, and the possibility for a comeback was looking more and more unlikely, until Brandon Smith crashed over the line in the 76th minute. With Sam Walker converting, it was 22-12 with only 4 minutes 40 seconds to play.
Although their attack looked disjoined off the restart, Sydney carried the football hard and forced themselves up to Penrith's line. A few crash plays were unsuccessful, but they went wide and found Daniel Tupou who did a good job to stay in the field of play and score. At 22-16, the Roosters opted not to take the conversion and use the full 22 seconds left on the clock to try and come up with a miracle.
Ultimately, they were unsuccessful with the impossible task proving too much. Taylan May knocked the ball on attempting an intercept, but no time was left to pack the scrum and the Sydney Roosters went down fighting to a defiant Penrith Panthers outfit.