Roosters roll Panthers in Commbank boilover

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Penrith Panthers v Sydney Roosters

The Sydney Roosters have bounced back from their opening round thrashing to Brisbane, downing reigning premiers Penrith 38-32 in a pointsfest at Commbank Stadium on Friday night.

It was a dramatic evening at the Panthers' temporary home - Penrith will play home games at Commbank in the next few years while their home ground is under rebuild - with the reigning champs losing in surprising circumstances, while both sides have concerns out of the contest in injury and suspension.

It was a neck-and-neck contest for much of the first hour - each team going try-for-try in clusters in the first half. After Penrith led early from what looked like an easy Alamoti try, the Roosters were suddenly 12-6 up after Mark Nawaqanitawase and Connor Watson both crossed and the 12,000+ crowd at Commbank was stunned.

Both sides grinded it out for the next 15 minutes before the final ten of the half saw another slew of points - Brian To'o levelling things for the premiers, before veteran winger Daniel Tupou put the Tricolours back ahead not long after. It looked like the away team would take a lead to the break before Liam Henry took a bizarre high ball under the sticks. With Nathan Cleary's third conversion from as many attempts, the Panthers and Roosters were 18-all at the halftime siren.

The sides continued the tit-for-tat nature of scoring after the break - Watson's second try came just minutes into the second half, then Dylan Edwards pounced on a Cleary grubber to bring things to 24-all.

From that point, the Roosters took control, for the most part. Back to back tries - first for Tupou, then Sandon Smith - put the visitors ahead by ten.

With ten remaining it really got interesting. Sydney went 14-clear with a Dom Young try in the corner, but the real points of interest were Dylan Edwards going off with an apparently hamstring issue, and Salesi Foketi being sin binned for a dangerous tackle.

Down their fullback but with a one-man advantage, the Panthers piled on two penalty goals and an unconverted try in the final 7 minutes of the clash to make things interesting - but try as they might, the reigning champs couldn't get the final points, even with Brian To'o lunging for the corner on the siren. The Roosters held on for a 38-32 victory.

For Penrith, the loss puts them 1-1 after two rounds and they head to Melbourne with some issues to iron out, and possibly needing to find a new fullback against a well-rested and relatively full-strength Storm.

The Roosters are 1-1 themselves and have turned a huge corner after being thumped by title fancies Brisbane just a week ago. Their third-round venture sees them travel across the Tasman to face the Warriors, themselves winners early tonight, in what should be a huge, entertaining Friday 6pm clash next weekend.