Panthers outfox Tigers in big cat battle

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Wests Tigers v Penrith Panthers

The Panthers have revived their finals hopes with an 18-14 win over the Tigers after a hat trick by Tom Jenkins.

After the Tigers started the game with a handful of chances, the Panthers struck first after 15 minutes when a scrumbase play allowed Jenkins to cross for his first of the night. It didn't take the Tigers long to crack back however, with a Jarome Luai grubber sitting up perfectly for Stafford To'a.

Wests took the lead minutes later when a right side shift allowed Sunia Turuva to cross in the corner. It seemed the Tigers would take that lead into half time as a result, but in the dying stages and left side move by the Panthers got Jenkins one in one with the Fijian, and he powered over the shorter winger to square the game at 10 at half time.

The first points of the second half came as a result of a penalty from Luai - his failure to adequately finish contact on kicker Blaize Talagi piggybacking the Panthers down the field and allowing Nathan Cleary to nail a penalty goal. A few minutes later Luai gave up a second cheap penalty, this time for an escort, and off that set a beautiful cut out ball from Talagi set up Jenkins' third try of the afternoon to push the lead to 18-10.

The Tigers didn't die however, and when Jeral Skelton crossed with 9 minutes left it was game on. They had two great chances to tie the game - once when Jahream Bula steamed onto a Jack Bird offload before he was taken inches from the line by Scott Sorensen, and again when Bula caught a bomb over Dylan Edwards but was unable to find a final offload.

The win lifts the Panthers ahead of the Tigers on the ladder and now just one point behind a gaggle of teams stretching from the Dolphins in 7th to the Rabbitohs in 12th, keeping their finals hopes alive despite their abysmal start to the season.