Panthers motor home against puzzled Eels

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Parramatta Eels v Penrith Panthers

The Penrith Panthers have swept their Western Sydney rivals, defeating the Parramatta Eels by 32-10 at CommBank Stadium this afternoon.

It was a tense start with both sides making their fair share of errors throughout the opening exchanges. But it was the Eels that opened the scoring after 14 minutes when Dylan Walker turned provider through the middle third of the field when he found Kitione Kautoga to score the first try of the afternoon. The Fijian international wouldn't finish the game as he departed the action with a knee injury after half-time. Penrith answered back midway through the first half when Tom Jenkins reached out for a try. Despite a live decision of no try from referee Peter Gough, the Bunker overturned it and the Panthers got it back to 6-4.

The visitors then levelled the scores with just over 10 to play in the first half after a high tackle penalty saw the Panthers opt for a safe penalty goal. The hosts managed to take a lead into the dying moments of the half when Zac Lomax finished off a spectacular try after a terrific offload from Bailey Simonsson sent the NSW winger over in the corner. Penrith had the try of the game to take us to the half-time break - the ball went through half a dozen sets of hands at least before Luke Garner finsished it off to put the Panthers in front at the break.

The second half was all one way traffic for the Panthers. Izack Tago opened the account for the Panthers in the 54th minute. The Samoan centre has hit some strong form as of late, and he brushed through a duo of Parramatta defenders to put a gap between the two sides. Just after the hour mark, the Panthers made a shift to the right edge and it was the pace of Paul Alamoti that proved too much for the Eels defence to score, he sipped some tea to the crowd for Try July and the Eels were on their way to another defeat.

Despite coming off the bench, NSW halfback Nathan Cleary called game with 10 minutes to go with a brilliant solo try. Cleary beat his way through four defenders to go all the way to score the try that put the game beyond doubt. In the dying moments, Lindsay Smith charged over for his first try of the season as he proved to NSW selectors that leaving him out was a mistake. For the Eels, the Dylan Brown at 9 experiment should come to an end as Ryley Smith returns from suspension next week. Where he best plays is really not known as Jason Ryles looks to the future. As for the Panthers, they will welcome back their Origin trio in due time as Martin and To'o battle injury while Dylan Edwards is expected to return next round.