The Western Suburbs Magpies have bounced back from their heavy loss last week in fitting style with a commanding 32-12 victory over the Penrith Panthers at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday.
The Magpies were boosted by the late inclusions of NRL stars Elijah Taylor and David Nofoaluma into the starting line-up while the addition of Paul Momirovski at left-centre also bolstered their attacking prowess.
The last-minute reshuffle paid dividends as Wests orchestrated an attacking masterclass on either side of half-time – lead by the ever-green Kauri Aupouri-Puketapu who put aside an early blunder to cross for two vital tries in the second-half.
It was the first time the Panthers had recorded back-to-back losses since their four consecutive defeats between Rounds 5-8 of the 2017 season.
While Aupouri-Puketapu impressed in his two-try performance it was also the experience of Taylor that proved significant with his tireless efforts in defence resonating with his team-mates.
Taylor credited a rather simple game plan as the key to the strong attacking performance but acknowledged the effort on the other side of the ball was just as influential.
"It was a credit to our game plan because it was pretty simple - we just wanted to hold the ball, complete our sets...and Penrith gave us alot of opportunities in their (own) half," Taylor told NSWRL.com.au.
"(Defensively) that's the culture we're trying to build at the Wests Tigers – it's what Madge (Michael Maguire) wants us to be alot better at and we've done a lot of work in the past three months over pre-season.
"We've just been trying to get our defence right and it's good that the second-grade boys have been defending well and it made my job alot easier."
The game opened as a gritty affair as the scores were levelled at 4-all after 15 although it was the Panthers who got off to a flying start through 2018 Player of the Year, Caleb Aekins.
Aekins' try was courtesy of a late Jed Cartwright offload as the Panthers took a 4-0 lead after just two minutes following a fumble from Apouri-Puketapu on the opening kick-off.
But they would be made to rue their costly handling errors in the period following as the Magpies recorded three unanswered tries in a relentless 12-minute period to take a 14-4 lead after 30 minutes.
Their first came through Sam McIntyre when he crashed over from close-range in the 14th minute before a carbon-copy effort and some slick hands from Momirovski sent Kane Bradley over for a try on his Canterbury Cup NSW debut.
Tyson Gamble then took it upon himself to give his side an early stranglehold in the contest with a powerful 30m dash helping them to a 10-point advantage.
Repeated infringements and increasing ill-discipline came to a climax when Brent Naden was sin-binned shortly before half-time, but despite the Magpies having a one-man advantage it was Penrith who would make the breakthrough.
A pinpoint grubber from Jarome Luai saw Brian Too pounce on the loose ball with an athletic finish in the left-hand corner to set a 14-8 scoreline at the break.
The Magpies were able to sustain pressure early in the second-half when Momirovski drove Aekins into the in-goal before they capitalised through Aupouri-Puketapu when he split the Panthers defence on the ensuing set-of-six.
The Panthers threatened to hit-back just moments later when Liam Coleman looked to have scored off a Luai grubber only for the referee to rule a knock-on in the process of grounding the ball.
The Magpies had a golden chance to capitalise on the seven-tackle set thanks to a 60m run from Momirovski but they were unable to take advantage as the scrambling Panthers defence held strong.
But Wests' persistence would eventually be rewarded when David Nofoaluma sent Gamble through before he found a supporting Dylan Smith before Aupouri-Puketapuput the icing on the cake with his second try in the 68th minute.
A consolation try to Ratu Tuisese would prove to have little bearing on the final result as the Magpies restored pride with a gallant victory at home.
Tries:
- Sam McIntyre 14'
- Kane Bradley 20'
- Tyson Gamble 26'
- Kauri Aupouri-Puketapu 43'
- Dylan Smith 63'
- Kauri Aupouri-Puketapu 68'
Conversions:
Momirovski 4
Momirovski and not Gamble kicking !!
