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PENRITH PANTHERS 42 WESTS TIGERS 22
PENRITH survived another spirited Wests Tigers comeback to make it back-to-back NRL wins with a victory at CUA Stadium tonight.
Defence took a back seat in the tryathon, the Panthers turning a 22-all scoreline with 11 minutes remaining into an easy win with three tries in the final eight minutes.
It spoiled a dramatic comeback by the Tigers which was sparked by some brilliant dummy half work by Robbie Farah, who looked like he had given the Tigers all the momentum as he got the visitors back in the contest.
But utility Rhys Hanbury - who came on after Tim Moltzen dislocated an elbow in the first minute - ruined a good night when he gifted the Panthers a penalty which broke the deadlock and opened the floodgates.
The early signs weren't good for the Tigers with Penrith fullback Lachlan Coote taking the kick-off and sparking a stunning burst which ended with Brad Tighe being pulled down a metre short of the line.
It only served to delay the inevitable, Luke Lewis strolling through some non-existent defence for a 6-0 lead after five minutes. Penrith were beating the clock when Jarrod Sammut reeled in a Lewis chip for a 12-0 lead, the Tigers down two tries to nil after ten minutes for the second week in a row.
But just like last week, the Tigers came storming back, and again it was Benji Marshall leading the show, the Kiwi sneaking down a short blindside before his grubber infield eventually found a rampaging Keith Galloway who carried three players over the tryline.
Michael Gordon extended Penrith's lead with a simple penalty, but a spilled ball by Frank Puletua from the restart gave the Tigers an invitation they could not ignore with Hanbury scoring his first of the night on the back of a Farah grubber.
Former Tiger Shane Elford botched a easy opportunity when he lost the ball over the line, but when Trent Waterhouse was given a saloon passage by Farah, who let Waterhouse go after being called offside by referee Ben Cummins the Panthers were on the board again with the former NSW Origin backrower finding a flying Michael Jennings in support.
Down 22-12 at the break, the Tigers had to score first if they were to be any chance, and it looked like being the case when Dene Halatau planted the ball under the posts only for the referee to belatedly, but correctly, rule a forward pass from Todd Payten in the lead-up.
It didn't matter though as Farah went to work, two scintillating dummy half runs leading to tries for Hanbury and Taniela Tuiaki, the latter using the Tongan sidestep to run over the top of the much smaller Lachlan Coote, Marshall's missed sideline conversion leaving the scores tied at 22-all.
Fulltime
PENRITH 42 (L Coote W Graham M Jennings L Lewis F Pritchard J Sammut tries M Gordon 9 goals) bt WESTS TIGERS 22 (R Hanbury 2 K Galloway T Tuiaki tries B Marshall 3 goals) at CUA Stadium. Referee: B Cummins, Phil Haines. Crowd: 15,813.
THE Penrith Panthers tonight won the big cat battle, beating the Wests Tigers in the fourth round of the NRL competition. Plus for more rugby league news check out
League Central. Photograph: Sam Ruttyn
