The Wests Tigers went down to the Penrith Panthers in the Royce Simmons Cup at CommBank Stadiumin Round 14 of the NRL Telstra Premiership.
The Panthers started strongly, taking control of territory and possession from the outset, putting the Tigers on the back foot from the opening minutes.
The visitors never lost control of that momentum, eventually running out 68-0 winners.
Key Stats:
Terrell May: The prop led from the front with 48 tackles, while also topping the Tigers run metres with 148.
Tackles: Alongside May, three other Tigers recorded 40 tackles or more, including Kai Pearce-Paul (47), Api Koroisau (41) and Mavrik Geyer (40).
The Moments:
7th minute: Dylan Edwards finds Paul Alamoti in space for the Panthers opening try. The try was converted by Nathan Cleary, with the Panthers leading 6-0.
12th minute: Cleary finds a gap near the posts, scoring and converting his own try to push the score to 12-0.
20th minute: Casey McLean finds Thomas Jenkins on the left edge. Cleary adds the two extra points as the Panthers extend their lead to 24-0.
35th minute: Brian To’o crosses for the Panthers sixth. The try is converted, bringing the score to 36-0.
52nd minute: A kick from Cleary is collected by To’o on the right edge. Cleary converts. Panthers extend to 42-0.
78th minute: From dummy-half, Freddy Lussik scores under the posts. Alamoti converts, ending the match 68-0.
What they said:
NRL Head Coach, Benji Marshall
“That performance was unacceptable in terms of what we expect, and the way we want to perform.”
“We need to take accountability for that; we need to figure out why it happened and make sure it doesn't happen again next week.”
