The Penrith Panthers have piled the points on the Wests Tigers to defeat them 52-12 at Campbelltown Stadium for their second big win in a row.
Corey Harawira-Naera was dangerous on the left edge throughout the match, and his combination with Tyrone May flourished as they linked up for points on multiple occasions.
The right side of the field replicated the left late in the game, with crafty halfback Darren Nicholls putting Corey Waddell over for two tries, while Samisoni Langi was a constant threat before having to leave the field with a facial injury.
The Panthers jumped out of the blocks early, with Langi throwing a nice ball to Moses Letoa, who muscled his way over for the opening try, which came after a string of passes on the previous tackle that fractured the Tigers defence.
The home side hit straight back, however, when Christian Yassmin flirted with the right sideline after some great lead-up play by Jordan Rankin and Watson Heleta to skilfully plant the ball down to lock the scores back up.
A bust up the middle just moments later gave the Panthers another chance to attack, and a beautiful cut-out pass by Darren Nicholls found Ratu Tuisese enough space to step around Yassmin to score.
Momentum was on the Panthers’ side, and a strong carry by Harawira-Naera allowed him to free his arm and offload for May - who was supporting on his inside – to run away and score under the posts, extending their lead to 16-6.
The scoring temporarily dried up after the fast start, but it was the Tigers next to score thanks to the brilliance of Justin Hunt, who laterally danced around various opponents before spotting a hole to burst through and score.
The threatening combination of Harawira-Naera and May struck again, when the former once again made a strong carry and offloaded to his five-eighth, who then passed for Lachlan Stein to run away and score.
A penalty in front of the posts just minutes into the second half gave the Panthers a 24-12 lead, before some brilliance by Langi added another try, when he threw an under-arm offload into the chest of Harawira-Naera, who deserved a try for his efforts.
The score slowly crept out of reach for the Tigers when Darren Nicholls turned a pass into Corey Waddell, who ran over the top of Hunt for a strong try, before Paea Pua muscled his way over soon after to increase their lead to 40-12.
In a similar play to the try before, Waddell scored his second thanks to a nice short pass courtesy of Nicholls, however this time he strolled over untouched, before Zach Dockar-Clay scored the final try by literally bouncing through the Tigers defence to crack the half-century.
