Penrith secured their fourth win of the season in Jersey Flegg Cup with a confident 10 tries-to-three 52-14 win over the Kaivitia Silktails in the heat and humidity of Churchill Park in Lautoka, Fiji.
With the locals chanting the Silktails name at every opportunity, the Panthers held their nerve and showed off their considerable skills to rack up six first-half tries to set up the win.
Leading at 28-4 at the break, the Silktails made a small comeback with two tries in the second half but the Panthers had done enough.
Doubles to centre Casey McLean, winger Nick Murphy and second rower-skipper Aston Warwick provided the backbone of the visitors win.
“We were really clinical early… we were off a bye and off a loss so the boys were really hungry to resurrect a few things,” Panthers coach Jono Rolfe said.
“We spoke about our preparation having to be spot on with the heat and humidity.
“It was just a fantastic experience to get over here. The guys don’t get a lot of travel in Flegg normally but this is a great experience for them down the track to being an elite NRL player.
“Just the experience too of being in a different culture, different community and connecting with the Fijian people, who are such beautiful people.”
Penrith’s other try scorers were fullback Jaxon Edgar, winger Angelis Hotere-Papalii, No.7 Blake Moore and interchange forward Francis Manuleleua. Hooker Billy Scott kicked six goals.
The scoreboard floated out to 14-0 before the Silktails scored their first points – a try to left winger Jone Navunidreudreu.
The Silktails took 15 minutes to get out of their own half and lost starting prop Tevita Vukicea in the 20th minute to a left leg injury.
“Obviously it got away from us in the first half, with our handling errors and things like that,” coach Wes Naiqama said.
“But we showed some character there in the second half to get some points back on the board.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. The boys know it’s a process (to get a win) but we’ve got to learn to defend our errors and stay in the process.
“We just need to keep working hard. We’ve just got to be better – we’re leaking far too many points.”
The Silktails did show glimpses of excellence – like winning a contested kick for a high ball and then shooting the ball through five sets of hands for centre Mitchell Poulter to score.
Then halfback Melikiseteki Nacaginimasei sent a sublime cut-out pass to his winger Navunidreudreu to score his double.
The Silktails take on South Sydney at Redfern Oval in Round Seven action next Saturday as they search for their first win, while the Panthers are at home to the Wests Tigers at BlueBet Stadium.
