Round 9
North Queensland Cowboys 12 l. Penrith Panthers 22

2007 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Panthers bounce back in fine style
Mon May 14, 2007
One of Rugby League's top four under-achievers bounced back in true fashion on Saturday night upsetting the high flying and full strength North Queensland Cowboys 22-12 despite losing star halfback Craig Gower in the opening ten minutes.

The Panthers have endured a miserable five-match losing streak since defeating the Bulldogs and Broncos in successive weeks and the Cowboys were expected to add to Penrith's misery and more so once Gower was out of action.

Penrith's first try came in the 31st minute when second-rower bursted 20m to score and than they crossed four minutes later through Joel Clinton to open up a 10-0 lead. Michael Gordon converted the Pritchard try and landed a penalty goal on the stroke of half-time as the Panthers went into the break leading 12-0.

Brendan Worth opened up Penrith's lead to 18-0 when he crashed over in the 62nd minute.

North Queensland began to comeback and scored in the 65th minute through Brett Anderson to reduce the margin to 12 points once Johnathon Thurston added the extras.

Any side that contains the world's best footballer and contains the attacking genius of Matt Bowen was always going to come home strong and the Panthers put some comfort in the scoreline when Luke Lewis scored with 13 minutes remaining with the Panthers up 22-6.

Still the Cowboys with Thurston leading the way had the potential to score three tries in ten minutes, but crucial errors and desperate Panthers defence stopped that with the only try coming with three minutes remaining when Scott Bolton scored.

Penrith coach Matthew Elliott after the match said, "I'm really really happy for the boys and I'm so impressed with the fight that they showed for each other. Quite amazingly there was a lot of facets that reared their head again in our play that have been inhibiting factors, penalties, errors particularly in the second half. I think the fact that they were prepared to work for each other the way they did and do the little extras; that made a big difference."

When asked about Gower's injury, Elliott added, "It's not a serious hamstring injury. They originally thought it was just a spasm and he'd be right to go again but it just didn't relax. They'll assess it over the next 24 hours. I wouldn't imagine it to be an injury that would keep him out for an extended period."

The excellent NRL result was somewhat soured with the Panthers losing the Harold Matthews and SG Ball where they were defending both premierships. The Panthers headed into both clashes as favourites and had good leads in both of them before being run down by the Bulldogs and Eels respectively.

Penrith were edged out in Golden Point by the Bulldogs in the Harold Matthews with the Bulldogs scoring a converted try in the final minute to level up the scores and than scored in Golden Point to take out their first title at Harold Matthews level. There's been very little between both Clubs at Under 16's level in recent seasons and with the strong Junior strength both clubs are enjoying at the 14-15 age group levels currently than they should continue to remain strong for coming seasons.

In the SG Ball Grand Final, the Panthers raced out to a 12-0 thanks to tries from Lachlan Coote and Lancen Joudo, however, Parramatta powered home to win 22-12 in a clash that featured the two super power clubs of Junior Football.

Penrith's Matthew Wright was named Player of the Tournament for Harold Matthews and Coote took out the SG Ball Player of the Tournament.

Penrith Panthers 22
Tries: Frank Pritchard, Joel Clinton, Brendan Worth, Luke Lewis
Goals: Michael Gordon 3/5
North Queensland Cowboys 12
Tries: Brett Anderson, Scott Bolton
Goals: Johnathan Thurston 2/2
Crowd: 17,393

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