The Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs have gone down to the Penrith Panthers, 28-12 at Belmore Sports Ground.
The visitors scored five tries with Wayde Egan and Jarome Wormleaton grabbing doubles, while Jayden Okunbor and Tui Katoa were the only try scorers for the home side.
The Panthers opened the scoring when Egan crossed for the first points in the 9th minute. The hooker skipped down the short side and poked his way through the Bulldogs defence to score in the corner. Dean Blore’s conversion was waved away to remain 4-0.
The Panthers extended their lead in the 15th minute off the back of consecutive penalties when lock forward Liam Martin threw a dummy and break the Bulldogs line to score. Blore’s conversion was good and the score was out to 10-0.
The Bulldogs were next to get on the score sheet after back to back penalties put the home side in good field position and send Tui Katoa over for the home sides first of the day. Halfback Brandon Wakeham shifted the ball to centre Morgan Harper who created an overlap and found Katoa out wide. Wakeham nailed the kick from the sideline to cut the Panthers lead to four.
An error from the restart gave the Panthers great field position and the visitors made the most of their opportunity. A long ball from Sam Martin-Savage found Mose Feilo who tipped the ball on to winger Wormleaton to score. Blore converted to make it 16-6.
Wormleaton had his second on the stroke of half-time and Blore converted to give the Panthers a 22-6 lead at the break.
The Bulldogs struck first in the second half when Jayden Okunbor ran through a gaping hole in the Panthers defence on the 55th minute mark to bring his side back in to the contest. Wakeham added the extras to make it 22-12.
The Bulldogs enjoyed plenty of possession and territory for much of the half after the try to Okunbor, but were unable to break the Panthers defence who stopped everything the Dogs threw at them.
Captain Egan crossed for his second to seal the win with five minutes left on the clock. Blore added another two points to give the Panthers a 28-12 victory.
Panthers 28 ( Wormleaton 2, Egan 2, Martin tries: Blore 4 goals)
Def
Bulldogs 12 ( Katoa, Okunbor tries: Wakeham 2 goals)
