Penrith Panthers turned a 0-14 half-time deficit into a thrilling 18-14 victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Panthers Stadium today to maintain their unbeaten start to the new season.
It was the second week in a row they had come from behind to win, after a similar effort against Parramatta a week earlier.
The Rabbitohs opened the scoring with a penalty from Adam Doueihi, but then they scored probably the NRL try of the season so far, when several players combined over the length of the field for Cody Walker to finally touch down.
They went further ahead just before the break with another converted try by Damien Cook.
The Panthers finally got into gear in the second half with tries by Trent Merrin and Waqa Blake before Tyrone Peachey, who had been selected on the bench, charged over from a pass by Nathan Cleary for the match-winner.
Panthers: 1 Dylan Edwards, 2 Josh Mansour, 3 Waqa Blake, 20 Dean Whare, 5 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 6 James Maloney, 7 Nathan Cleary, 8 James Tamou, 9 Peter Wallace (c), 10 Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 17 James Fisher-Harris, 12 Isaah Yeo, 13 Trent Merrin., Interchange: 14 Corey Harawira-Naera, 15 Sam McKendry, 4 Tyrone Peachey, 11 Villiame Kikau
Tries: Merrin, Blake, Peachey; Goals: Cleary 3
Rabbitohs: 1 Alex Johnston, 2 Richie Kennar, 3 Dane Gagai, 4 Greg Inglis (c), 5 Robert Jennings, 6 Cody Walker, 7 Adam Doueihi, 8 Thomas Burgess, 9 Damien Cook, 10 Sam Burgess, 11 John Sutton, 12 Angus Crichton, 13 Cameron Murray., Interchange: 14 Tyrell Fuimaono, 15 Mark Nicholls, 16 George Burgess, 17 Tevita Tatola
Tries: Walker, Cook; Goals: Doueihi 3
Full match reports from all this weekend’s NRL games will feature in Monday’s League Express