Warriors coach Ivan Cleary struggled to recall a more courageous performance than the one his NRL side produced in holding on to beat Penrith 12-6 at CUA Stadium on Sunday.

Parked on their own line as a mountain of errors and lopsided 11-3 penalty count seemed destined to crush their resolve, the Warriors somehow clung to their converted try advantage to move to sixth spot on the NRL ladder.

It was a remarkable display from the visitors with the 62 tackles from workaholic lock Micheal Luck leading the way, Penrith unable to capitalise on their 59-8 advantage in tackles inside the opposition’s 20 metre zone.

The home side’s only points came from a dubious Lachlan Coote try just before the break which had serious question marks over the grounding.

“I’m very proud, it was a great effort,” Cleary said.

“The longer the half went on the better they got in terms of their defence.

“A couple of times I thought they were just about to give in but they never did so you’ve got to be pretty happy with that.

“We’ve had our fair share of adversity this year so that’s probably helped bind the boys together.”
That adversity has normally come in the way of injuries, with the talent sidelined for Sunday’s match proof of that with Sam Rapira, Brent Tate, Jacob Lillyman, Brett Seymour and Kevin Locke amongst those unavailable.

They came with a plan to attack the Panthers up the middle and it worked brilliantly, Lewis Brown using that avenue to set up the first try for James Maloney before Manu Vatuvei revived memories of Canterbury winger Steve Gearin’s 1980 grand final miracle when he was the only one to chase down an Isaac John bomb for a spectacular try and 12-0 lead after 23 minutes.

While the Warriors were depleted, Penrith were minus only Frank Pritchard and Tim Grant yet struggled mightily in attack.

When their most common method of posting points – with 31 of their 71 tries having come from kicks – was shut down, so too were the Panthers.

Coach Matthew Elliott was refusing to panic with his side still comfortably ensconced in the top four.

“The opposition was fantastic. They deserved to be recognised rather than us saying we were ordinary,” Elliott said.

“I think we had to take our medicine today.

“We didn’t throw our A game at them but we weren’t terrible … the opposition showed more desperation than us.”
Centre Michael Jennings, one of four Panthers backing up after Wednesday’s State of Origin, claimed his side panicked when the points didn’t come their way late in the game.

“We were just playing catch-up footy,” Jennings said.

“Everyone was trying their best to score but we weren’t playing as a team, we were playing as individuals and it showed out there.”

© AAP 2012

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