After a slow start, the Penrith Panthers have run out 23-22 winners in a thriller at Pepper Stadium. The Panthers defence looked at all at sea early in the match, which is nor surprising given the number of late positional changes they were forced to make.
REPORT: MARTIN WINS IT FOR PANTHERS ON DEBUT
A try right on half-time kept them in touch with the Broncos and they lifted in the second half with a strong finish. They kept the Bronocs scoreless in the 2nd half.
The fairytale was 20 year-old debutante Te Maire Martin, who scored a try to level the scores with 12 minutes to go, and then calmly slotted a field goal with 4 minutes to go o break the deadlock.
Try scorers for the Panthers were Peta Hiku, Bryce Cartwright, Jeremy Lattimore, Te Maire Martin. Jamie Soward kicked 3 goals and Te Maire Martin a field goal.
Try scorers for the Broncos were Anthony Milford (2), Darius Boyd, Ben Hunt. Corey Parker kicked 2 goals and Jordan Kahu 1.
Final score
Penrith Panthers 23
Brisbane Broncos 22
The winless Penrith Panthers host the undefeated Brisbane Broncos at Pepper Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:30pm (AEDT).
Penrith are desperate for a breakthrough win this week, after a heartbreaking, last-minute 18-16 loss to Canterbury ruined their 50th-anniversary celebrations.
The Panthers led all the way in that match before Bulldogs halfback Moses Mbye levelled the scores with his second try, right on full-time. Rookie centre Kerrod Holland calmly slotted the conversion after the siren to break the deadlock.
This week will be the first time new Panthers coach Anthony Griffin has coached against his former club. He knows the games of a lot of the Broncos well, having coached many of them in the Under 20s prior to his four years as first-grade coach.
‘Hook’ has made one forced injury change, and three key positional changes to the Panthers line-up. Will Smith comes in at fullback for the injured Dean Whare, and last week’s hooker Tyrone Peachey moves to five-eighth in place of Jamie Soward. Soward moves to halfback in place of Peter Wallace, who takes Peachey’s place at hooker.
It’s musical chairs with the Penrith playmakers this week as Griffin searches for his best combination.
The Broncos are coming off a 25-10 home victory against the Warriors, which followed their 17-4 away win against Parramatta in Round 1. Winger Corey Oates is their only casualty, and is facing at least month on the sidelines with a shoulder injury. He’s been replaced by Greg Eden.
The two teams only met once in 2015, in Round 9 at Suncorp Stadium. The Broncos won that dour struggle 8-5, a very low and unusual scoreline in modern rugby league, with Oates scoring a last-minute try to get Brisbane home.
Prediction
The Broncos will be too strong in another close one.
Join The Roar at 7:30pm (AEDT) for score updates and debate in our live blog.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
Thanks for joining me on tonight’s coverage, hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave your comments and don’t forget you can switch over now to the Titans/Wests Tigers clash about to kick off at CBUS Super Stadium.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
Roar MVP Points 3 - Te Maire Martin: A dream debut for the 20-year-old. Brought in as a late replacement, he made 90 metres in attack at five-eighth, 2 line breaks, scored a try, kicked the winning field goal, to go with his 26 tackles in defence. 2 - Anthony Milford: Scored 2 tries and is a constant threat in attack. 1 - Bryce Cartwright: Was a constant threat in attack with numerous offloads, 105 running metres and a try to go with his 27 tackles.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
FULL TIME SUMMARY After a slow start, the Penrith Panthers have run out 23-22 winners in a thriller at Pepper Stadium. The Panthers defence looked at all at sea early in the match, which is nor surprising given the number of late positional changes they were forced to make. A try right on half-time kept them in touch with the Broncos and they lifted in the second half with a strong finish. They kept the Bronocs scoreless in the 2nd half. The fairytale was 20 year-old debutante Te Maire Martin, who scored a try to level the scores with 12 minutes to go, and then calmly slotted a field goal with 4 minutes to go o break the deadlock. Try scorers for the Panthers were Peta Hiku, Bryce Cartwright, Jeremy Lattimore, Te Maire Martin. Jamie Soward kicked 3 goals and Te Maire Martin a field goal. Try scorers for the Broncos were Anthony Milford (2), Darius Boyd, Ben Hunt. Corey Parker kicked 2 goals and Jordan Kahu 1. Top tacklers (Panthers): Peter Wallace 42, Jeremy Lattimore 33 Top metres gained (Panthers): Josh Mansour 206, Reagan Campbell-Gillard 163 Top tacklers (Broncos): Andrew McCulloch 44, Josh McGuire 39, Matt Gillett 39 Top metres gained (Broncos): Darius Boyd 139, Alex Glenn 139, Josh McGuire 135
Spongebob
Guest
Hardly, that was probably the 2nd or 3rd best attacking performance I've seen out of 20 odd games so far this season. See, the thing is your defence is irrelevant if you never need to use it. Sounds really stupid, it's the exact same on Playstation. I'm awful at on-line defence but I win ~80% of the time by simply keeping them in their half, then pummelling them with attack. I'll have 30 shots at scoring to their 3. It's not rocket science who's most likely to win. That's all Penrith did in the 2nd half differently - controlled the ball, camped in Brisbane's half (who offered little attack), and eventually they had enough shots they got through and won. Can Penrith do that with any form of consistency is the key.
cam
Guest
Oh John more teams will work broncos out and they broncos just can't play any better, this is as good as it gets for them. well done panthers
John Coomer
Roar Guru
Sorry, only just got to this comment after the game. I won't lie, I thought the Broncos would go on to win it at half-time, but the Panthers played well in the 2nd half and deserved the win.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
I must admit I didn't think they'd get there, but it was good to see the Panthers get up after the Bulldogs heartbreaker last week. After all the late line-up changes, it was a great effort by Penrith.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
A fairytale finish, with debutante Te Maire Martin scoring late in the game and then kicking a field goal to get the Panthers home.
Spongebob
Guest
Metres are an issue because the Broncos entire gameplan revolves around control. You don't have control when the opposition is camped on your tryline the whole time, and even when they kick Penrith end up going the whole field every single set to be back on the line attacking. The 2nd 40 they must have left their half maybe twice total. If that was a paintball game, Penrith fired 100 shots to the Broncos 10. It doesn't matter how good you are when you're being bombarded you're going to lose nearly always. I'd give Brisbane 7/10 but the Panthers were 8/10. Their awful defence didn't matter because Brisbane did nothing to test it the entire second half.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Take Oates out of the Broncos and look what happens.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
A fairytale finish there for the Panthers, with Te Maire Martin scoring late in the game and then kicking a field goal to get the Panthers home.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Got pretty terrible at the end there. Congrats to Penrith for grabbing the win.
Blake Standfield
Roar Guru
What a pathetic second half from the Broncos. I was just thinking how clinical they are when they started getting lazy in defence. Then that ridiculous chip kick that lead to a fluky Panthers try and that high ball that went nowhere and lead to another. Some poor options in attack as well. Gotten a bit ahead of themselves.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
80' Fulltime! The Broncos threw it around in desperation, but Kahu is penalised late in the count for being offside after regathering a Hunt clearing kick. Panthers 23 Broncos 22
Spongebob
Guest
Brisbane couldn't even make 40m in the entire half, they won't go 100m and win here.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
79’ Penrith taking no chances and complete their set. Broncos ball 5 metres out from their own line. Penrith 23 Broncos 22
John Coomer
Roar Guru
78’ Broncos have kicked it dead on the full from the kick off. Penalty on halfway. Kicking for touch. Penrith 23 Broncos 22
John Coomer
Roar Guru
77’ Field goal Te Maire Martin! Penrith 23 Broncos 22
John Coomer
Roar Guru
75’ Knock on Ben Hunt, poor pass. Penrith ball on halfway. Penrith 22 Broncos 22
John Coomer
Roar Guru
74’ The Broncos line defence holds, back in possession. Penrith 22 Broncos 22