A Matt Moylan field goal with three minutes to go broke secured victory for Penrith over the Titans tonight at Cbus Stadium on the Gold Coast.
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The win has moved the Panthers to within striking distance of sixth spot and a potential home final, with one round still left to play.
The Titans’ loss makes their top eight spot potentially vulnerable. They are currently in eighth spot and three points clear of both the Warriors and the Wests Tigers.
But the Warriors and the Tigers play each other tomorrow in New Zealand, so barring a draw, one will move to within a point of the Titans.
The Titans face a tough away match in the last round next week against the Cowboys in Townsville.
Penrith scored two first half tries tonight to take a handy 14-0 lead into the sheds at halftime, with the Titans looking a little sluggish in the first forty minutes.
Matt Moylan sliced through their defence too easily to score Penrith’s first try under the posts, followed by Waqa Blake capitalising on a Bryce Cartwright line break to force his way over for Panthers’ second try.
The Penrith forwards were well on top in the first half, making some easy metres up the centre.
The Titans managed to grind their way back into the match in the second half, getting on top in the forwards on the back of some Penrith handling errors.
Titans’ interchange forward Leivaha Pulu scored the first try of his NRL career to get the Gold Coast back in the match.
That was followed by an equally determined effort by Greg Bird to cross the line, to bring the Gold Coast to within two points at 14-12.
With five minutes to go, a Panthers high shot gifted Tyrone Roberts an easy penalty goal for the Titans, and the scores were locked at 14-all.
Tyrone Peachey then made a crucial break when the Panthers next had possession, giving Matt Moylan the field position to slot the winning field goal.
Both sides won’t be happy with the number of handling errors they made, but Penrith leave the Gold Coast with two crucial premiership points.
Final score
Penrith 15
Gold Coast 14
Try scorers (Penrith): Matt Moylan, Waqa Blake
Top metres gained (Penrith): Tyrone Peachey 186, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Bryce Cartwright 141
Top tacklers (Penrith): Peter Wallace 54, James Fisher-Harris 50, Trent Merrin 46
Try scorers (Gold Coast): Leivaha Pulu, Greg Bird
Top metres gained (Gold Coast): Jarryd Hayne 222, Greg Bird 183, Ashley Taylor 114
Top tacklers (Gold Coast): Ryan James 44, Greg Bird 35, Nathan Peats 34
The Roar’s NRL MVP votes
3 – Greg Bird. He was on the losing side, but didn’t deserve to be after scoring a determined try, making 183 metres in attack and 35 tackles in defence. All of this after having to go off to get a nasty head gash stitched in the first half.
2 – Tyrone Peachey. Made 183 metres for the Panthers, and the most important ones were the break he made with 3 minutes to go to give Matt Moylan the field position to slot the winning field goal.
1 – Matt Moylan. Scored a try, was dangerous in attack all night and iced the match for Penrith with a field goal with 3 minutes to go.
Albo
Guest
Maybe the Panthers can't win it this year , but they will likely still have a major say in the final match up. They had a very poor 2nd half last night that allowed the Titans back into the game and it is these lapses that have dogged them all season, But still they will likely finish 6th or 7th and probably play the Dogs in Sydney in the first week of the finals. On current form they must be some chance of getting through to week two of the finals then. Who knows who they might then meet. but I am sure they won't be overawed and anything can happen.
Jimmmy
Guest
Good tough game. The Titans never go away and the GC should be very proud of this team regardless of whether they make the finals or not. Penrith are a dynasty in the making but I don't think this is their year. But what potential they have. Scary!!!
steveng
Roar Rookie
The Panthers were a better side and deserved to win, but this will make the Titans top 8 survival that much harder and not much of a chance of achieving anything. Reminds me of what the Rabbitohs did last year.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
To clarify, by 'home' semii final for Penrith I mean playing in Sydney, rather than potentially having to go to Queensland if they had lost.