Penrith aresweating on the fitness of star winger Brian To’o after he was taken off with a knee injury in their 20-16 victory over the St George Illawarra Dragons.
To’o left the field early in the second half and did not return, with scans required to determine the extent of the injury.
Panthers prop James Fisher-Harris left the game against the Dragons in the 24th minute and didn’t return.
“A bit of carnage today. I don’t know how bad Fish’s shoulder is but it didn’t feel like he could go back on,” coach Ivan Cleary said.
“Biz has done something to his knee. It’s not good but that’s the situation we’re in.”
The Dragons also lost a key player, with hooker Andrew McCullough departing with what was later revealed to be a dislocated elbow.
Viliame Kikau enjoyed a dream start to his 100th game, scoring a spectacular charge down try and a second late in the first half to fire Penrith to a halftime lead.
The Fijian forward was already emotional after the Panthers flew over his parents for the milestone match, and celebrated in style with two tries that put Penrith 20-6 up at the break. Spencer Leniu grabbed the other, sandwiched between Kikau’s two scores.
Kikau’s first came on the back of two disallowed tries that had seen Izack Tago twice denied. It bore an eerie similarity to last week’s first half against Manly, where Penrith had two tries wiped off by the bunker before opening the scoring and racing into a lead.
Like Round 1, the Panthers were pegged back before halftime, with Tyrell Sloan touching a kick to get the Dragons on the board. St George Illawarra later shot themselves in the foot, however, with Jaydn Su’A sent to the bin for a late hit on Sean O’Sullivan.
Su’a later redeemed himself with a second half try that moved the Dragons to within eight points of the Panthers. Zac Lomax, also binned at one point, scored close to the end to get St George Illawarra within four points, but Penrith held on.
Penrith might consider themselves lucky to get the win in a game where they failed to score after the 35th minute, with their outstanding defence again securing the points.
“It was such a special scene on Thursday, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s a bit drained, and that’s how the game went for him,” Cleary said of Kikau’s emotional week.
“He hung in when he had to at the end, some days you need to find ways to win, and today was one of those days.
“In the end, I was proud of the boys the way they hung on. We made it hard for ourselves because the Dragons were coming at us with nothing to lose.”
Despite a strong start, the Panthers lost possession 45/55 in a game in which neither team handled the ball well, with both finishing with completion rates south of 65%.
The Dragons had two men sent to the bin – Su’A for a late hit, Lomax for a professional foul – and left themselves with too much to do despite a late charge.
“With the ball we were just way too clunky… playing 20 minutes with 12 men killed us,” said coach Anthony Griffin.
“But I was proud of their effort even though we’ve got a bit to fix up. To beat them 10-0 in the second half after everything we’d gone through was a massive positive for us.”
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