BATHURST Panthers have catapulted themselves into a Group 10 premier league major semi-final appearance after taking cross-city rivals St Pat’s apart at Carrington Park on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Panthers piled on 10 tries in the qualifying semi-final fixture as they put Pat’s to the sword and booked a meeting with Orange CYMS next weekend.
Mitch Davis, Greg Behan and Nick Loader each scored two tries for the Panthers in their team’s dominant performance.
Panthers have now taken out all three matches against Pat’s this season.
“At the start of the year everyone wrote us off after the season we had last year,” Panthers coach Todd Barrow said.
“We just want to keep proving everyone wrong and we keep doing that.”
After soaking up early Saints sets on their own try line the Panthers got on the board first through a Mitch Davis try 10 minutes into the match.
Tries to Blake Lawson and Leigh Monaghan took Panthers out to a 14-0 lead before even a quarter of the match had passed.
Lawson appeared to be wrapped up just short of the Pat’s try line but with a free arm he reached over his head to plant the ball on the paint. Monaghan then slipped through the grasp of several Saints defenders to score just four minutes later.
Just when Panthers were threatening to run away with proceedings, St Pat’s forward Jack Mackey dived over from short range before Antonio Ale’s try in the left corner helped cut the deficit back to four.
Behan’s size and strength helped put Panthers on the front foot in the lead up to half-time.
The prop snagged two tries in the space of just three minutes to punish the Saints for their rising error and penalty counts.
Benjamin John produced one of his trademark dives across the try line from dummy half – right on the half-time siren – to have the score read 26-16 in the Panthers’ favour.
The Panthers’ right edge continued to give St Pat’s nightmares not long after the break when Davis picked up his second try of the match.
Lawson got on the end of a loose ball near the halfway line to sprint towards the Saints’ line. He found Loader in support and the Panthers’ number nine made a successful dash towards the left corner to take the score out to 36-16.
Back-to-back penalties allowed Pat’s to strike back through John when he once again leapt over the white paint from dummy half.
The Saints’ joy was short lived when Claude Gordon’s dummy allowed him to score an easy try.
Loader’s second try of the day, in the 65th minute, pushed the lead out to 46-22 and Pat’s needed nothing short of a miracle turnaround.
Tyson Medlyn scored for the blue and white but it came with only nine minutes left on the clock.
A penalty goal for Jeremy Gordon helped eat up the clock but he and his Panthers weren’t content to sit back and relax.
Gordon then added the cherry on top in the 79th minute as he converted his own try to take his team beyond the half-century mark.
The loss condemns Pat’s to a minor semi-final meeting against the Mudgee Dragons this weekend.
