BATHURST Panthers catapulted themselves into a Group 10 premier league major semi-final appearance after tearing cross-city rivals Bathurst St Pat’s apart at Carrington Park on Sunday.
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Panthers piled on 10 tries in the qualifying semi-final fixture, booking a meeting with Orange CYMS next weekend in the process.
Mitch Davis, Greg Behan and Nick Loader scored double for Panthers, the men in black have now won all three Bathurst derbies this 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.”
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.
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 helped cut the deficit back to four.
Behan’s size and strength helped put Panthers back 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.
Panthers’ right edge continued to give St Pat’s nightmares not long after the break when Davis picked up his second try.
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 No.9 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 but 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.
