Round 19
Panthers 17 d. Cowboys 8

2006 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Clinton tackle saves Penrith and hurts Cowboys
Sun July 16, 2006
Penrith has toughed an important victory to keep their slim Finals hopes alive with prop Joel Clinton producing one of the great cover tackles on flying centre Ty Williams to save the Panthers from defeat.

The home side were holding onto a slender 12-8 lead when Williams was home for all money until Clinton came from the clouds and in sheer desperation just threw everything he had at Williams where he was able to make the slightest bit of contact for Williams' ankle to touch the sideline just before he scored. That tackle lifted the Panthers with a bizzare drop-goal and a late try sealing an important 17-8 victory against the troubled Cowboys.

Penrith had to dig extremely deep early on in defence with referee Ben Cummins and his touch judges making some ridiculous calls that went against the Panthers and with all the luck the Cowboys had, all they could manage was a penalty goal to Johnathan Thurston after missing with a previous attempt.

The standard of the first half was pretty ordinary and certainly was no where near the heights of the Friday night blockbuster between Premiership heavy weights St George Illawarra and Canterbury.

North Queensland went into half-time leading 2-0 with the first try coming in the 46th minute when Luke Swain made a good break and Luke Priddis was on the inside to score the try. Preston Campbell converted for the Panthers to lead 6-2.

Steve Southern regained the lead for the Cowboys when he capitalised on a good break from Justin Smith to score with Thurston adding the extras to push the Cowboys ahead 8-6.

Rhys Wesser scored his 94th try for the Panthers when he received a quick pass from Campbell following good work from Frank Pritchard. Campbell converted to push the Panthers four clear.

The Cowboys threw caution to the wind and were set to score until Clinton found another burst of energy late in the game to prevent Williams from scoring.

Penrith worked the ball into the attacking zones where halfback Craig Trindall who was making his debut after a few years playing park footy and ten years after playing Jersey Flegg with the Panthers snapped a bizzare drop goal. Thurston went for the short kick off and only a slight knock on from Williams prevented the try.

Michael Gordon scored a controversial try on full-time to seal victory for the Panthers.

Penrith coach John Lang after the match said, "I thought it was a great win. It was a really tough game. That first 15 minutes or so the ball just went from end to end and there was barely a stoppage. Then we got three rough calls in a row and had a lot of pressure at our own end. We really held up well. We didn't have much attacking ball in that first half and when we did we got too impatient and came up with errors - as the game went on we just ground away and then took our chances.

Paul Aiton was the only injury coming out of the Panthers victory and will miss a week or two due to rib damage. The Panthers will however be sweating on the fitness of star halfback Craig Gower who despite the victory was sorely missed out there.

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