Fresh off their pressure relieving 18-12 victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs in Round 7, the Magies travel out west for another derby game as they take on the Penrith Panthers. Despite only securing win of the season last week, Wentworthville are very much still in touch with the Top 8 and in fact sit only only win behind the 5th placed Panthers coming into this match.

 

Will Smith and George Jennings will line up against their old club this week and shape up as two of the potential difference makers for Wenty as they look to finally get their campaign back on track. Troy Dargan will continue his apprenticeship in the ISP this season and a consistent performance today from the young halfback, after showing flashes of his potential in this grade to date, will go a long way towards the Magpies getting home.

 

Team List

 

1. Will Smith

20. Bureta Faraimo

3. Nathan Davis

4. John Folau

5. George Jennings

6. Troy Dargan

7. Jamal Fogarty

8. Alex Twal

9. Cameron King

10. Joseph Ualesi

11. Marata Niukore

12. Cody Nelson (c)

13. David Gower

Interchange

14. Honeti Tuha

15. Kelepi Tangiona

16. Jack Morris

17. James Hasson

18. Sam Gorman

 

Late Mail

 

There is one change for the Magpies today as Sam Gorman moves into the game day roster for the wily veteran David Gower who drops out of the team. James Hasson will start at lock for the Magpies while Gorman slips into the bench utility role.

 

First Half

 

Wenty will be receiving the ball in the first half.

Penrith get play under way and Alex Twal takes the first hit up of the game. Cody Nelson and Joseph Ualesi follow before James Hasson gets a carry. An early kick from Cameron King finds the carpet between the Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards and his winger and that is a damn sharp kick! 40/20! Lovely work there from King.

Wenty tap and go left as they sweep out to Will Smith where the livewire fullback draws the first penalty of the game. Tap and go as Twal is directed towards the lines. Ualesi takes the ball right to the posts. King fires a long pass to Dargan who then steps off his right foot as he takes on the line and is tacked. King to Hasson now as the Magpies look to catch the ruck defence out but Penrith are awake to the play. Wenty then go right with a short ball to Marata Niukore who is pulled down. Dargan tries to play wide to Nelson down the left on the next play but the pass isn’t great and Nelson can’t reel it in. Turnover.

A penalty quickly follows to Penrith now and they will swing upfield and go on the attack. They work from their right to left as they come into the Wenty red zone. The Magpies defend well through the set before a nice bat-up interception from Nathan Davis down the left edge saves a likely try as the Panthers run it down their right on the last! Classy read and play there.

Poor metreage for the Magpies this set as they grind their way up the halfway and send a midfield bomb up. Panthers aimed up in defence that set.

The Panthers work their way to the Wenty 35m mark in reply and send up a bomb that Will Smith makes an early call to let bounce. The Panthers tap it back but Ualesi dives on the deflection. Bullet dodged at first but Bureta Faraimo drops the ball cold on the next play to gift the Pathers a golden chance for first points.

Davis and Dargan combine for the first tackle of the next set. Twal and Nelson pull Akuola down on the second. The Panthers go down their left on the third as Viliame Kikau drags defenders to the goal line before he is tackled. Plenty of second phase ball on the next tackle as Penrith go right and then left but Wenty hold on. Mitch Rein jumps out of dummy half and throws a couple of dummies before taking a short ball option that Wenty do well to pull down but unfortunately the Magpies concede a penalty late in the count.

So much pressure on Wenty here but it quickly falls away as the Panthers are pinged for an obstruction play early in the count.

Hasson and Twal work together coming out of our half. Wenty go wide right to Niukore who fights his way forwards. Hasson has another carry and offload as the ball comes to Ualesi to bring up the last. Dargan sends up a wobbly bomb on the last. Faraimo tries to bat it back to support but the ball travels forwards as Davis cleans it up. Wenty lucky not to be pinged for playing the ball from an offside position there. Davis was in front of Faraimo. A turnover it is instead.

Ooh, Mitch Rein causing a bit of trouble here. He scoots out of the ruck following a quick play-the-ball and looks to offload to his halfback to put him through a hole. The ball is dropped though. Suggestions that the offload was forwards too.

Jennings and Folau doing early ruck work this half. Good carry from Twal in their wake. Wenty go wide left to Nelson to bring up the last and Dargan sends up a bomb towards Dylan Edwards. A wee bit too heavy but still the Panthers are pinned a few metres off their line as a result of a good kick chase. Not a terrible result.

Not a terrible result but some weak ruck defence sees Dylan Edwards burst through the middle and undo all the good work. Edwards pushes up in support like a good fullback and screams through a gap. He beats Will Smith at the last line but a committed chase from Jamal Fogarty brings him down before Wenty concede a penalty on the next tackle for offside defenders. Not a bad penalty to give away to be honest.

A second penalty follows, this one is a bit contentious, as the ref rules the Magpies were slowing down the ruck.

From there the Panthers try to crash over through the towering bookend Kikau but he loses the ball over the line! Good defence from the Magpies there as they earn a 20m restart.

Faraimo, Twal and Ualesi to Hasson in the early tackles this set. Unforced error on the next play as Niukore struggles to get a rapid play the ball away and squirts the ball out as he plants it on the ground.

Hmmm, bit of luck there for Wenty now. Or maybe some veteran wiles! Hasson leverages his leg against the ball as Akuola fights to get up and the ball pops out. That is a 50/50 that went out way. The Magies work the ball right through the backline for the first two tackles before Ualesi centres it. We go right from there where Troy Dargan holds the ball up beautifully for a sweeping Smith and he is over for first points! No! A desperate last ditch attempt from the halfback Nicholls (sp) jolts the ball loose as Smith gets too carefree trying to centre the ball! Huge chance gone missing.

The Panthers rumble upfield from the 7-tackle set. Wenty scramble to hold their defensive line in the face of some bruising work from the left edge of Penrith. A scrappy last tackle play from the home team eventually results in a line drop out but it was very nearly a try for Penrith as Hasson lost the ball fighting his way out of his in-goals. Hectic stuff.

Good defensive set from Wenty as they lift their intensity under pressure. Penrith bomb to Wenty’s left edge where the shallow kick is batted back in-field. Nathan Davis races up and has a chance to scoop it up with no one in front of him but he knocks it on! Oh no! Another big chance squandered.

Penrith have the scrum feed and win as they swing left from 35m out. They then work back to their right edge where they get a late offload away and go back left. Edge to edge stuff on play. Their halfback runs it on the third tackle but he is denied. Ditto for their fullback Edwards on the fourth tackle. So much hustle here from Wenty. Fogarty comes up with the ball on the last as he cleans up a chip kick in the field on play. Terrific stuff from a desperate outfit.

Simple set from the Magpies in return as they look to reestablish themselves in the grind. A very useful kick from Davis on the last finds touch 10m out from the Penrith goal line. What a way to flip the territorial game.

Solid metres for the home team as they work around the ruck with some short passes before kicking early. Smith does well to clean it up on the full and brings it back into the line. The outside backs help their forwards through this set before King nearly nails a second 40/20! Edwards has to get his skates on as he races across to tidy up a pretty favourable bounce. Great work from the boot from King.

Penrith still roll their way just over halfway as they keep themselves ticking over in the ruck but their bomb is easily taken by George Jennings as the completions for both teams keep coming.

WOWZA! Great team try from Wenty now! Dargan calls for the ball down the left. He fires off a nice long pass to Davis who beats his opposite before linking up inside with Jack Morris who quickly basketballs it back to Davis who then streaks down the sideline before looping a long pass inside back to Cody Nelson to beat the fullback Edwards! Beautifully executed heads up play there.

 

Try scored by Nathan Davis. Conversion successful by Jamal Fogarty.

Wenty lead 6-0

30min gone

 

Twal and Morris the opening options this set. Sam Gorman get nailed by Kikau on the third tackle but bounces up to play the ball. Folau and Gorman are the final options this set before Fogarty weaves down the right edge and hammers the ball along the ground to round out the set. Very nearly an error in the ruck from the Panthers early in the next set but the ball is regathered before it can hit the ground.

Penrith run it down their right edge on the last but Wenty have the numbers there and it quickly become a moot point as they drop the ball for a turnover.

Faraimo and Morris up first there. Nice bit of footwork from Morris too. Wenty go over halfway with a run from King. Fogarty is caught flat-footed to bring up the last and Dargan sends up a lofty bomb that sails too deep for the kick chase to make a play.

The home team are getting on top in the ruck here as they make a good 60m through this set. They bomb Faraimo on the last tackle and a messy contest sees the ball fly backwards to the Wenty goal line. The Magpies boot it dead but play comes back for a knock on from the Panthers.

Good run from Niukore down the right in this set. Beats the first wave of defenders and heads in-field. Will Smith sends a bomb up on the last tackle. Edwards wants nothing to do with it and lets it bounce where he then gets a very friendly bounce. Lucky there, really.

A big bust from the left winger, Stein (sp), puts Wenty on the backfoot as the nuggety flanker chews up the metres through the middle. A penalty follows on the next play for offside defenders but from the fresh set the Panthers lose the ball in the ruck! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Twal and Morris work the ball out through the middle before Nelson ends up with the ball on fourth after a few passes around the ruck. Twal centres the ball on the last, 20 tackles and 8 hit ups the numbers for him from the Fox commentary crew in the first half. Massive effort. Dargan quickly sums up his options on the last as he drills the ball over the sideline to find touch 10m out. Just a minute of play left here.

Ooh, error from Penrith coming out of their red zone! One last chance for Wenty to score. They start their set down the right before working to a big left edge play that sees Faraimo turned back inside as he steams through a number of players before he is barely held up! That was agonisingly close. Enough time for one last play but the Penrith line shows plenty of speed to push up after the long delay between tackles and Dargan’s kick takes a deflection where it is then dived upon by a defender to bring an end to the half.

 

Half Time

Wentworthville Magpies 6 lead Penrith Panthers 0

 

Second Half

 

Wenty kicking off to start the second half.

Twal, Morris and Gorman lead the chase from the kickoff to bring down Akuaola. Penrith run hard and straight this set – good metres as a result. Their kick on the last is cleaned up tidily by the Magpies though.

Tough opening set for Wenty in reply as Penrith really aim up in defence but a very late penalty to Wenty changes the complexion of the set! Referee wasn’t happy with a third man coming in over the course of consecutive tackles.

Big run from John Folau down the right as he nearly goes over! Had Fogarty in support down his right but he couldn’t get the ball out to him! Dang it.

The Magpies rapidly shift to their left edge in the wake of the Folau run. Dargan finds Davis who looked to have a change to offload to Faraimo in room to score but he takes the tackle to bring up the last. From there Faraimo jumps into dummy half and backs himself to storm over from short range and he does just that! Big individual call but it has paid off big time.

 

Try scored by Bureta Faraimo. Conversion successful by Jamal Fogarty.

Wenty lead 12-0

45min gone

 

Sam Gorman of all people takes the kickoff return. Twal chalks up another carry before Gorman comes back for his second run of the set but he loses the pill in a heavy hit. You really need to complete those sets after points.

Penrith go from right to left but some good defence by Twal on the edge brings down the five-eighth Langi. He is in everything today is young Twal. An error comes from the Panthers on the next play as they look to centre the ball.

Faraimo and Davis make big metres coming out of our half as they punish some retreating ruck defenders. Tanignoa crashes into the line on the third. Dargan plays down the left to Tuha but there isn’t much doing so the Magpies come to their last tackle. The bomb is the option again but it is sent too deep and results in a 20m restart.

Big metres for Penrith, as expected from the extended tackle count, but Tanginoa swoops on a loose offload to secure a turnover. Good awareness from Kelepi there. Dargan sends Nelson inside as Wenty work out of their half. Tuha is the kicking option on the last, somewhat unfortunately, and he sends a shallow chip kick over that lets Edwards make a useful return.

The Panthers drive their way into the Wenty red zone with a couple of tackles to spare. They go right from there but Wenty repel them twice over with Davis making the key tackle on the last play of the set. Good read and one-on-one tackle to secure possession via a turnover on tackle count.

Dang it. Niukore makes a brilliant bust after shunting off defenders and surging past the line but Nichols comes back at him and knocks the ball out from behind as Niukore races over halfway. Great run undone by a neat defensive play.

Speaking of great defensive plays! Niukore has the Penrith runner lined up for some retribution but Tanginoa beats him to the punch and lays on a hammer blow that forces the ball loose! It has been anything but flawless but the effort has been amazing today.

Folau provides a powerful carry from the scrum win as he drags defenders for a 15m gain but he loses the ball trying to fight his way to his feet. First tackle error. That is a coach killer.

Wenty providing a lot of chances for Penrith to fight their way back into the game here.

The home team work their way down their right edge over the first two tackles. They come back to the sticks on the third. Great tackle by Fogarty and Folau on the fourth as the Panthers swept down that edge. More amazing hustle from the Magpies now. Penrith go wide down their right on the last and despite some late second phase play, they hold on as Tuha scoops up a grubber kick and gets back into the field of play.

A great kick from Fogarty and a high-effort kick chase flip the field position and Penrith are caught just off their goal line. Could be a pivotal passage of play incoming.

Wenty restrict the Panther to a kick from 38m off their line. Tuha picks it up on the bounce and is tackled 15m shy of halfway. King and Nelson run the ball down their left edge before Wenty are caught centreing the ball as Forgarty is eaten up by eager defenders.

Speaking of effort! King puts a tremendous grubber kick in behind to his left and Davis flies through and flicks it back deep from the in-goals and then the rest of the kick chase comes to drive Dylan Edwards back in-goals! Line drop out, folks! Cody Nelson made first contact on Edwards there – who else would it be?

Hasson carts the ball ack into the line before Kelepi gives a defender nightmares with a bullish carry. Ualesi and Niukore are the options as Wenty come into the red zone. Fogarty and Dargan link up as they swing down the left but Dargan passes back to Fogarty to bring up the last. King runs it from dummy half on the last and passes to Ualesi who fights his way to the line but ultimately settles to take the tackle and turnover.

Penrith have to fight their way out of their half here. They go from right to left and then back to the right as they work their way over halfway. A poor kick on the last sees the Panthers have to make a second kick on the volley but it is drilled straight into an offside Panther who plays at it. Penalty to Wenty.

Davis first up this set. The ball then goes wide to Folau who brushes off the first defender with ease. Plenty of power packed in that frame. Wenty come back to the ruck with Hasson before Dargan plays short to Davis who drops it cold. Rein knocks on attempting to pick it up so we come back to a scrum for the Panthers. 18min left here as Wenty struggle to close out the game.

Crucial tackle from Niukore now as he pulls down a sniping Rein. It was trouble if Rein burst through there. Penrith run the ball down their right edge on the last and their centre tries to grubber for his winger but it is easily cleaned up.

Simple set from Wenty now. They are just trying to keep themselves ticking over up the middle. Dargan ices play with a nice kick that finds touch 20m off the Penrith goal line.

Here come the Panthers. A penalty and quick tap from midfield for Edwards. Good discipline from the Wenty defence to bring him down. Penrith now hammer the left edge defence of the Magpies and it proves to be too much as their right edge backrower Hetherington crashes through the attempted tackles of Nelson and Smith.

 

Try scored by the Penrith Panthers. Conversion successful.

Penrith trail 6-12

67min gone

 

Energy levels are at max for the Panthers now. The try scorer Hetherington makes a break down the right edge and comes to Will Smith who brings him down. They swing to their left lightning fast from there but a ankle cutter tackle from Folau I think brings an end to that play. They come back to Hetherington on the last tackle, looking to storm over again, but the defence meets him evenly for a turnover.

Fatigue in the Wenty outfit now. They grind their way upfield for a kick and a tired kick chase eventually meets the Penrith return.

Nothing too flash from Penrith through this set but their kick on the last is allowed to bounce and it results in a line drop out as Faraimo has to head back to retrieve it where he is immediately pinned in-goals.

Fogarty sends the drop kick out. Gorman and Hasson first tacklers. Twal and Ualesi meet Kikau on the second tackle. Niukore and Langi make heavy contact on the third but the Panthers crack the Magpies on the fourth as their front rowers ball play at the line to each other. Puea (sp) throws the pass to Kikau which isolates the defender for Kikau. He powers through the tackle and reaches out to score next to the posts. Do Wenty have enough left in the tank here?

 

Try scored by the Penrith Panthers. Conversion successful.

Penrith lock the scores up at 12-all

74min gone

 

Fantastic set and kick after points from Penrith there. An incisive kick finds the grass between Tuha and Smith and the kick chase then traps Tuha 3m off his line. The Magpies get to their kick 30m off their line but it isn’t without drama as pressure from the defence forces Wenty to go threes passes wide to Fogarty who then has to beat a defender before getting away a hurried kick.

All the running is with Penrith here. They have three tackles up their hand as they drive into the red zone. They can’t find the four pointer but have a world of time for a field goal attempt on the last tackle but it is pushed wide! Wenty are still in it.

Gorman and Twal work their way up the guts. Twal has been titanic today. A nice run from King gets metres and a quick play the ball. Tuha has spiders on him as he weaves through half the team to link up with Folau. Big chance here for Wenty. Gorman centres the ball after a pass from Fogart and from there DARGAN NAILS THE ATTEMPT! What a kick! He has drilled that between the uprights from 35m out.

 

Field goal attempt successful by Troy Dargan. 

Wenty lead 13-12

 

Short kickoff from the Panthers – as expected. Davis loses it forwards and Penrith have possession! Scratch that! Cameron King has gotten one on his opposite as a punishing tackle jolts the ball free! Twal dives on it!

The Magpies ruck the ball out with the speed of a geriatric snail and Faraimo takes the tackle as the siren sounds. Wenty have shown more guts than George Rose after a big Easter Sunday today!

 

Full Time

Wentworthville Magpies 13 DEF Penrith Panthers 12

 

TCT Best on Field

3. Alex Twal

2. Bureta Faraimo

1. Cameron King