A disappointing second half collapse saw the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles suffer a 48-18 away loss to the Penrith Panthers today in round 20 of The Knock On Effect NSW Cup.
The Sea Eagles shot out to an 18-0 lead after 20 minutes through three quick tries at Penrith before the home side scored an unprecedented 48 answered points through nine tries to romp home in a nine tries to three win.
Sea Eagles second-rower Brad Parker opened the scoring in the eighth minute with his fourth try of the season. The captain took a short pass from the ruck and pushed past two defenders for a 6-0 lead.
Blacktown scored their second in the 16th minute through halfback Tylor Bunting after a well-worked play down the right edge.
After finding himself in space by the sideline, winger Watson Heleta grubber kicked infield to his halfback. Bunting, who played in Penrith’s 2021 Harold Matthews Cup side before moving to Manly to play SG Ball, gathered the kick and went over untouched to take the lead to 12-0.
The Sea Eagles blitz continued with a third five minutes later through full-back Clayton Faulalo. Five-eighth Brad Abbey intercepted a pass at his own 10-metre line and ran 30 metres before handing the ball off to Faulalo. The tryscoring machine raced 60 metres downfield to score his 13th try of the season for an 18-0 lead.
Penrith hit back with ten minutes to play in the half with a try through centre Asu Kepaoa. The home side found a gap in the defence with a smart grubber kick from five-eighth Tyrone Peachey to help cut the deficit to 18-6.
The Panthers went back-to-back as they scored again just before half-time. Winger Daeon Amituanai dived over in the corner after his side capitalised on the overlap out wide for an 18-12 scoreline at the break.
Penrith shot out of the gates with a try one minute into the second half for second-rower Zac Lipowicz. Peachey was big in the build-up again after breaking through the defence to set the try up and level the scores at 18-all.
Three quick tries in an eight-minute period shot the home side out to a 32-18 lead.
Centre David Fale dived over in the corner in the 49th minute and Kepaoa scored his second three minutes later after some sloppy defence from the Blacktown side. Peachey scored after breaking through two tackles in the 56th minute.
Penrith extended their lead to 38-18 lead after 62 minutes through a try to second-rower Harrison Hassett off a short pass to break the line.
Some poor defence out wide saw winger Samuel Lane push off three defenders to cross for a 44-18 lead.
Lipowicz then scored his second try after a cut out pass from Peachey found the winger in open space for a 48-14 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
The Sea Eagles take on the Sydney Roosters in round 21 of the NSW Cup at Wentworth Park on Sunday, July 28 at 3pm.
Penrith 48 (Asu Kepaoa 2, Zac Lipowicz 2, Daeon Amituanai, David Fale, Tyrone Peachey, Harrison Hassett, Samuel Lane tries; Billy Scott 6/9 goals) d Blacktown Workers 18 (Brad Parker, Tylor Bunting, Clayton Faulalo tries; Jaxson Paulo 3 goals)
