Jennings Guides Panthers to Thrilling win Over Eels

SYDNEY—Penrith centre Michael Jennings scored a hat trick and set up the match-winner four minutes from full-time to secure a 38-34 victory over Parramatta in an NRL try-fest at CUA Stadium on Sunday.

Jennings had not played since tearing his calf muscle in the Blues' State of Origin I loss over a month ago but staked his claim for an Origin III recall with two first half tries, a controversial third four-pointer and then the killer blow for debutant Junior Tia-Kilifi's match-winner.

Trailing 34-32 after Eels rookie Daniel Mortimer completed his double in the 70th minute, Jennings set up the young winger in the 76th minute to secure a win for the Panthers in front of 16,845 fans.

The victory snaps Penrith's two-game losing streak and keeps them entrenched in the top eight, but the loss virtually ends the Eels finals hopes as they now sit five points outside the NRL top eight.

In a tit-for-tat battle that featured 12 lead changes, the Panthers prevailed in a seven tries to six thriller at the foot of the mountains.

Penrith led 22-18 at half time, after tries to Tim Grant, Joseph Paulo and a double for Jennings.

Eels forward Nathan Hindmarsh put forward his name for a NSW recall with a 25m individual try in the first half, while Mortimer was brilliant setting up Joel Reddy and scoring his own four-pointer.

Jarryd Hayne exploded into action seven minutes after the break to level scores at 22-all before Nathan Smith restored Penrith's lead in the 51st minute by twisting through three defenders.

Hayne was again involved as Luke Burt sprinted away in the 59th minute, his own conversion giving Parramatta a 28-26 lead with just over 20 minutes to play.

But Jennings bounced over the line after a Wade Graham break in the 63rd minute to give Penrith the 32-28 lead before the frenetic final 10 minutes.

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Storm Hang on Against the Knights

MELBOURNE—Melbourne hung on to their top four position in the NRL by their finger-tips after scrambling to a gutsy 18-14 win over Newcastle at Olympic Park.

Centre Will Chambers crossed with only three minutes remaining for the Storm to take the lead and then hold out the determined Knights to seal the win.

Newcastle dominated territory and possession as the Storm trailed for the bulk of the match but Melbourne fought back to continue their impressive record at home, with just one loss this season.

The Knights, who trailed the Storm by just one point heading into the match, were backing up from their Monday night win over Souths but they looked fresh and hungry.

The Storm started strongly, with gun centre Greg Inglis the recipient of a last-ditch one-handed pass from Billy Slater to touch down in the seventh minute.

Slater had a busy night, fumbling a ball on the try-line which led to the Knights' first try, scored by Wes Naiqama, before scoring himself in the second half.

They were rattled early on when they lost five-eighth Brett Finch, who suffered a shoulder injury and left the field in the 14th minute.
He tried to return in the second half but was unable to make an effective tackle and only lasted less than 10 minutes.

After Inglis' try the Knights started to build momentum and they broke through for their first converted try, scored by Naiqama in the 30th minute.

Inspirational fullback Kurt Gidley, who battled the flu all week, then booted a penalty kick on the halftime hooter to give his side an 8-6 lead at the break.

Slater's try, which came when he steam-rolled Gidley to grab a superb stab grubber by Cooper Cronk, saw his side regain the lead but it was short-lived.

Knights winger Akuila Uate showed his class when he scored off a kick just six minutes later in the 54th minute.

Hooker Isaac de Gois put up a towering bomb which the winger stormed on to, with Gidley again putting the visitors in front, until Chambers' match-winning try.

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SYDNEY—Wests Tigers have kept alive their slim hopes of booking a top eight NRL spot with a emphatic 54-20 victory over South Sydney in an entertaining but error-strewn encounter at ANZ Stadium.

The Tigers ran in 10 tries with giant winger Taniela Tuiaki going over for a first-half hat-trick and were inspired by a dominant performance from Robbie Farah who gave NSW selectors a timely reminder of his talent ahead of Monday' s State of Origin team announcement.

The defeat puts another dent in Souths finals aspirations -- after a good start the Rabbitohs have lost their last five games -- and Jason Taylor's players did very little to ease the pressure on their under-fire coach with an insipid display.

Tuiaki was joined on the score-sheet in the opening stanza by Corey Payne (26th) and new halfback Tim Moltzen (39th) who dovetailed well with Benji Marshall, restored to five-eighth, in a new-look partnership.

Moltzen's try was symbolic of Souths' sorry afternoon with the 21-year-old taking advantage of of a schoolboy error from the Rabbitohs when Marshall's restart, following a Luke Capewell try, was gathered on the full by Blake Ayshford allowing Moltzen to saunter over from close range.

That try was a hammer blow for Souths, who had given themselves hope with Capewell's second four-pointer of the half three minutes before the interval.

The second half saw Tim Sheens' side extend their lead with two tries in quick succession from Ayshford (44th) and Beau Ryan (51st), but instead of capitalising on their advantage, they allowed Souths back into the game.

Nathan Merritt reduced the deficit to 36-14 in the 57th minute, cutting through some brittle defence to score and Capewell completed his hat-trick four minutes later after Marshall coughed the ball up close to his line.

However, Souths, who missed 35 tackles, were made to pay for some more poor play with John Skandalis going over from close range in the 68th minute after good work from Farah.

Shannon Gallant put some further gloss on the scoreline with an 80-metre run that led to a ninth try for the Tigers, before Ayshford brought up the half-century with a try in the final seconds.

This was converted by Marshall, who was in doubt up to the kick-off with the flu, to give him seven goals for the game.

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BRISBANE 28 (I Folau J Hoffman S Michaels L Setu A Winterstein tries P Wallace 4 goals) bt NZ WARRIORS 14 (S Price 2 tries K Locke 3 goals) at Suncorp Stadium. Referee: Jared Maxwell, Bernard Sutton. Crowd: 32,456.

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 34 (M Prior 2 J Soward 2 N Costigan W Sailor tries J Soward 5 goals) bt SYDNEY ROOSTERS 12 (C Fitzgibbon 2 tries C Fitzgibbon 2 goals) at WIN Jubilee Oval. Referee: Tony Archer, Tony De Las Heras. Crowd: 12,472.

WESTS TIGERS 54 (T Tuiaki 3 B Ayshford 2 S Gallant T Moltzen C Payne B Ryan J Skandalis tries B Marshall 7 goals) bt SOUTH SYDNEY 20 (L Capewell 3 N Merritt tries C Sandow 2 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Steve Lyons, Alan Shortall. Crowd: 14,856.

MELBOURNE 18 (W Chambers G Inglis B Slater tries C Smith 3 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 14 (W Naiqama A Uate tries K Gidley 3 goals) at Olympic Park. Referee: Matt Cecchin, Shayne Hayne. Crowd: 9,041.

NORTH QUEENSLAND 24 (M Bowen 2 T Williams J Williams tries J Thurston 4 goals) bt CRONULLA 4 (M Wright try) at Dairy Farmers Stadium. Referee: Ben Cummins, Brett Suttor. Crowd: 17,283.

CANBERRA 34 (P Graham 2 J Miller 2 B Harrison T Learoyd-Lahrs tries T Campese 5 goals) bt GOLD COAST 28 (D Moore 2 P Campbell A Laffranchi C Walker tries S Prince 4 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Chris James. Crowd: 9,800.

PENRITH 38 (M Jennings 3 T Grant J Paulo N Smith J Tia-Kilifi tries L Walsh 5 goals) bt PARRAMATTA 34 (D Mortimer 2 L Burt J Hayne N Hindmarsh J Reddy tries L Burt 5 goals) at CUA Stadium. Referee: Jason Robinson, Gerard Sutton. Crowd: 16,845.

NRL Ladder P W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1 St George Illawarra 16 12 0 4 1 363 212 151 26
2 +*Bulldogs 14 11 0 3 2 363 244 119 24
3 Gold Coast 15 10 0 5 2 316 284 32 24
4 Melbourne 16 10 1 5 1 329 236 93 23
5 North Queensland 16 9 0 7 1 402 288 114 20
6 Newcastle 16 9 0 7 1 332 303 29 20
7 Penrith 15 8 0 7 2 340 311 29 20
8 Brisbane 16 9 0 7 1 343 376 -33 20
9 *Manly 14 7 0 7 2 276 250 26 18
10 Canberra 15 6 0 9 2 307 340 -33 16
11 South Sydney 15 5 1 9 2 301 365 -64 15
12 NZ Warriors 15 5 1 9 2 229 302 -73 15
13 Parramatta 15 5 1 9 2 235 358 -123 15
14 Wests Tigers 16 6 0 10 1 331 353 -22 14
15 Cronulla 16 5 0 11 1 253 326 -73 12
16 Sydney Roosters 16 4 0 12 1 262 434 -172 10
*(denotes teams yet to play)
+ Bulldogs deducted 2 points for fielding ineligible player.

Top point scorers (tries, goals, field goals, points):
Jamie Soward (StGeo Illa) 8 58 3 151
Hazem El Masri (Bulldogs) 9 56 -- 148
Johnathan Thurston (North Qld) 6 59 -- 142
Kurt Gidley (Newcastle) 1 47 -- 98
Scott Prince (Gold Coast) 3 41 -- 94
Corey Parker (Brisbane) 2 41 -- 90
Luke Covell (Cronulla) 4 36 -- 88
Benji Marshall (Tigers) 2 39 -- 86
Luke Burt (Parramatta) 5 30 1 81
Craig Fitzgibbon (Roosters) 2 33 -- 74

Top try scorers:
Bryson Goodwin (Bulldogs) 14
Taniela Tuiaki (Tigers) 14
Brett Morris (StGeo Illa) 13
Israel Folau (Brisbane) 12
Michael Jennings (Penrith) 11
Jarryd Hayne (Parramatta) 10
Nathan Merritt (Souths) 10
Antonio Winterstein (Brisbane) 10
Hazem El Masri (Bulldogs) 9
Josh Morris (Bulldogs) 9
Billy Slater (Melbourne) 9
Matthew Bowen (North Qld) 9
Shaun Kenny-Dowall (Roosters) 9
Fetuli Talanoa (Souths) 9
Wendell Sailor (StGeo Illa) 9