Penrith won their 8th straight game to start the season for the first time in their history after an impressive performance against a spirited Manly outfit, finishing 28-16 winners in Bathurst.
Perfect conditions met both sides when they ran out on Carrington Park on Saturday and after several set restarts in the opening 4 minutes, it was Manly who opened the scoring in the fifth minute off the boot of Reuben Garrick who kicked a penalty goal.
Four minutes later, Manly were pressing again, when they put up a kick to the Panthers left corner, where Dylan Edwards took the ball cleanly. Edwards then passed to Brian To'o, who ducked under one tackle and barged out of another before kicking over the top, where he found Edwards following through, receiving a lovely bounce and he scored under the posts. Nathan Cleary converted.
Penrith scored again just 2 minutes later, when they spread the ball left to Jarome Luai, who threw a gorgeous long ball to To'o who scored untouched in the corner. Cleary's sideline conversion attempt was waved away.
In the 25th minute Penrith were on the attack again, when on the last tackle they sent the ball left where Luai linked with James Fisher-Harris, who is tackled before managing to get an offload away, however it was intercepted by Tom Trbojevic who then ran 70 metres to score. Garrick failed to convert from the awkward angle.
Penrith responded just 7 minutes later when Cleary dummied long and then dished a short ball to the lead runner Liam Martin, who hit the gap on the right and he slipped through to score. Cleary added the extras to give Penrith a 16-6 lead which they took to the break.
Manly opened the scoring just 6 minutes after the break to make it clear that they weren't going away quietly. Daly Cherry-Evans grubbered and the ball hit the padding of the upright. The ball bounced backwards off Tom Trbojevic and Cherry-Evans followed through, cleaned up and scored under the posts. Cherry-Evans converted his own try, reducing the deficit to 4 points.
Manly had 4 straight sets camped on the Penrith line but could not crack them. Penrith's first set attacking the Manly line after their impressive defensive effort and they scored when Cleary drifted to the left and grubbered through the line. Tyrone May followed the kick through and grounded the ball for a try to the left of the sticks. Cleary converted.
With 7 minutes remaining in the game, Manly clawed their way back into the match when Jason Saab scored a brilliant runaway try, racing 75 metres to score untouched. Cherry-Evans failed to convert.
Penrith put the game beyond doubt with just 3 minutes remaining when Edwards grubbered into the Manly in-goal and Liam Martin flew through and batted the ball back into the field of play where it landed at the feet of Stephen Crichton who planted it for an amazing try. Cleary converted to give the Panthers an impressive 28-16 victory.