Patient Panthers outwit Eels

The talk of the league circles at the weekend was without a doubt the Aitutaki Sharks fight back against the Bulldogs to tie the game at 30-all.

In front of yet another large and vocal crowd in Aitutaki the Sharks rose to the occasion.

Trailing the Bulldogs the Sharks pulled out all the stops to score a try in the dying minutes of the game for a well deserved draw.

In other games the Bears edged out the Sea Eagles 12-6 while the Panthers showed composure in the intense battle at the Swamp to defeat the Eels 16-15.

The encounter drew a huge crowd to the Swamp but it was the vocal Panthers crowd who danced the night away when their boys came up 16-15 against the Eels.

It was a heated battle that had the middle man sending off players for late and high tackles.

The Eels looked composed at the start with imports Terry Glassie and Aaron Enoka making a showing while the Panthers suffered losses when Teina Savage was sin binned for a late tackle and key play maker Kairan Mahia was escorted off the field with a nasty injury.

The Eels fans may have rubbed their hands in glee at the Panthers’ loss but it was the visitors who drew first blood when Teina Savage returned to the field and made up for his lost time with a superb try converted by Conrad Piri to give the Panthers an early 6-0 lead.

Tables turned when Eels star Aaron Enoka was sent to the bin for a high tackle and the Panthers capitalised on an Eels infringement with a penalty kick to extend their lead to 8-0.

Returning to the field after cooling down in the bin Enoka made up for his time out with a busting break through the Panthers defence to dot down between the sticks and close in on the Panthers 8-6 at the half time break.

Back in the second spell a botched up restart kick by the Panthers was pounced on by the Eels and with ball in hand, young Tepou Taana carved his way through the Panthers to score for the Eels and give the hosts the lead 12-8.

A penalty kick by Terry Piri extended the Eels lead to 14-8 but the lead also saw the Eels relax as the Panthers stepped up another notch.

The Panthers found the Eels asleep on the wing and with ball in hand Conrad Piri was off like a shot and with Kunta Tom in support finished off the break with a well deserved try under the sticks tying up the scores at 14-all and bringing both Panthers and Eels supporters to their feet.

As the clock wound down Bobby Hansen took a stab at the goal to give the Eels a one point 15-14 lead before the Panthers were awarded a penalty to edge out in front of the Eels 16-15.

The patient Panthers were strong on defence as the Eels had possession – a possession they squandered with mishandling and a badly punted drop goal giving the Panthers a deserved 16-15 win.