Matt Burton produced one of the best games of his young career to help Penrith to a confidence-boosting 20-14 win over the Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium.
Burton scored two tries and kicked four goals in an outstanding performance that left the Roosters rattled.
His halves partner Jarome Luai also produced his best performance since the Origin period as Penrith bounced back from last week’s loss to Melbourne in style.
Burton opened the scoring with a runaway try in the ninth minute, but the lead was short-lived with Victor Radley went through some soft defence to level the scores a short time later.
Paul Momorovski grabbed a try in the 33rd minute, while two penalty goals helped Penrith to a 14-6 lead at the break.
Burton’s second try early in the second half took Penrith to its biggest lead of the match, 14 points, as the side started to dominate the Roosters through the middle.
Trent Robinson’s side gave Penrith a late scare but in the end Penrith’s defence, which was one of the highlights of the night, was too god in the closing stages.
After the match, Penrith coach Ivan Cleary said he was pleased with the way his side bounced back from last week’s loss to the Storm.
“It was an important win for us tonight. It was built on effort, team work and intensity,” he said.
“It was never going to be perfect, we just had to bunker down and work hard and I thought we started the game really well. The complete opposite to last week.”
Cleary said the side would build on the win.
“Just to get the two points today is good enough,” he said.
“We’ve got four weeks to go in the regular season… hopefully we can build in the next four weeks to hit the Finals in decent form.”
Troy Dodds
Troy Dodds is the Weekender's Managing Editor and Breaking News Reporter. He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working with some of Australia's leading media organisations. In 2023, he was named Editor of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.