Priddis: Early try cost us
Stand-in Penrith skipper Luke Priddis believes scoring first in Sunday's CUA Stadium loss to
Cronulla proved costly to his team. The Panthers began the game
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Source: http://sportal.co.nz/League-news-display/priddis-early-try-cost-us-50046
Priddis: Early try cost us
8/06/2008 7:17:22 PM
Luke Buttigieg
Sportal
Stand-in Penrith skipper Luke Priddis believes scoring first in Sunday's CUA Stadium loss to Cronulla proved costly to his team.
The Panthers began the game well and were rewarded with the game's opening try in just the third minute to Michael Jennings, but from there it was all the Sharks as they romped to an 18-6 half-time lead.
The visitors' advantage would have been even greater if winger Luke Covell had been more accurate with the boot, making just one of his four attempts to the break, and Priddis told Fox Sports his team simply wasn't up to the challenge.
"Yeah it is (frustrating), we just didn't stick to the game plan that we devised and just dropped too much ball," Priddis said.
"I think scoring that early was probably to the detriment of our game, we came out with a purpose and we scored an early try that we probably didn't deserve and from then on it was pretty much the Sharks' ball game."
The Panthers were better in the second 40 minutes, grabbing the first try and nearly adding another moments later but Covell's third try, converted by man of the match Brett Seymour, looked to put the result beyond doubt.
Penrith gave Cronulla a scare with two converted tries in the final five minutes of the game and then threw it around in the final seconds before succumbing 24-22, and Priddis added that the greasy conditions hadn't been to blame.
"Yeah we did (prepare for a wet surface)," he said. "We trained really well yesterday, probably one of the best sessions that we've put in and like I said we started the game well and that's just the way the cookie crumbles."
Five-eighth Seymour had a big smile on his face post-match, having scored one try and had a hand in the other four before replacing Covell and slotting the sideline conversion that ultimately separated the two sides, and he sees plenty of upside for his team.
"Penrith are going really good, (they've got) great home support, we knew it'd be tough but it was a good one to grind out," Seymour said. "We're slowly improving in our attack (and) if we could keep our defensive standard up and the attack improves then we'll stick with the big teams."