Wests Juniors upset fifth placed Pine Central Holy Spirit with a hard fought 18-6 victory in the Rugby League Brisbane Open 2 men’s northside competition on Saturday.
The Panthers, who had Jackson Tallis - son of 'Raging Bull' Gorden Tallis - lining up were outstanding against the Hornets and will certainly become an annoyance to the top teams leading into the finals.
Points in the match did not come until the 25th minute after both sets of forwards traded in centre field in the opening exchanges.
Panthers second row forward Lucas Hinchey put the home side on the board first when he stepped his way to the line to cross out wide.
Jesse Campbell's howler from the sideline iced the cake for Hinchey’s try that had the home side overflowing with confidence.
Hornets' Dylan Farthing and Faatuiga Tuua were causing headaches for the Panthers and on two occasions beat the Panthers defence only for both to be cut down short of the line.
But it was the heavy artillery in the forwards that continued to set the tone in this game.
Panthers' Sebastian Gullo and Luke Nocon were outstanding for the home side and they played high quality football throughout the game.
Eventually, the Hornets let their guard down with a high shot right in front of the sticks, and Campbell was able to make it 8-0 when he stepped up to slot the easy conversion from 10m out.
With halftime looming, the Hornets were finally able to get on the board right before the siren.
Centre Jamie Connett made it 8-6 when lunged over from dummy half to put some respectability into the scoreline and see both sides head to the break in what was a lowly contested match.
After a cagey first half, the Panthers were able to extend their lead in the 50th minute through Jesse Campbell, who had a blinder of a game.
The speedy winger was able to convert his own try when he landed another sideline conversion to see the Panthers sneak out to a 14-6 lead.
However, Pine Central simply refused to let the home side have all the fun and still had enough petrol in the tank to muscle up in defence.
They continued to dish out the punishment through their workaholic forwards Joseph Chong and Andre Danby, who held their own against a solid Panthers pack.
The visitors could have gone in again through Hornets second rower Beau Ehlerth, but he was cut agonisingly short just before the line.
With Queensland legend Tallis in attendance, it was only fitting that his son had the last laugh in the game.
A superb 40/20 kick from the Panthers had the home side in good field position to hopefully put the match to bed.
A superb backline movement saw the ball swept out to the powerful centre Tallis, who palmed off two defenders to crash in inches from the line and see the Panthers get home in a thriller.
Wests Juniors face an even tougher test next week against the powerful North Lakes Kangaroos, while Pine Central will be in for an epic battle with top team Brisbane Natives.
