Penrith tore through the Wests Tigers 68-0 at CommBank Stadium on Sunday, handing Benji Marshall’s side the biggest loss in the club’s 58-year history and one of the heaviest defeats the NRL has ever seen.
The scoreline, which ranks as the third-biggest blowout in NRL history, was still rising when Tigers fans began heading for the exits with 20 minutes left and booed the team off at half-time after Penrith had already moved to 36-0. Paul Alamoti set the tone by beating Heamasi Makasini for pace at the start, Brian To’o scored after a Jarome Luai mistake, and the Tigers kept finding trouble of their own with Fonua Pole and Charlie Murray knocking on deep in their own half.
Marshall, watching from the sideline, said he was surprised fans stayed as long as they did. He said the side was not there from the start and added that he does not usually apologise to fans and members, but this performance was unacceptable in terms of what the club expects and the way it wants to play. It was the kind of defeat that lands hardest because it came after the Tigers had promised so much only a couple of months ago.
Penrith were ruthless throughout, with Royce Hunt and Terrell May making poor defensive reads on Nathan Cleary and Sunia Turuva forcing a pass that went forward and into touch. Heamasi Makasini spilled a simple pass from Luai right on half-time, while To’o was denied another try when Cleary’s final pass was ruled forward. The collision at the other end was costly too: Fonua Pole, Alex Seyfarth and Mavrik Geyer were all put on report, Hunt suffered a serious pec injury and Jock Madden did not finish the game because of an arm injury.
For Penrith, the win reinforced why they are being talked about as competition leaders and premiership favourites, a team that looks too disciplined, too fast, too strong and too classy for most opponents. For the Tigers, the question now is not how the result happened. It is how quickly they can stop it from hanging over everything that comes next.
