Saints 30 Penrith Panthers 50 THIS third successive defeat probably laid Saints' flimsy World Club Challenge hopes to rest - but they salvaged some pride and emerged with heads held high!

For if ever there was a game of contrasting halves this was it, with rampant Penrith threatening a cricket score in leading 36-10 after 40 minutes, only to find reborn Saints showing tremendous spirit in taking the second period 20-14

And a real cliff-hanger would have been in prospect if Saints had not had three tries disallowed (two courtesy of the video referee), as they strove to retrieve a lost cause in a death-or-glory bid to reach the quarter-finals of the Visa-sponsored competition.

However, the Knowsley Road team were victims of self-inflicted wounds in the first half when they lost possession on nine occasions which, compounded by powder-puff tackling, proved fatal against a Panthers squad who ran the angles and supported superbly.

Despite having to play catch-up football throughout Saints had further consolation in scoring the most points by a British team in the twin-hemisphere tournament, while on an individual note there were massive contributions from Keiron Cunningham and Vila Matautia.

Non-stop hooker Cunningham and awesome South Sea Islander Matautia were landslide winners of the McEwan Lager and Capper Engineeering man-of-the-match awards respectively, while flying winger Anthony Sullivan, substitute Andy Haigh and exciting capture Sean Long were often seen to considerable advantage.

Penrith drew first blood when Craig Gower and Matt Adamson sent Steve Carter behind the posts for Ryan Girdler to land the first of his seven goals, and worse was to follow for Saints when Gower repeated the dose with Jody Gall touching down. Saints bounced back, however, when, following a searing break by Alan Hunte, Danny Arnold, Long and Matautia sent Steve Prescott over for Sean to tack on the goal, but Panthers pounced with further touchdowns by Darren Brown (2), Robbie Beckett and Sid Domic, while Saints reduced the arrears with a try created by Paul Newlove and scored by Sullivan.

Cunningham, Chris Morley and Hammond carved out an opening for Arnold but the replay screen said 'no,' but there was no questioning two tries by Cunningham on the restart which Long converted and then landed a penalty to find Saints unbelievably back in contention by trailing by just 36-24 after 45 minutes.

Scoring now assumed see-saw dimensions as Danny Farrar and Girdler crossed the Saints' line before Cunningham was denied a hat-trick by the replay referee, while Sullivan also met with blank refusal due to a forward pass from a rejuvenated Newlove.

But there was further joy for Saints when Cunningham - whose running from acting half-back was brilliant - sent Sullivan over in the unlikely position of right wing, only for Penrith to have the final say and reach the half-century mark with a second try by Brown.

To summarise one might question the defensive aspects of a match which realised 80 points in as many minutes leaving Saints' comparative figures 52 for, 140 against, and yet they may still progress in the World Club Challenge - daft I call it!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.