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Penrith bounce back from horror loss

AP - Sunday, August 17

SYDNEY, Australia - Penrith shrugged off a record loss in its previous game to thrash the Bulldogs 52-16 and sustain their playoff chase in weekend action in Australia's National Rugby League.

The hefty win followed the Panthers' league record-equalling 74-12 loss to Canberra last weekend, and lifted them to eighth place on the premiership table.

The weekend's 23rd round of matches saw a three-way tie at the top of the table broken as Melbourne beat the Sydney Roosters 30-6 while former joint leaders Cronulla and Manly were both upset. Cronulla went down 18-4 to the New Zealand Warriors and Manly were shocked 40-26 by Souths.

Those results left Melbourne in sole possession of the premiership lead, two points ahead of Manly and Cronulla with Sydney City back in fourth.

Brisbane, who were beaten 24-20 by St George-Illawarra, held on to fifth place _ three points out of the top four _ and a point ahead of St George who moved up to sixth.

The Warriors' win over Cronulla boosted them to seventh place while Penrith's revival carried them back inside the eight.

Penrith coach Matthew Elliott praised his team's character which allowed it to bounce back from last week's stinging defeat.

"I'm really happy for the players, it was obviously a very difficult week for them and just as importantly I'm really happy for our fans," Elliott said.

"Myself and the players get to come and work on what didn't go right last weekend. The fans were a little bit powerless in that position, so it would have been a tough week for them.

"I'm really pleased and thankful for the people that did turn up tonight."

Winger Anthony Quinn scored two first half tries as Melbourne turned a 20-0 halftime lead into a convincing win over the Roosters in a match played in torrential rain at Melbourne.

Captain Cameron Smith, halfback Cooper Cronk and fullback Billy Slater scored Melbourne's other tries, Cronk and Slater touching down in the last five minutes to inflate the winning margin.

"It was a good performance, especially the first half," Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said.

"It's hard to be critical of too much we did."

Sydney coach Brad Fittler said "we competed pretty well but their execution in these conditions under pressure was excellent."

Fullback Nathan Merritt bagged a hattrick of tries as Souths dented Manly's minor premiership ambitions. Manly conceded seven tries as Souths twice came from behind to cause a major upset.

Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett said his players were not ruthless enough as they went down to St George-Illawarra, conceding ground to their playoffs rivals. The Broncos led 12-0 but gradually let the game slip away.

"At this time of year, at 12-0, where we're trying to get to, what we want to achieve later on in the season, it just can't happen," Bennett said.

Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart said his teams made too many fundamental mistakes against the Warriors.

"Passing out of dummy half, dropped balls on collision, bad passing, just a really poor game skill wise," Stuart said. "It was an A-grade game tonight, not a first grade game."

In other matches, Gold Coast beat North Queensland 26-20 and Canberra beat Newcastle 38-18.

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