“WE are back on the bike now.” Those were the words of Bathurst Panthers under 18s manager Stuart Ward after his players produced a dominant display of football to down fierce Group 10 rivals St Pat’s 30-0 on Friday night.

Panthers went into the match at Carrington Park on the back of a disappointing display against Cowra, losing that match 28-4 as they struggled to complete their sets.

But against the Saints it was a very different story. From the opening minute of the match when centre Harry Peacock made a strong run down the right wing, to the dying stages when they crossed for try number six, Panthers controlled proceedings.

“Straight from the kick-off we got two repeat sets, it was a great start, we pinned them down and I think they just ran out of gas,” Ward said.

“We didn’t concede any points, so that was great. They were trying to slow us down in the play the ball and they were probably getting away with that a bit, but we didn’t get sucked in by that and make mistakes.

“We bounced back pretty well, last week we played pretty ordinary.”

Peacock’s impressive surge helped Panthers into good field position from the get go and the hosts managed to force two line-drop outs in a row as they piled on the pressure.

Panthers then drew a penalty when prop Jarrod Seager was held down in a tackle and the decision to take a quick tap rather than a shot at goal paid off as lock Brad Ward dragged three defenders over the line to score.

Josh Rivett added the extras to give Panthers a 6-0 lead after five minutes.

It took another three minutes for the Saints to get their first set of the match, but they knocked-on. Panthers worked their way back down field, forced two more line drop outs, and while Pat’s managed to hold Ricky Daymond up over the line, their rivals continued to pressure.

Panthers managed to extend their lead to 10 points at the break when a brilliant off-load from Seager had Ward over for his second try.

When play resumed in the second half it was more of the same – Panthers camped on Pat’s line with the blue and whites desperately trying to hold them out.

Panthers hooker Brayden Bennett was held up over the line when he attempted to dive over from dummy half, but there was no stopping Seager as he crossed 10 minutes into the second half.

Rodney Dixon added to Pat’s pain as he benefited from a smart piece of play from halfback Storm Siejka, Rivett able to convert to make it 20-0.

In the final six minutes Panthers added two more tries – Ward crossing for his third before Jordan Naylor planted the ball between the posts – to ice what was a dominant display of football.

“Tonight our forwards were great, Jarrod Seager, Ricky Daymond, Brad Ward scored three tries, Grant Jones until he came off with a bit of concussion,” Ward said. “The whole forward pack led us forward and Brayden Bennett had a real good game at hooker too.”

For the beaten Saints outfit, lock McCoy White and second rower Matt Allen got through a mountain of work in defence.

BATHURST PANTHERS 30 (Brad Ward 3, Rodney Dixon, Jarrod Seager, Jordan Naylor tries; Josh Rivett 3 goals) defeated ST PAT’S 0