Penrith 20 Warriors 24
KEY POINTS:
The seats will need to be wiped down and the Mad Butcher will have to get the sold-out sign ready again because finals football is coming to Mt Smart Stadium on Friday.
The Warriors last night booked a home semifinal against the winner of today's match between Parramatta and Brisbane with an important win at a place they've not had much joy in the past decade.
But it didn't come without a struggle and the game went down to the final minute in a titanic battle. If there were any sides Ivan Cleary might have wanted to avoid in the lower reaches of the table for their final game of the season, it was Penrith.
Form and favouritism don't count for much when emotion enters the equation.
For the people at the foot of the Blue Mountains, last night was supposed to be Craig Gower's night. The former Australian halfback will head to France this week to take up a rugby union contract with Bayonne after 12 seasons with Penrith and everyone wanted to send him off in style.
But the Warriors showed they had no appetite for sentimentality. They had a top-four spot to secure and a top-four finish should not be underestimated.
Cleary's charges have won their past five games at Mt Smart Stadium, and convincingly, and since the start of the NRL in 1998, the winner has always come from a top-four side.
For 30 minutes last night, however, it didn't look like it was going to happen for the Warriors.
Worryingly, there were shades of Canberra a fortnight ago in the early stages of the match.
The Warriors needed to start well to quell the confidence and momentum of the home side but instead Ivan Cleary's side were hesitant in attack and made a handful of uncharacteristic errors.
They found themselves behind 14-0 after 25 minutes and it could have been more.
Penrith looked dangerous on attack but even more effective in defence and their line speed was a lot quicker than the Sydney traffic yesterday afternoon that saw the Warriors arrive late at the game.
It was hard to believe that Penrith were playing to avoid the wooden spoon and, despite the departure of Gower and Joel Clinton, the future looks bright for the Mountain Men.
Failing a good start, the key for the Warriors was damage limitation and then hope they could wrest the initiative.
They managed to do it in the space of four minutes. Todd Byrne, a late replacement in the starting side for Wairangi Koopu, flopped on a Grant Rovelli grubber to get things moving, Rovelli ran 30m after brilliant work from George Gatis and Michael Witt and then Byrne skilfully picked up a Michael Crockett slap-back to score his second.
Gatis was the player who sparked the revival. His speed out of dummy half gave his side more sense of urgency and afforded them the time and space to revert to their expansive offloading game.
If anything, the halftime hooter came at the wrong time for the visitors. It gave the Panthers the chance to regroup and they once again came out firing.
It took all the Warriors' might to hold them out and they even survived another reshuffle after Manu Vatuvei appeared to pick up a serious knee injury. Knees aren't supposed to go the way the big winger's did.
But good sides absorb pressure and then take their own chances and the Warriors slowly regained the initiative and extended their lead when Sam Rapira burst over from close range in the 51st minute.
They might have thought they had broken the Panthers but Frank Pritchard hit back with 15 minutes remaining to set up a grandstand finish. The intensity matched anything seen in finals football and had the big home crowd on their feet.
In the end, Gower didn't get the sendoff he was hoping for but he will cope. After all, he's already won a premiership title - the Warriors are still chasing theirs.
Warriors 24 (T Byrne 2, G Rovelli, S Rapira tries; M Witt 4 gls) Penrith 20 (N Smith 2, F Pritchard tries; M Gordon 4 gls). HT: 18-14.
