NRL: Panthers hold off fast finishing Bulldogs

Dallin Watene-Zelezniak of the Panthers scores. Photo / Getty Images

A nervous Penrith have held off a stunning late rally from Canterbury to seal a 24-18 win and open their 2015 NRL campaign with a nail-biting victory.

Ivan Cleary's side were on course for a dominant victory after racing out to a 24-0 lead only for the Bulldogs to score 18 unanswered points in the final 10 minutes in front of a crowd of 18,814 at Pepper Stadium.

In a game played in sweltering conditions, it was the Panthers' young guns who stole the show with local juniors Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, George Jennings and Bryce Cartwright playing starring roles.

Watene-Zelezniak and Jennings both crossed in the first half to give their side a 14-0 lead at the break with Jamie Soward finding the target with two sideline kicks and a close-range penalty.

The mercury pitchside was nudging the mid-30s at kick-off and it was the hosts who looked more comfortable in the conditions as their mobile forwards dominated the Bulldogs' bigger pack.

Kiwi winger Watene-Zelezniak pounced in 12th minute after good link-up work between Moylan and Dean Whare to open the scoring.

Jennings, who is the younger brother of NSW and Australian centre Michael Jennings, then latched on to a cut-out pass from Soward 10 minutes before the break for a try on his NRL debut.

The hosts continued dominate after the restart with James Segeyaro outpacing the Bulldogs defence to score in the corner after classy back-rower Cartwright kept three Bulldogs players at bay to offload to the flying hooker.

Roared on by a big crowd the Panthers continued to press in attack and Watene-Zelezniak doubled his tally when he hauled in a Soward bomb and muscled his way past Curtis Rona.

The Bulldogs had struggled to get a foothold on the game throughout and bench forward Tim Browne's try off a James Graham try looked nothing more than a consolation.

But quickfire four-pointers from Rona and Brett Morris set up a grandstand finish as the Bulldogs tried desperately to take the game to golden point.

However, the Panthers' defence held firm on back-to-back sets to claim the two points.

- AAP