Panthers had to fightback from a 10-0 deficit to defeat their fierce Group 10 rivals at Carrington Park, the contest continuing the trend of slow starts from the men in black so far this season.

Though struggling to find points early has only cost Panthers once in three starts – going down 22-16 to Orange CYMS in round two – it is a trend Barrow wants to reverse.

“Our starts, we need to do something about that, it’s getting a bit old. Three games in a row we’ve struggled to score points early, I think we just are trying to do too much too early,” he said.

“We spoke about at half-time winning the ground and finding the front and getting that roll on, and we did that. Once we did that, the points followed. It was a good second half.”

Though Panthers did not score until the 50th minute, it was as much to do with Pat’s defence as the hosts handling errors and wrong options.

Twice inside the first 10 minutes the Saints held Panthers out for a full set on their line as and the half unfolded, the effort continued.

Panthers were unable to capitalise from two line drop-outs, while using the talented combination of Claude and Jeremy Gordon plus Jack Siejka frequently on the right side could not breach the Saints defence either.

The hosts made good ground through their forwards, created several line breaks and even enjoyed a one-man advantage when Bailey Waldron was sin-binned for slowing down the ruck, but the finishing touches were missing.

On the other hand, when the Saints finally got a chance to attack Panthers’ line they capitalised. Strong charges from front rowers Brady Cheshire and Greg Behan got them within striking distance before quick hands had Nathan Lawrence over the in right corner.

That try came in the 18th minute and was the only score of the first half.

It took one minute and 38 seconds after play resumed for the Saints to increase their advantage, Mitch Squires splitting his rivals up the middle before running some 35 metres to score. His halves partner Matt Ranse added the extras to make it 10-0.

But Panthers, who had been frustrated by slow play the balls in the first half, finally clicked into gear.

After forcing a third line drop-out then drawing a penalty off the following set, Brent Seager barged his way over between the sticks.

Eight minutes later fullback Jeremy Gordon, who had also probed from dummy half on numerous occasions, sliced through his rivals. He converted his own try to give Panthers a 12-10 lead.

Seager added a second to his tally when steaming onto the ball from a penalty tap and dragging defenders across the line, while Brayden Cassidy ensured Panthers took a 2-1 lead in the ANZAC Memorial Trophy battle.

He chased a Claude Gordon kick which Pat’s fullback Shannon Peters looked to have covered. However, the custodian fumbled as he went to ground and Cassidy capitalised.

Jeremy Gordon converted to put the final score at 24-10.

“It’s always an honour to play on ANZAC Day weekend, the boys really look forward to it because it means a little more when you think about what you are playing for,” Barrow said.

“The ruck was very slow tonight for both sides. I’ve never played in a game that slow or seen a game that slow for a long time, it was pretty frustrating I think for both teams.

“But we both had to play it and we were good enough in the second half to get the points, which was very pleasing.”