Group 10 Junior Rugby League: Bathurst Panthers 16s move to the top of the ladder with win over Bloomfield

On Saturday as the Panthers faced Group 10 Junior Rugby League rivals Bloomfield Tigers in a top of the table battle, Edwards' blistering speed proved decisive.

Just as Addo-Carr has terrorised rival NRL teams with his brilliant turn of speed out wide, the pace of the the Bathurst Panthers centre helped him to three tries.

Those tries helped Panthers to a 32-8 victory and they now stand alone as the only undefeated team in the under 16s competition.

Edwards scored his first try with the game just over three minutes old, hitting a nice ball from fullback Ronan Hunt-Cameron and slicing through Bloomfield's right-edge defence.

From the following kick-off Panthers knocked-on which put Bloomfield into attack. The Tigers forced three consecutive line drop-outs before they finally cracked the hosts' defence, second rower Ethan Young squaring it up at 4-all.

But three minutes out from half-time Panthers were back in front and it was Edwards who scored. This time he capitalised on a nice string of passes started by hooker Cruz Farrar. Tim Babbage booted the conversion to make it 10-6.

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Edwards had his hat-trick 11 minutes into the second half.

Fellow centre Blake Powyer forced an error with a good kick chase to put Panthers in attacking position and when Hunt-Cameron rolled a kick in goal at the end of the resulting set, Edwards' pace saw him win the race to ground the ball.

Bloomfield came up with a response 15 minutes from time when a brilliant offload from hooker Tye King put Riley Hinkley over. That made it 14-8.

But the Tigers' hopes of a successful fight back quickly faded as Panthers ran in three tries in the final 12 minutes of the match to claim top spot on the ladder.

Prop Nash Chatfield grabbed the first with a barnstorming run that saw him palm off a number of defenders, while some smart work out of dummy half saw second rower Gabe Langdon get on the scoresheet.

The win was sealed with a Powyer try.

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