A six-try, second-half blitz has helped Penrith defeat last-placed Newcastle 42-6 to confirm their place in a logjam at the bottom of the NRL top eight.

After an uninspiring first half at Hunter Stadium on Sunday, the Panthers and the Knights were locked at 6-6 at the break.

But Penrith dominated the second stanza, leaving the Knights to extend their club record losing streak to 15 games.

It also puts Newcastle into the top 10 on the all-time longest losing streak list.

The Knights enjoyed 60 per cent of the possession in the first half, but despite repeated opportunities they could not crack the Panthers’ line.

Instead, it was the Panthers who opened the scoring, with winger Josh Mansour crossing untouched in the 12th minute after some good lead-up work by Waqa Blake.

The Knights hit back after 30 minutes when Brendan Elliot plucked a Trent Hodkinson bomb out of the air and raced over.

But that was as close as the Knights got as they capitulated in the second half to let the Panthers run in six unanswered tries.

Matt Moylan broke the deadlock in the 44th minute when he ran off a Peter Wallace pass and touched down under the posts.

From there the floodgates opened, with Blake (55th minute) and Tyrone Peachey (59th minute) each beating some flimsy Knights defence to take the score out to 18-6.

Penrith continued to dominate the Knights up the middle of the ruck and made them pay on the edges, with Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scoring a second-half double and Josh Mansour scoring his second as the siren sounded.

The Panthers have now won four out of their past five matches and have leapfrogged the Titans into seventh spot on 26 points.

Pearce leads Roosters to win over Cowboys

North Queensland’s premiership defence hit the skids after the Cowboys crashed to their third straight defeat – a 22-10 loss to a Mitchell Pearce-inspired Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium.

The Roosters enjoyed their best win of the year on Sunday, with Pearce and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves back from injury against a Cowboys side missing hooker Jake Granville and prop Ben Hannant.

It’s the first time since round three in 2015 that the Cowboys have suffered three straight losses, and if Canberra beat Melbourne on Monday night, they will be four points outside the top four with three rounds to play.

Pearce outpointed his opposite Johnathan Thurston, who still appeared troubled by a hamstring injury he suffered three weeks ago.

The Roosters pack, led strongly by Waerea-Hargreaves and Boyd Cordner, outmuscled their rivals, with Pearce and his halves partner Connor Watson able to cash in before 8760 fans.