Bunnies Hop Titans While Roosters Rest

By HeBeGeeBee on June 23, 2011 in Sport

Round 15 started and finished with two crackerjack games, firstly between two competition leaders and finally with a classic battle with Manly and Parramatta the stars. State of Origin wreaked havoc on team lists and some teams were forced to do battle without some of their heavy weight players. As the premiership powers on it looks as if we have a pretty solid idea of who will be around come September….

BYES FOR ROUND 15

Roosters, Raiders.

Next Round – ROOSTERS vs. KNIGHTS (26/06 at 3:00pm at Ausgrid Stadium)

RABBITOHS 31 – TITANS 8

The Rabbitohs were out to break the hoodoo of three losses to the Titans and did so with gusto scoring the first points of the game and following it up with another try and penalty goal to give them a comfortable first half lead. The second half saw the Titans start their fight back only to be shut down by three late tries to the green and reds. Greg Inglis was the final player to cross the advantage line to give the home team a massive 23 point win. Both teams needed to win, but Souths more so, and the Titans have certainly sealed their fate for the 2011 premiership and will need to start planning for next season.

Next Round – RABBITOHS vs. BRONCOS (25/06 at 7:00pm at NIB Stadium – Perth)

BRONCOS 21 – DRAGONS 14

Once upon a time the mighty Brisbane Broncos slayed the Dragons and the reign of the Red V’s appeared to be on the decline. Peni Tagive slid across the chalk quite easily with only 2 minutes elapsed and gave them the initial blow they needed to fight off the shock of the previous week’s loss to the unlikely Titans. But the Broncos defended their line with vigour from that point on and even managed to gain some ground in the form of three tries before the half time buzzer. The second half saw Jamie Soward mount a fight back with a try in the 50th minute but he was quickly matched at the other end by Sir Jack Reed who again extended the home teams lead. Brisbane finished the game with a Darren Lockyer field goal to give his team a 7 point win against last year’s premiers.

KNIGHTS 16 – PANTHERS 12

The Newcastle Knights have had a mixed bag of performances this year but were lucky enough in the end to get away with this game. The Knights maintained control for a majority of the match but this game still seemed very close right until the end. Leading 14-10 in the 72nd minute the Novocastrians were fortunate enough to secure a penalty in their favour with only minutes on the clock to grab a six point win over the Panthers.

COWBOYS 30 – WARRIORS 10

Well the Cowboys just keep on truckin’ and even appear to have the measure of a few of the front runners of this year’s comp. Playing in Townsville is always an advantage for the home team but in the first half the Warriors had them on the ropes and they went in to the break down by 8-10. They say it’s a game of two halves and this was a perfect example as the Cowboys ran out and scored four unanswered tries to give them a comprehensive win over the Warriors.

BULLDOGS 10 – SHARKS 26

An unexpected upset which had Bulldogs officials at panic stations was not how the average punter saw this one turning out. The Sharks got off on the right foot through Ben Pomeroy and Nathan Gardner and went into the break leading by two points. A shemozzle of a performance from the Doggies in this game ultimately cost them tan chance of winning and the Sharks compounded this in the second half with two more tries to win by a margin of sixteen.

TIGERS 4 – STORM 12

There is nothing like Sunday afternoon footy at Leichhardt Oval and with the Tigers hosting the Storm from Melbourne this was built up to be a showcase game full of tries. It turned out to be a less of a showcase and more of an arm wrestle with all the points of the game scored in the first half. The second half proved to be frustrating for both teams and ended on a sour note for Tigers fans in more ways than one with Benji Marshall limping from the field in the 59th minute

SEA EAGLES 22 – EELS 18

The Sea Eagles broke the Eels in more ways than one punishing them with a late try to steal the match and possibly knocking them out of contention for the top eight. It all started badly for an underperforming Parramatta outfit with winger Michael Robertson securing the first points of the match. But Parra turned it on and easily won the middle forty minutes only to be shot down when Keiran Foran pounced on a loose ball with only minutes remaining.