Rabbitohs Bunny-Hop Sharks And Titans Pluck The Roosters

By Dan Hutton on May 4, 2011 in

Seven home teams scored a victory over the weekend with only the Raiders unable to make the most of their home ground advantage. Coming up this week we have the Test between Australia and New Zealand and the City-Country match, which you will see on Friday night without any interruptions from the Royals. Due to these games, eight of the sixteen teams will have byes this weekend including the Rabbitohs and the Roosters, which means less action on our television screens.

RABBITOHS 31 – SHARKS 12

If you’re a Cronulla Sharks fan you have got to be asking what’s going wrong in the Shire. They aimed up on Friday night at ANZ Stadium and were the better team for 25 minutes but luckily for Souths fans the game is played for 80. A series of mistakes led to the home team being down by 12 points early on in the match. Paul Aiton scored the first try with a quick and decisive dummy-half run and was followed up by another four-pointer to a barnstorming Wade Graham. Things looked good for the Sharks, even after Greg Inglis broke the line and set up James Roberts to post the Bunnies’ first points. Despite this minor setback, the Shire boys went into the break up by a converted try. The second half tantalised Souths fans with four unanswered tries to the Bunnies, starting off with an inside pass from John Sutton to a steam-rolling David Taylor and another try off an intercept from Chris Sandow. In front 18-12, Chris Sandow slid through the Sharks defence for a try, then 6 minutes later slotted over yet another field goal for the season. Down 25- 12, the Sharks night was most definitely over, and Nathan Merritt last minute try was little more than salt in the wound.

Next Round – RABBITOHS *(BYE)

ROOSTERS 13 – TITANS 24

The Tri-Colours applied the pressure early and it paid dividends for Joseph Leilua who slammed the ball down in the corner putting the Roosters four points in front after Braith Anasta missed the conversion. The next 20 minutes was an end-to-end arm wrestle with some massive hits in defence from both clubs that eventually resulted in a lapse out wide from the Roosters and Titans winger Steve Michaels was able to take full advantage and cross the chalk. Braith Anasta was successful in kicking a late penalty goal in the first half to get the scoreboard back to 6-6 before half time. The Titans came out firing with William Zillman slicing through some pitiful Roosters defence to score under the posts only minutes into the second stanza. The Roosters were still in it 10 minutes later as Frank Paul ‘The Wrecking Ball’ Nuuausala crashed through to get the scores back to even. At this stage it was anyone’s game and with 14 minutes left on the clock Mitchell Pearce slotted a field goal to get the Chooks in front by one point. But Tri-Colour fans were left devastated when David Mead and William Zillman capped the matched with tries to push the final score out to 24-13.

Next Round – ROOSTERS *(BYE)

BRONCOS 20 – BULLDOGS 12

The Broncos continued to impress fans with a comprehensive win over the Bulldogs. Darren Lockyer put Ben Hannant through the line with a slick pass, backed him up to get the ball back, and finished it off with the first four-pointer of the match. Ben Barba then dazzled the Broncos defence as he stepped past five players and was able to get a deft kick away to set up Michael Lett’s first try of the season. With the scoreboard reading 8-6 in favour of the Broncos, the second half scoring started straight away courtesy of a hero-to-villain Michael Lett mistake, Dale Copley taking full advantage to get the Broncs out to an eight-point lead. Minutes later Gerard Beale muscled his way over and Brisbane were well and truly in charge with a 14-point lead. Ben Barba mounted his own comeback on the back of some great forward work as he ran on to an offload to get the score back to an eight-point margin. The Bulldogs spent the final 30 minutes of the match holding out the home team and compounded their predicament with a slew of mistakes that saw them tally up a third loss for the season.

COWBOYS 22 – SEA EAGLES 20

Sea Eagles fans may believe a refereeing blunder cost their team a win but there is no doubt that the Cowboys are a force this season. Sitting equal third on points after this match, as the representative and State of Origin weeks begin, the one question will be how Jonathan Thurston’s rep duties will affect the team’s momentum. In this match, Michael Robertson scored first for Manly out wide despite the dedicated attention of a shoulder-charging Matt Bowen cover tackle. The Cowboys responded with a quick succession of three tries, the first to a Teflon-coated Matt Bowen, followed by Jonathan Thurston diving on a spilled ball, and finishing with Aaron Payne scoring an easy one up the middle with a dummy that left the Eagles spellbound. The Cowboys were first on the board in the second stanza with some more Matt Bowen brilliance and at this point the score was 22-4. Two tries to Will Hopoate and Michael Oldfield got the away team to within 8 points and Des Hasler would have been ripping doors off when the video ref deemed Jamie Lyon had knocked on in the lead up to a late try to give the Sea Eagles a final sniff. Anthony Watmough cruised through for a try of his own in the last minute but the damage had been done with the previous poor call from the officials and the Cowboys secured a two-point home win.

STORM 42 – KNIGHTS 12

The Knights were affected by a few key injuries in this match but the outcome was one to be expected as the Melbourne Storm bounced back from last week’s shock loss to the Warriors. Newcastle kept up for the first forty minutes with tries to Akuila Uate and Matt Hilder but the Storm responded in kind with tries to Bryan Norrie, Beau Champion and Anthony Quinn. The second half saw a severe Storm front move through with Melbourne doing what they do and piling on the tries. All up, seven Storm players scored with Matt Duffie, Billy Slater, Dane Nielson and Todd Lowrie crossing the chalk in the second stanza to bring up a comprehensive and much-needed win going into the representative period.

RAIDERS 12 – TIGERS 49

The Green Machine needs a full service and a possible rebuild after a big loss to the Tigers on Sunday afternoon. Only able to muster enough cohesion and energy to score one try in each half, the Raiders’ only saving grace was the slowly building form of Josh Dugan. In stark contrast, the woeful display from Matt Orford is of serious concern to all Raiders fans. The Tigers on the other hand couldn’t stop scoring tries, bagging a total of eight and scoring four to every one the Raiders put on the board. Benji Marshall terrorised the defence with exceptional positional play and some of the finest kicking this season and also grabbed himself a four-pointer. Robbie Farah’s chip and chase was one of the plays of the game and with the Tigers finding some real form in this match they could be the team to watch over the next few weeks as injuries ease.

WARRIORS 26 – PANTHERS 18

The Panthers had one thing going for them in this game, they actually scored some points, but apart from that the performance from the Mountain Men was well below par. Played in New Zealand on a miserable and overcast day, Kevin Locke was the star on two occasions, including crossing for the first try only five minutes into the match after some unbelievable ineptitude in goal from the Panthers. Tim Grant crossed for Penrith after some more sloppy play, this time in attack, and with the scores locked at 6-6 at half time it was still anyone’s game. Miscommunication and mistakes cost the Panthers dearly and the Warriors capitalised to get ahead by twenty points. Even with the late surge from Penrith this game was done and dusted well before the final siren.

DRAGONS 30 – EELS 0

If the Eels score anymore donuts this year they will be able to open a Krispy Kremes and they’ll have a wooden spoon to stir the mix. The Dragons were exceptional and the Eels were terrible in a match that could have been a lot worse for the away team. Jamie Soward tentatively put the first points on the board through a penalty goal and it seemed as though the game could be a close one. It turned out to be anything but though, with Matt Cooper and Ben Hornby both bagging a double in the first half. The second half was a boring affair with the Dragons defending the lead they had already established and only posting one try through Beau Scott. Jamie Soward’s performance was spot-on and if his form continues it could see him pulling on the sky blue jersey for NSW. He made breaks all over the park and produced a kicking display that kept the Eels firmly in their place. Not even the Hayne Plane could have helped against this clinical exhibition from the Dragons.