Insulated Bunnies Avoid Electrocution While Bulldogs Crash Cock Fight

By HeBeGeeBee on March 28, 2011 in Sport

Round 3 was a round of the same old refereeing blunders that plagued the game last season. Some fans will be cursing the poor decisions made over the weekend and referee boss Bill Harrigan will have some ‘splainin’ to do! Apart from the blunders we saw a positive resurgence from The Shire with the Sharks and Dragons grabbing wins, while the Titans and Warriors are the only teams without competition points this year.

EELS 18 – RABBITOHS 32

In a closely contested first half, marred by inconsistencies from referee Matt Cecchin, Parramatta crossed the line on two occasions early only for both to be disallowed.

South’s were first to post points with a big Greg Inglis step and quick pass to full back Rhys Wesser resulting in a free run to the line. Parramatta hit back soon after with Casey McGuire popping a pass onto running halfback Jeff Robson.

In the final 20 minutes of the half, both Souths and Parramatta posted points to head in to the break locked at 12-12.

Mistakes from Parramatta in the opening minutes of the second half cost them the game with Ben Smith failing to secure the kick off and Souths scoring from the next set then piling on the points from there on out to open up a 32-12 lead.

Fuifui Moimoi almost removed Ben Ross’ head and was ultimately sin-binned for back chat only to gain some respite by scoring late in the final quarter.

Parramatta mounted a comeback with only 12 minutes remaining and momentarily Souths fans were on the edge of their seats. But with a comfortable lead and a high level of ineptitude from the Eels the outcome of this game was never in doubt.

The level of refereeing in this game was well below standard and many Eels fans will be quick to blame the refs for the loss. It must be said though that a team at this level should be able to overcome poor decisions and secure the win.

Let’s not take anything away from a much-deserved South’s team that seems to have rectified the worrying lack of desire towards the end of games.

Injuries out of this game included the hookers from both teams, Casey McGuire and Isaac Luke. Justin Horo spilled some claret in a sickening head clash with Chris Sandow but returned to the field heavily bandaged towards the end of the game.

At this point Parra fans can start to worry as the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of a team who cannot get the basics right. Souths fans should celebrate their win and know that when Greg Inglis fires they can be unstoppable. Luckily Sandow decided against kicking a field goal this week!

Next Round – RABBITOHS vs. SEA EAGLES (Friday 01/04 at 7:30pm at Bluetongue Stadium)

BULLDOGS 24 – ROOSTERS 20

‘Who Let The Dogs Out At The Cock Fight’ could be a follow up to the 1998 Baha Men hit track of a similar name, but in this case it was an emphatic victory from a Bulldogs team who now sit comfortably on the top of the ladder with three wins from three starts.

From the kick-off to the final siren the game was tighter than some Eastern Suburbs streets with the lead changing several times. Mick Ennis got under the skin of the Roosters with an early try and kept the heat on with some serious sledging in the ruck, while Jamal Idris defied gravity (for a lad of his size) to leap above the pack four minutes later and slam the ball down to get the Bulldogs to a 12-0 lead.

Carney was keen to make amends and did so in a play that baffled the Doggies defence momentarily, subsequently allowing him to score in the corner. The Roosters players lifted a notch during the next twenty minutes of play to claw their way back to the lead with tries to Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Jake Friend, but they ended going to the break down by four points after Bulldogs fullback Ben Barba scored.

The second half was a drag down, beat ‘em up, shoot out with both sides exchanging pleasantries and a bit of face-to-face, collar-grabbing quality time. Ben Barba again found his way over, increasing the Bulldogs’ lead to 24-14, but the final twenty minutes were all tri-colour feathers aflutter with another try to SKD and a spirited final ten minutes that had Doggies fans’ hearts racing.

Unfortunately the Roosters were unable to bust the Bulldogs’ defence and eventually went down 24-20. In a side note, Brian Smith had used all his allocated interchanges well before the end of time and with Sam Perrett possibly breaking his ankle during this period the Roosters were forced to play with only 12 men on the field. Both teams looked the goods on the day and when they meet again in round 21 be prepared for fireworks!

Next Round – ROOSTERS vs. TIGERS (Sunday 03/04 at 3:00pm at Sydney Football Stadium)

TITANS 8 – BRONCOS 14

In a case of little brother versus big brother, the Queensland local derby was played at Skilled Stadium on Friday night, with centre Justin Hodges making his long-awaited return after missing all of last season and the first two rounds of this year due to a damaged Achilles tendon. In a first half of matched skill both teams struggled to get on the board and Titans fans would have been happy to see ex-Bronco Steve Michaels post first points launching over the line on the stroke of half-time. With scores locked at 6-6, and then 8-8 due to penalty goals from Scott Prince and Corey Parker, the game was as close as it could be. In the final ten minutes a barnstorming Hodges destroyed the hopes and efforts of a Titans outfit looking to secure their first win of the season, pushing aside hard man Greg Bird and flying winger Esi Tonga to score the winning try and leave a very solid and competent looking Titans team to languish at the bottom of the ladder with zero wins from three starts.

PANTHERS 12 – SHARKS 44

From last week’s ‘victory of the west’ to an extreme lack of zest, the Panthers suffered a rare Shark attack in Penrith on Saturday evening. Shark attacks on land are rare but look for them to become a common occurrence over the next few rounds with Cronulla securing their second win in a mauling at the foot of the mountains. Paul Gallen set the pace with the opening try and his teammates kept time to go into the break leading 24-6. Like the Dragons last week, the Panthers were bashed all over the park as well as on the scoreboard. Penrith were a shadow of the tight knit unit that played six days ago and made an enormous amount of mistakes. Poor plays and a lack of discipline ultimately cost them the game and also any credibility they had gained from their previous win against the Eels. They were able to cross the line on two occasions with David Simmons grabbing a first half try and Lachlan Coote seizing a consolation try in the second stanza. To say this week’s performance from the two western suburbs teams (Parramatta and Penrith) was woeful would be an understatement, with more mistakes coming from both teams than possibly the whole rest of the round. The Panthers find themselves in a dangerous position with 92 points being scored against them in the opening three rounds.

TIGERS 34 – RAIDERS 24

The Tigers turned on the flair to beat the Raiders in a try fest that saw 58 points scored on Saturday night. The late inclusion of Josh Dugan came as no surprise to most but even his presence was not enough to stop the Tigers jumping out to an early lead. The Raiders attempted to keep up for the first 55 minutes, scoring twice in the first half and with winger Blake Ferguson bagging a triple by game’s end. In the final 10 minutes the Tigers had extended their lead to a dominating 34-10 and looked to be home and hosed, but a never-say-die Green Machine managed to pile on three tries before the final hooter with Dugan snatching his first four-pointer of the season. Ferguson was outstanding in a losing side and has so far proved to be a great buy with five tries already this season. Benji Marshall was superman-ish in his involvement but the Tigers kicking game needs some improvement. One of the conversion attempts saw Benji remove a divot large enough to warrant a donation to the clubhouse for green repairs.

WARRIORS 12 – DRAGONS 25

The Warriors failed to slay the Dragons at Mount Smart on Sunday afternoon. A familiar Dragons team took the park and proceeded to demolish the Warriors in the first half with Jason Nightingale scoring twice and Matt Cooper running one in. The Red Vs went to the break with a healthy 18-0 lead and reassured fans that last week’s loss was just a hiccup. The Warriors came out and scored first in the second half with Ben Matulino using momentum to only just shave the try line with the ball. Josh Morris returned fire and offloaded to Kyle Stanley to again push the lead out to 18 points. Matt Cooper was sin-binned for a professional foul and the Warriors took advantage of the Dragons’ twelve man defensive line with Shaun Berrigan scoring. But at this point the Warriors had run out of time and Jamie Soward put the nail in coffin by slotting over a field goal in the 77th minute to give the Dragons a 13 point win.

SEA EAGLES 26 – KNIGHTS 12

Brett Stewart was welcomed back to Brookvale on Sunday with a win over a Knights team minus Kurt Gidley. Newcastle were quick to find the line through Zeb Taia, and were controversially awarded the points as it appeared Taia had not grounded the ball properly. But it was to be the Sea Eagles game from that point onwards with the Novacastrians only finding the line again late in the second half and spending most of the game nursing several causalities including Beau Henry and back-up Ben Rogers. Young William Hopoate proved to be a handy player, helping the Sea Eagles with two tries and making the Newcastle wingers work for their money with some powerful hit ups. David ‘Wolfman’ Williams bagged his second try in the final minutes to give the Sea Eagles a comprehensive victory.

COWBOYS 34 – STORM 6

It was widers on the storm as the Cowboys showed Melbourne the door back to Victoria. Monday night footy once again provided an unexpected twist to the end of the round with the Cowboys demolishing the Storm by 28 points. Securing the first points of the match through youngster William Tupou, the Cowboys continued to drive straight and force mistakes from a less than impressive Melbourne Storm outfit that at one stage looked like they were playing soccer. The rain came down during the first half making handling conditions difficult but the Cowboys just kept on finding the line to eventually win the match by a massive margin. Uncharacteristically, the Storm seemed to lack any game plan or direction and Billy Slater looked positively lazy in the back of play. Ashley Graham scored a double as did Matthew Bowen with Thurston kicking five goals. The Storm never got started and the Bulldogs will need to watch out next week with them coming off this loss.