Tigers Make Road Kill Of Rabbits And Warriors Cook Chooks

By HeBeGeeBee on April 13, 2011 in Sport

This round saw some classic grand final match-ups as the NRL celebrated ‘heritage round’. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but the next few rounds are of massive importance to some of the losers of this week’s games with the Raiders and Titans desperately needing to find some form. Fans of our local teams will be keen to make their way to some blockbuster games in the coming round when the Roosters host the Broncos at the SFS and the Rabbitohs take on the Dragons. A classic 80s arm wrestle will take place on Friday night when the Eels come up against the Bulldogs and with both teams coming off losses it sets the tone for an absolute firecracker of a game. Enjoy this week’s review in anticipation of next week’s gems….

TIGERS 30 – RABBITOHS 6

A classic battle between south and west produced a result no one expected on Friday night when a depleted Wests Tigers team decimated a Rabbitohs outfit favoured to win the match. It all started nicely for the Bunnies with Chris Sandow setting up and scoring the first try but from that moment onwards the Rabbitohs disappeared into the rabbit hole.

Souths underestimated an injury-riddled Wests and allowed the initially tentative team some room to move, which resulted in two tries and a half time deficit of 6-12. Firstly, some individual brilliance from Benji Marshall at the scrum base resulted in a try when he stepped, shimmied and stunned the defence up the middle of the ruck to get the Tigers on the board. The Bunnies were lucky to not be trailing by more when two tries were bombed by dodgy passes from Marshall and Chris Heighington, but the big cats eventually clicked when Robbie Farah broke through the line to set up Wade McKinnon for a clear run to the in-goal area.

The second half started badly for Souths when the Tigers kick chase intensity resulted in a lost ball that rewarded them with quality field position. It wasn’t long after this that Mitch Brown slid over in the corner. Three minutes later Simon Dwyer bagged the first of his two tries with a barnstorming fifty metre run through the line and a step/charge past fullback Rhys Wesser to push the lead out to 22-6. Benji Marshall opted for a shot at goal from a penalty with 15 minutes remaining to extend the margin to three converted tries and shortly after Simon Dwyer squeezed through to bring the final score to 30-6. With five minutes remaining Marshall was sin-binned for a professional foul, which only allowed him to celebrate the win a little earlier.

One of the bigger hits in the game came when Greg Inglis up-ended Matt Utai on a kick return that saw the stocky little winger fly four feet backwards. Also of note was Robbie Farah’s short lived rodeo career when he attempted to ride a bucking Dave ‘Man Mountain’ Taylor only to be flipped and flung sideways.

One thing’s for certain, during the week the Tigers obviously got hold of some of Charlie Sheen’s now famous tiger blood and started ‘winning’.

Next Round – RABBITOHS vs. DRAGONS (MONDAY 18/04 at 7:00PM at ANZ Stadium

WARRIORS 24 – ROOSTERS 12

Usually a holiday to Auckland is a fun trip. That is, unless you are heading over to play rugby league against the Warriors, which was the case on Saturday for the Sydney Roosters.

The opening points were posted by the away team via some slick passes from Mitchell Pearce and a powerful charge from Shaun Kenny-Dowall. The Warriors were next to score when Feleti Mateo grubbered a shifty little kick behind the line for winger Krisnan Inu to lock the scores up at 6-6 and the game remained close throughout the first half.

Close to twenty minutes passed before the deadlock was broken when Lewis Brown practically fell over the line thanks to some weak on line defence, giving the Warriors a lead of 10-6 at the break.

Lance Hohaia scored first for the home team in the second half and the Roosters were quick to respond with Mitchell Pearce grabbing a four-pointer off a Jake Friend pass. At this point it was either team’s match to win with the scoreboard reading 16-12 in favour of the Warriors, but instead of running them down the Roosters started to lose direction and once again mistakes found them in a predicament when Shaun Berrigan swooped on a bad pass and ran forty metres to seal the match.

James Maloney popped over a penalty goal with four minutes remaining to put the Warriors in front by two converted tries and with the clock ticking down time ran out for the Eastern Suburbs boys.

Every week sees more penalties from the tri-colours and a disturbing lack of concentration is also starting to creep into their game. Some uncharacteristic mistakes from Carney and Pearce are placing the team under pressure and the ill discipline will need to be addressed by Coach Smith for the Roosters to really get a roll on towards September.

Next Round – ROOSTERS vs. BRONCOS (SATURDAY 16/04 at 7:30PM at Bluetongue Stadium

COWBOYS 22 – TITANS 12

The Cowboys took care of this game in the first half running in four convincing tries to lead 22-nil at the break. Willie Tonga was first to cross when he pirouetted his way through four defenders to slam the ball down over the line. This was followed by another try shortly after when Jonathan Thurston shut down a Scott Prince kick and regathered to run 70m to score the Cowboys’ second try. Gavin Cooper and Matthew Bowen also crossed the chalk and the Titans were in all kinds of trouble going into the break. With the Cowboys concentrating on defence in the second half the only points came from the Titans, with Steve Michaels and Esi Tonga bagging four-pointer. But this match had already gotten away from them and the final hooter sounded with the scoreboard reading 22-12.

PANTHERS 36 – RAIDERS 10

The Green Machine travelled to CUA stadium with the intent of putting last week’s one point loss to the Titans behind them but instead went down to a rapid fire response from an up and down Panthers side. Both teams needed to secure this win and the Panthers did so with gusto scoring three first half tries and eventually bagging six all up. A David Simmons hat-trick played a big hand in demoralising a Green Machine whose problem lies in its halves combination. This game was never in doubt as the Mountain Men ran away with the points easily and left Raiders fans wishing for an early return from Terry Campese.

SHARKS 13 – SEA EAGLES 19

The ‘Battle of the Beaches’ was played at Shark Park on Saturday evening and the home team gave fans a lot of reasons to be happy, keeping the Sea Eagles scoreless until the final quarter. Unfortunately the final twenty minutes proved to be a major disappointment for the home team. Leading 13-nil with twenty minutes remaining, the Sharks looked to be cruising to another win but in the 60^th and 66^th minute a brace of tries from Kieran Foran and George Rose brought the game to a dramatic conclusion. Forty-five seconds were left on the clock when Daly Cherry-Evans slotted over the equalising field goal and this match appeared destined for golden point. A shell-shocked Cronulla outfit were devastated when on the buzzer Jamie Lyon chipped for winger Michael Oldfield who gathered it in to score the match winner.

STORM 38 – EELS 0

The apprentice was given another lesson from the master when Steve Kearney’s Eels went down to a near perfect Melbourne Storm in the Victorian capital on Sunday afternoon. Parramatta struggled early and were down by 12 points when Taniela Lasalo failed to ground the ball in one of the away teams only attacking plays. For almost eighty minutes it was an exhibition match showcasing the Storm’s talent and ability to control the run of play, forcing the Eels to play out of their own half for the majority of the match. Running in seven unanswered tries and suffocating the Parramatta attack ultimately led to a comprehensive win and definitively sent the Eels home with a donut.

DRAGONS 25 – BULLDOGS 6

In a similar trend to several other games this weekend, the Dragons had control of this game early on, leading 9-0 at halftime. The Bulldogs were only able to find the try line once during the match and the Dragons continued to post points throughout the allotted 80 minutes. Matt Cooper was first to notch up a try and the first half was punctuated with a Jamie Soward field goal. The second half started with a second try to Matt Cooper while Ben Barba was the only Doggies player to post points. Darius Boyd and Mark Gasnier locked the Dogs out with tries in the final quarter. With all the controversy of where Wayne Bennett will be next year, some seem to have forgotten that he is still coaching last year’s premiers and they are still a force to be reckoned with.

BRONCOS 17 – KNIGHTS 6

In a poorly refereed game, Newcastle were unlucky to go down to the Broncos. Brisbane crossed the line first through Jack Reed and the Knights were quick to respond when Cory Paterson caught a bomb and bustled his way to the try line. The second half saw some contentious calls made against Newcastle, including what seemed to be a definite try that was denied when Kurt Gidley’s pass to Zeb Taia was called forward. Some of the baby Broncos shone in this game and proved that they are up to first grade standard. Players of note weree Jahral Yow Yeh, who really stepped up in defence, and Jack Reed, who doesn’t seem out of place scoring tries against quality opposition. The Broncos lead blew out to 17-6 by the time the final whistle was blown but some Knights fans may seriously be wondering what was going on, with the whistleblowers and the video ref denying them what could’ve been an upset victory.