Redfern Oval
Sat Feb 5, 6:00pm
The CyberView from the Hill - Last Week
Late ChangesBlake Judd is a late withdrawl, with Jay Florimo moving up into starting lock and Brock Molan coming in on the bench.
WIN 10-4
Today’s Return to Redfern match at the Australian Technology Park Performance Centre had a little bit of everything. Some brilliant attacking plays, some rock solid defence, a couple of blues, a mountain of play-the-ball infringements, a sin-binning, a scrum win against the feed, a couple of courageous comebacks, and nearly 5,000 happy Rabbitohs Members. The 10 points to 4 victory to the men in cardinal and myrtle was the final piece in the puzzle on a day which saw the near-capacity crowd endure 44-degree heat to see some of the Rabbitohs rising stars take the field in the main game and the under-18s SG Ball trial, saw Ben Ross and Chris McQueen make comebacks from horrific long-term injuries, saw Greg Inglis and George Burgess officially welcomed to the Rabbitohs by the Members with presentations by Eric Simms and Sam Burgess, saw our full time training squad collecting money for flood victims in Queensland, and saw former Newtown ballboy Ted Thompson present the South Sydney Football Club with the 1955 Grand Final football which he says rightfully belongs to the Rabbitohs. It was Ross who took the first hit up of the game, his first in two years, with Ross admitting after the game he picked out the biggest Jets player he could find to run at with his first touch of the ball. The second hit up was taken by George Burgess, with Ross’ next carry almost resulting in a fight. It took 17 minutes for the first points to be registered, a try scored by Chris McQueen who was returning after 18 months on the sideline from consecutive knee reconstructions. A cross-field kick by halfback Adam Reynolds found McQueen on the right wing to register the four-pointer. In the final minutes of the first quarter Rabbitohs hooker Nathan Peats won a scrum against the feed, recalling memories of inspirational hooker Mario Fenech some 25 years earlier on the turf at Redfern Oval. The second quarter was scoreless but saw Ben Ross complete 25 minutes and Burgess 35 minutes in their first performances for South Sydney. The Rabbitohs had a golden chance to score down the left hand side but the ball went to ground and the teams went to the sheds with the score at 4-nil in favour of Souths. A new-look Rabbitohs outfit took the field in the third quarter with a number of the North Sydney Bears players in the squad getting their first taste of football for 2011. But it was a young Rabbitoh who posted the next points, with electrifying 17-year-old winger James Roberts pulling a kick back from over the dead-ball line to touch down for the decisive try. Reynolds converted to give the Rabbitohs a 10-nil lead. The Jets struck back just before the break when Siona Taka scored, setting up the final 20 minutes as a nail-biter. Both sides went hard at each other in the final quarter, with Roberts on fire in attack and defence. Josh Mansour was damaging with the ball in his hands and Kane Morgan was working hard to find the elusive gaps in the Newtown defence. The final 20 minutes was a willing affair, and it all boiled over in the 64th minute when Roberts and Morgan were involved in fight with half of the Newtown team. In the ensuing sets of six, Newtown forward Ryan Verlinden was sin-binned after back-chatting the referee, following an attempt to test out Ben Ross’ neck with a high shot. Nathan Peats added some spark to the Rabbitohs when he returned to dummy half in the final stanza, and despite some repeated attack from the men in blue, the Rabbitohs were able to hold on for a 10-4 victory. For Rabbitohs Members on the day, it seemed the final scoreline didn’t mean all that much. They got to see Ben Ross make a successful comeback as did Chris McQueen, got to see George Burgess pump his legs looking for those extra metres in every hit up he did, and enjoyed a day of nostalgia in the heat at the Australian Technology Park Performance Centre at Redfern Oval.
14 min 4-0
52 min 10-0
60 min 10-4
McQueen, Roberts tries
Reynolds 1 from 2 goals
Crowd 5,000
Referee G.Sutton / D.Munro
Penalities 7-7
Scrums 9-8
Final Line Up
T G/A FG
Flbk - Webster, Malcolm - - -
Wing - McQueen, Chris 1 - -
Cntr - Corrigan, Shaune - - -
Cntr - Vaivai, Junior - - -
Wing - Morgan, Kane - - -
5/8 - Mundine, Matt - - -
Half - Reynolds, Adam - 1/2 -
Prop - Burgess, George - - -
Hook - Peats, Nathan - - -
Prop - Ross, Ben - - - (c)
SRow - Ha'angana, Adrian - - -
SRow - Apps, Deon - - -
Lock - Florimo, Jay - - -
Int - Mansour, Josh - - -
Int - Pettyborne, Kennedy - - -
Int - Leslie, Bennett - - -
Int - Johnston, Curtis - - -
Int - Roberts, James 1 - -
Int - So'oalo, Joseph - - -
Int - McKinnon, Brendan - - -
Int - Shearer, Jake - - -
Int - Kaifoto, John - - -
Int - Molan, Brock - - -
2 1/2 -
Other FG Matches
22-22 Grey Warriors d Newcastle
22-12 Ipsw Sydney b Ipswich
Judiciary News
No one was charged out of the match.
U20 National Youth Toyota Cup - Trial
v Sydney Roosters, Erskensiville Oval
Fri Feb 4, 6:00pm
DRAW 12-12
A scrapy game where 15 new Souths players were playing for the first time in excessive heat.
25 min 0-4 34 min 0-8 42 min 4-8 46 min 8-8 55 min 12-8 64 min 12-12 Vale, Takapu, Valentino tries no goals attempted
NSWRL U18 SG Ball Trial
v Balmain, Redfern Oval, Sat Feb 5 3:30pm
DRAW 28-28
5 min 4-0 8 min 4-4 13 min 4-8 15 min 4-12 19 min 4-16 21 min 4-20 24 min 8-20 30 min 8-24 33 min 12-24 35 min 16-24 41 min 20-24 44 min 24-24 52 min 28-24 58 min 28-28 C.Hazard 2, T.Phillips, Z.Walsh, L.Pollard, J.O'Brien, C.Caldwell tries no goals attempted
Reserve Grade - NSW Cup Trial
v Corrimal, Zeims Park, Sat Jan 29 5:00pm
Cancelled
The match was cancelled as Corrimal were not able to field a team
NSWRL U18 SG Ball Trial
v Western Suburbs, Erskensville Oval, Sat Jan 29
NSWRL U16 SG Ball Trial
v Western Suburbs/South West Sydney Academy, Erskensville Oval, Sat Jan 29
