Brookvale Oval
Sun Jul 10, 3:00pm
Late Changes
LOSS 22-36
A crowd of 19,856 saw the South Sydney Rabbitohs fall 36 points to 22 to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval today (Sunday). The final deficit of 14 points did not reflect how tight this game was and how close the Rabbitohs came to knocking over one of the premierships favourites. The first half had a little bit of everything good forward battle, costly mistakes and some brilliant play leading to points. The Rabbitohs were under pressure from the opening minutes with the Manly side gaining good field position from a silly penalty given away by the visitors. The Rabbitohs defended their line, and managed to force their way up field courtesy of fullback Rhys Wesser. Wesser made a long break to give the Rabbitohs a chance to score, followed by a clever inside ball from halfback Chris Sandow to Wesser who reached out to touch down. The video referee denied him the try, but the Rabbitohs showed the Sea Eagles were not impenetrable at their home ground. In the ninth minute the home side was the first to score when winger David Williams crossed in the right hand corner following more repeat sets thrown at the Rabbitohs. South Sydney struck back five minutes later when winger Nathan Merritt scored a fantastic try in the right hand corner. Long balls from John Sutton and Sandow made their way to centre Dylan Farrell who did enough to attract the defence and give Merritt a shot at the corner. Merritt used his 175 games of NRL experience to get low and dive for the corner, taking out the corner post but keeping his feet in field to register the four-pointer. It was only another five minutes before Manly struck back through try scoring machine Brett Stewart. He somehow slipped between three South Sydney defenders to score. Jamie Lyon converted to give the northern beaches boys a 10-4 lead. A controversial try was scored by the Sea Eagles in the 29th minute of play through centre Michael Oldfield. The Sea Eagles received a repeat set three minutes earlier when Daly Cherry-Evans took a clearing kick which smashed into the face of Rabbitohs defender Dave Tyrrell. The nature of the kick and how he was struck in the face was deemed by the referees that Tyrrell played at the ball, raising the ire of Rabbitohs supporters at the ground. Three minutes later the Eagles had scored after two more repeat sets, when it appeared they should not have had the ball in that field position in the first place. Jamie Lyon converted to extend the home sides lead to 12 with ten minutes left in the half. The Rabbitohs then scored a miraculous try just before the break involving Nathan Merritt once again. The Rabbitohs had the ball about 15 metres from the Manly line before five-eighth John Sutton grubber kicked across field. Merritt chased the ball and flick the ball back in field while he was in mid-air over the dead ball line. The ball was pounced upon by second-rower Jason Clark and the video referee awarded Souths their second try of the afternoon. Sandows conversion attempt struck the upright and bounced across the face of the goals, taking the half time score line to 16-8 in favour of Manly. The Rabbitohs started the second half well, scoring in the 43rd of minute play through five-eighth John Sutton. The Rabbitohs earned a repeat set when Manly were unable to diffuse bomb. The ball made its way to Sutton to the left of the posts, and the Manly defence had no answer for big steps off both feet which saw slide through the defence to score. Sandow converted to reduce the deficit to two. Sandow slotted a penalty goal from close range in the 48th minute of play to lock the scores up, and the Rabbitohs were full of confidence. Two minutes later, the Rabbitohs Origin hero Greg Inglis showed his class,taking the ball up the middle before brushing off George Rose and Glenn Stewart to make a long break. He drew the fullback and passed to Nathan Merritt who raced 20 metres to score next to the posts. Sandow converted to give the Rabbitohs the lead for the first time in the game. The Eagles scored again through five-eighth Keiran Foran in the 59th of play after the Rabbitohs defence hung off as he scooted across field looking for a gap to score. Lyons conversion attempt hit the post and bounced away, meaning the Rabbitohs maintained a two-point lead with 20 minutes remaining in the game. The Sea Eagles scored again four minutes later through Foran again, in almost identical circumstances as the last. The Sea Eagles extended their lead to six after Brett Stewart caught the Rabbitohs right side defence a little thin, making the break and setting up winger Michael Robertson for the try. The missed conversion set up a thrilling final eight minutes of play with the Rabbitohs within striking distance. The Rabbitohs gave away another penalty in the 74th minute when Ben Lowe was placed on report for a tackle on Brett Stewart, increasing the pressure on the Rabbitohs in the final minutes. Two minutes later the Sea Eagles wrapped up the game when the Rabbitohs gave away a penalty in front of the uprights for holding down, giving Jamie Lyon a gift two points and the Sea Eagles a 30-22 lead with three minutes left on the clock. The Rabbitohs had one final attacking play in the last minute, but it was the Eagles who would score after the siren when Williams collected a ball that was toed through to score under the posts. Lyon added the extras to finash the scoring at Manly 36 - Rabbitohs 22. It was not to be for the Rabbitohs today who fell just short in one of the toughest away games in the NRL draw. The Rabbitohs tried hard to the very end today and caused the Sea Eagles all sorts of trouble in both attack and defence.
Merritt 2, Clark, Sutton try Sandow 3 from 5 goals Crowd 19,856 Referee A.Klein / B.Suttor Penalities 5-8 Scrums 2-6 Other FG Matches 22-6 Parr Parramatta b Wests-Tig 22-6 MtSm Warriors b Gold Coast 26-12 Ende Cronulla b Canberra 28-18 Adel Melbourne b Canterbury 34-26 SFS Syd Rstrs b Penrith 22-12 NISC Nth Qld b Newcastle
Judiciary News
No one has been charged out of the match.
U20 National Youth Toyota Cup - Round 18
v Manly-Warringah, 12:45pm
WIN 52-30
Late changes - Brennan is out, Valentino starts hooker, Jarret prop, Lee Hang second row and Joe Gibbs is added to the bench. In the Toyota Cup, the South Sydney Rabbitohs have racked up a half century against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, winning the match 52 points to 30 at Brookvale Oval this afternoon (Sunday). The Rabbitohs put on their strongest attacking display for the season, crossing the line on ten occasions throughout the afternoon. Halfback Kurt French scored a treble and Kieran Vale a double in the exciting performance, but the star of show was fullback James Roberts who returned to the under 20s competition with a bang. Roberts was near unstoppable, scoring the first try and playing a hand in many others throughout the afternoon.
40 min 14-18
50 min 30-18
46-24
46-30
80 min 52-30
French 3, Vale 2, Roberts, Koroisau, Mecham, Valentino, Jaeger tries
Kurt French 4 from 6, James Roberts 2 from 4 goals
Final Line Up
T G/A FG
Flbk - Roberts, James 1 2/4 -
Wing - Sisifa, David - - -
Cntr - Vale, Kieran 2 - -
Cntr - Mecham, Liam 1 - -
Wing - Jaeger, Reece 1 - -
5/8 - Koroisau, Apisai 1 - -
Half - French, Kurt 3 4/6 -
Prop - Tuivaii, Jordan - - -
Hook - Valentino, Johnathan 1 - -
Prop - Jarrett, Brett - - -
SRow - Lee Hang, Jack - - -
SRow - Turner, Kyle - - -
Lock - Ha'angana, Adrian - - - (c)
Int - Bryant, Hamish - - -
Int - Vaingalo, Keliti - - -
Int - Matthews, Blake - - -
Int - Gibbs, Joe - - -
10 6/10 -
Other NYC Matches
24-4 Parr Wests-Tig b Parramatta
31-18 MtSm Warriors b Gold Coast
34-24 Ende Cronulla b Canberra
30-24 Crst Melbourne b Canterbury
42-28 SFS Syd Rstrs b Penrith
50-26 NISC Nth Qld b Newcastle
Reserve Grade - NSW Cup Round 17
v Cronulla-Sutherland Storm, Endeavour Field, Sat Jul 9 1:15pm
LOSS 28-30
Late Changes - Dean Webster and Retzlaff dropped off the bench. The South Sydney feeder team the North Sydney Bears took on the combined feeder team from Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Melbourne Storm. Bears openned the scoring in the tenth minute when Fetuli Talanoa took a risky intercept on the Bears goal line, made a break, passed to Malcolm Webster in support who broke one tackle and ran 50m to score under the post. Matt Mundine converted. In the 25th minute Bears are in again following a cross-kick from Mundine which was fielded above his head by Curtis Johnston who fell over the line to score. 10-nil. With about two minutes to the break Brock Molan made a great break, at least 30 metres, and gave a great pass to Malcolm Webster 10 metres out and with a clear run to the line, only to have the ball bounce off his chest. Cronulla won the scrum and moved the ball 90 metres to score in the corner. A conversion from the touchline saw the score 10-6 at half time. Soon after the break a loose pass was scooped up by Cronulla who ran 80m to score under the posts, allowing Cronulla to take the lead. 10-12. The third try came in the eighth minute of the second half with a great 40m break by Malcolm Webster, who passed to Beau Falloon who looked like he was going to be tackled short, but put on a step to score near the posts. Converted by Mundine, 16-12. In the 54th minute when Bennet Leslie intercepted the ball and runs 80m to score. 22-12. Talanoa knocked on from the kick off and Cronulla scored on the next set. 22-18. Cronulla then put on two more tries to take the lead out to 22-30 with 11 minutes to go. With five minutes to go, Bennett Leslie scored in the corner and Mundine converted from the touchline. 28-30. But Cronulla Storm hangs on.
10 min 6-0
25 min 10-0
39 min 10-6
45 min 10-12
48 min 16-12
54 min 22-12
57 min 22-18
65 min 22-24
69 min 22-30
75 min 28-30
Leslie 2, Johnston, M.Webster, Falloon tries
Mundine 4 from 5 goals
Final Line up
T G/A FG
Flbk - Mansour, Josh - - -
Wing - Talanoa, Fetuli - - -
Cntr - Nichols, Greg - - -
Cntr - Leslie, Bennett 2 - -
Wing - Johnston, Curtis 1 - -
5/8 - Mundine, Matt - 4/5 -
Half - Webster, Malcolm 1 - -
Prop - Burgess, George - - -
Hook - Falloon, Beau 1 - -
Prop - Ranieri, Alex - - -
SRow - Apps, Deon - - - (c)
SRow - Molan, Brock - - -
Lock - Judd, Blake - - -
Int - McKinnon, Brendan - - -
Int - Shearer, Jake - - -
Int - Areaiiti, Neccrom - - -
Int - Florimo, Jay - - -
5 4/5 -
Other NSW Cup Matches
46-10 Leic Manly b Wntwrthvll
40-24 Leic Auckland b Balm-Ryde
24-22 Crst Canterbury b C Coast
28-10 Wind Wests b Windsor