Stadium Australia
Sat Sep 22, 7:45pm
This Weeks Cyberview from the Hill Late Changes
Late Changes Clark and Hunt dropped off the bench. Geddes and George Burgess also warmed up as 20th and 21st men.
LOSS 6-32
The South Sydney Rabbitohs' Members and supporters can be extremely proud of the effort of their team tonight and throughout the whole season, having gone down to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 32 points to 8 in the Preliminary Final at ANZ Stadium tonight (Saturday). The Rabbitohs led 8-4 midway through the first half in front of a bumper crowd of 70,354, but the Bulldogs got the better of play to win through to the 2012 Grand Final. The Bulldogs won the toss with the Rabbitohs kicking off, defending the southern end of the field for the first half. ANZ Stadium was clearly split down the middle with the Rabbitohs' faithful filling the northern end of the ground. A penalty against co-captain Michael Crocker for a high shot in the first minute put the Rabbitohs on the back foot, and in the third minute of play the Bulldogs capitalised, scoring a try in the right hand corner through mid-season recruit Krisnan Inu to lead four-nil. The Rabbitohs did not get their first chance with the ball until the sixth minute, with two penalties in succession giving them some great field position. Hooker Issac Luke made the most of the opportunity, strolling through some weak Bulldogs defence to score adjacent to the uprights in the eighth minute. Adam Reynolds converted to give the Rabbitohs a six-four lead. The 'Dogs were obviously trying to move the Rabbitohs' forwards around with ball movement, but the Rabbitohs' forwards were counteracting that by making some quality metres up the middle of the ruck. The Rabbitohs started to mount some pressure on the 'Dogs on the back of a pin-point kicking game and a quality kick-chase. Five-eighth John Sutton was causing the Bulldogs' defence many issues and Sam Burgess was running hard and straight. The Rabbitohs posted next points through a penalty goal to Adam Reynolds after Josh Morris was ruled to have interfered with a Rabbitohs chaser, giving South Sydney an 8-4 lead after 23 minutes. South Sydney continued to pepper the Bulldogs with good kicks, but their number one kicker, Adam Reynolds, went down with what appeared to be a hamstring injury in the 27th minute, forcing a reshuffle of the South Sydney side. Hooker Issac Luke alternated between halfback and dummy half with Nathan Peats entering the game, doing the work of dummy half as well as some back row running. Fullback Greg Inglis pulled off another amazing try saving tackle in the 28th minute, bundling Bulldogs five-eighth Josh Reynols into touch metres short of the line. That same man Inglis was held over the line one minute later as the Rabbitohs continued to make metres up field. In the 36th minute, Issac Luke pulled off a try saving tackle on Ben Barba, but from the ensuing play the Bulldogs would be awarded a possible eight-point try. Sam Perrett went over in the right hand corner, with South Sydney second rower Sam Burgess judged to have come in with knees on Perrett after he had scored. Inu missed the conversion attempt but kicked the penalty goal from in front to give the Bulldogs a 10-8 lead. The Bulldogs would score again before the break when Jonathan Wright scored in the left hand corner with seven seconds left on the clock. Inu converted from the eastern touchline to send the teams into the sheds at 16-8 in favour of the 'Dogs. This match was played with super-high intensity from the opening whistle throughout the first 40 minutes, with both sides throwing everything they had at each other. John Sutton was stepping up in the kicking department with his halves partner Adam Reynolds off the field, but the Rabbitohs would need to adjust further in the second 40 minutes to make up for the loss of the Dally M Rookie of the Year. The Rabbitohs continued to chase through their kicks with gusto in the second half, but it was the Bulldogs who would register points first in the second stanza through winger Sam Perrett. The video referee awarded Perrett the try in the 55th minute after it appeared he had stepped into touch. Four minutes later big Frank Pritchard scored for the 'Dogs following a break made by fellow forward Greg Eastwood. Inu converted to take the scoreline out to 26-8. Despite being down by 18 points, the Rabbitohs never threw in the towel. Nathan Merritt pulled off a try saving tackle in his 200th NRL game, the Burgess brothers of Sam and Luke hammered Aiden Tolman in a monster tackle, and the Rabbitohs continued to make metres and play football in the Bulldogs' end of the field. The 'Dogs scored a final try in the final eight seconds of the match through Eastwood, running 50 metres after snatching a chip kick out of the air, and Inu's conversion took the scoreline to 32-8 at full time. The South Sydney side gave it everything they had, but the loss of their general to a hamstring injury, and the subsequent disruption to the side's structures, was too much to overcome. The Rabbitohs were right in the match up to that point and showed that they can mix it with the top team in the competition. A third-placed finish on the ladder, finishing the season one win from a Grand Final, plus attracting over 70,000 Members and fans to the biggest game of the year so far, are all things that the players, coaches, the Club, the Members and the supporters can be extremely proud of in 2012, and also gives the team a fantastic base from which to build their 2013 premiership campaign.
3 min 0-4 8 min 6-4 23 min 8-4 37 min 8-10 40 min 8-16 55 min 8-20 59 min 8-26 80 min 8-32 Luke tries Reynolds 2 from 2 goals Crowd 70,354 Referee S.Hayne / B.Cummins Penalities 6-4 Scrums 7-4 Min Tac Pe MT LB HU DR m Er OL K TA Inglis 80 5 - 1 - 17 1 174 1 - 5 - Merritt 80 7 - 2 - 6 1 50 - - 1 - McQueen 80 22 - 5 - 7 - 72 2 - - - Farrell 80 16 - 2 - 6 - 48 - - - - Everingham 80 4 - 1 - 7 3 70 2 - - - Sutton 80 19 - 1 - 13 3 139 1 1 12 - Reynolds 27 7 - 1 - - - - - - 3 - Burgess.L 43 23 - 1 - 13 - 102 1 - - - Luke 80 18 - 3 1 14 11 137 1 1 1 - Asotasi 57 22 - - - 6 - 41 - - - - Burgess.S 80 36 3 1 - 17 - 157 3 - - - Taylor 43 24 - 3 - 6 - 55 - 1 - - Crocker 70 34 1 1 - 12 1 78 1 - - - Peats 53 32 - 4 - 4 2 31 - 1 1 - Tyrrell 21 5 - - - 7 - 77 - - - - Pettybourne 37 19 - 1 - 14 - 121 - 3 - - Lowe 49 25 - 3 - 5 - 37 - - - - TOTAL 318 4 30 1 1389 12 7 23 - Completion Rate 27/38 71% Effective 1st Tackles 1 min 95m SS P (Crocker) / (CB TRY) 8 min 0m SCR / P / P / TRY 11 min 24m SCR Reynolds kick 13 min 18m Reynolds kick COF 14 min 4m Reynolds kick COF 17 min 22m SS Err (McQueen) SCR 18 min 16m Sutton kick 20 min 0m Reynolds kick P GOAL 23 min 19m Sutton kick COF 26 min 0m SCR / Reynolds kick CIG 27 min 4m Luke kick 29 min 26m SCR / Inglis kick COF 30 min 12m Sutton kick 32 min 27m CB Err SCR / (SS NO TRY) Sutton kick 34 min 15m Sutton kick COF / (CB 8PT TRY) SS P (SBurgess) 39 min 70m SS P (SBurgess) / (CB TRY) half time 40 min 7m Sutton kick COF 42 min 17m Inglis kick COF 45 min 12m P / SS Err (SBurgess) 47 min 13m Sutton kick 48 min 17m Sutton kick COF 51 min 2m SCR / Inglis kick COF 53 min 9m Sutton kick / (CB TRY) 57 min 4m Inglis kick / (CB TRY) 62 min 27m Peats kick 64 min 98m SS Err (Everingham) SCR 81m / 6TG 66 min 79m SS Err (Sutton) 68 min 30m SS Err (Inglis) 70 min 2m Inglis kick 71 min 35m CB Err P / SS Err (SBurgess) 5m / SS P (SBurgess) 73 min 78m CB Err SCR / SS Err (LBurgess) 62m / ChDwn (Peats) 75 min 90m SS Err (Luke) SCR 76 min 5m Sutton kick COF 79 min 80m SCR / SS Err (Crocker) 80 min100m Merritt kick P / Peats kick (CB TRY) Average effective 1st tackle location - 30.2m - for the whole match - 22.0m - 1st half - 37.1m - 2nd half If you now remove the tries - 23.5m - 1st half - 37.1m - 2nd half Other FG Matches 40-12 MRSt (2v3) Melbourne b Manly
Judiciary News
Michael Crocker was put on report during the match for a high tackle. While Sam Burgess was charged by the match review committee after the match. Both have taken early guilty pleas for judiciary charges arising from the Preliminary Final against the Bulldogs last Saturday night. Crocker has pleaded guilty to a grade one dangerous contact - contact with the kicker charge. This carries a 100 point base plus he has a similar offnce so he has a 50% loading and no carry over points. By taking the early guilty plea it has resulted in 112 points which means a one match ban and 12 carryover points. Sam Burgess has pleaded guilty to a grade one dangerous contact - leading with legs/feet charge. This carries a 100 point base plus he has a non similar offence so he gets a 20% loading. By taking the early guilty plea it has resulted in 93 pointspPlus he still has 60 carryover points, resulting in 153 points which means a one match ban and 53 carryover points.
NYC U20 Finals
Other NYC Matches 28-22 MRSt (2v4) Wests-Tig b Sydney 44-16 StAu (1v3) Canberra b St Geo-Ill
NSW Cup Finals
Other NSW Cup Matches 34-6 Leic (3v1) Newtown b Canterbury 26-24 Leic (4v2) Balm-Ryde b Newcastle
Grand Final Weekend - Sep 30
NRL Grand Final
Other FG Matches 14-4 StAu (2v1) Melbourne b Canterbury
NYC U20 Grand Final
Other NYC Matches 46-6 StAu (1v2) Wests-Tig v Canberra
NSW Cup Grand Final
Other NSW Cup Matches 22-18 StAu (1v2) Newtown b Balm-Ryde