Western Sydney Stadium
Fri Jul 10, 7:50pm
Marsters and Dargan were trimmed 24 hours before the game. Knight injured his ankle in the warm up, Nicholls has come onto the bench. Corey Allan was 18th men.
WIN 18-10
Latrell Mitchell got the goods against a Wests Tigers outfit that was prepared to pay him almost $3 million last year, but the South Sydney star's triumph may yet cost him dearly after a fiery running battle with Josh Reynolds. An avalanche of first-half possession and resulting Dane Gagai hat-trick saw South Sydney get past the Tigers in a tense 18-10 affair. Tempers flared almost from the outset when Josh Reynolds "indiscriminate kick" at an errant ball that collected Campbell Graham's head in the seventh minute. Mitchell's retailiation could cost him after being placed on report for a high shot, that hit Reynolds on the chin with a swinging arm. With the Tigers making an extra 60 tackles by half-time, their gritty defence eventually cracked when Gagai slid over from one picturesque right-side shift in the 32nd minute. This was soon followed by another sidline play and Gagai was in again for his second try as South Sydney went into break with a 10 nil lead. Six minutes after the break James Roberts took flight. Again it was Mbye caught out as Adam Reynolds piloted a cut-out ball past him and Roberts sped past several of his teammates. By the time Benji Marshall came off the bench for his first game in a month, the game looked well and truly gone. Gagai helped himself to the first hat-trick of 192-game career in the 56th minute. The Rabbitohs found serious fortune targeting Moses Mbye with four tries down his left edge, and an 18-0 lead that held until past the hour mark. And having made all the running for 60 minutes, the Rabbitohs suddenly went to water late. From there the Tigers came storming home. And never too far from the action, it was Mitchell once more with a defining play, chopping down Harry Grant with a try-saver that could've made all the difference. Nicholls was put on report and then soon after Mitchell made a clumsy swing that took Luke Garner around the neck when he broke into the backfield. Again Reynolds made sure his thoughts on Mitchell's were crystal clear, referee Ben Cummins having to advise him to "add value over there" before citing the Rabbitohs No.1. Meanwhile, a rare off night from the kicking tee for Adam Reynolds gave the Tigers just enough of a sniff to threaten a late comeback. That Reynolds was unable to convert any of them meant a couple of rapid fire tries to Josh Aloiai and rookie winger Reece Hoffman kept things interesting. But in a tough final ten minutes South Sydney re-grouped and held on to win the game 18-10 and move into 6th place.
Early in the week it was confirmed that Campbell Graham had suffered a micro fracture in the face from the kick in the face incident.
8 min 2-0 Reynolds goal
32 min 6-0 D.Gagai try Reynolds miss
37 min 10-0 D.Gagai try Reynolds miss
HT 10-0
46 min 14-0 Roberts try Reynolds miss
56 min 18-0 D.Gagai try Reynolds miss
63 min 18-6
68 min 18-10
D.Gagai 3, Roberts tries
Reynolds 1 from 5 goals
Referee B.Cummins
Crowd 4,864 (Match played with 25% capacity restricted attendance due to COVID-19)
Scrums 6-2 (1H 4-2 )
Penalities 6-5 (1H 5-1 )
6 Again 4-1 (1H 2-0 )
Final Line Up -
Min Tac Pe 6A MT LB Rn DR m Er OL K TA T G/A FG
Flbk - 1 - Mitchell, Latrell 80 3 1 - 1 - 9 - 74 - - - 1 - - -
RWng - 2 - Gagai, Dane 80 12 - - 2 4 18 - 181 2 - - - 3 - -
RCnt - 4 - Roberts, James 80 18 - - 2 1 9 - 135 1 - - - 1 - -
LCnt - 3 - Graham, Campbell 67 20 - - 4 - 17 2 159 - - 1 - - - - [0-6,19-80]
LWng - 5 - Johnston, Alex 80 6 - - - - 13 1 103 - - - - - - -
5/8 - 6 - Walker, Cody 80 21 1 - 3 1 13 - 99 1 - 2 1 - - -
Half - 7 - Reynolds, Adam 80 16 - - 2 1 6 1 75 1 - 19 1 - 1/5 - (c)
Prop - 8 - Tatola, Junior 49 31 - 1 1 - 14 - 161 - - - - - - - [0-30,61-80]
Hook - 9 - Cook, Damien 80 47 - - 3 - 14 13 109 1 1 - - - - -
Prop - 10 - Burgess, Tom 48 35 1 - 4 - 16 - 129 - - - - - - - [0-23,50-75]
SRow - 11 - Su'A, Jaydn 80 23 - - 1 - 15 - 119 2 - - - - - -
SRow - 12 - Lowe, Ethan 80 35 - - 4 - 8 - 44 - - - - - - -
Lock - 13 - Murray, Cameron 66 36 1 - 1 - 15 - 118 - 1 - - - - - [0-51,65-80]
Int - 15 - Sironen, Bayley 38 24 - - 3 - 12 - 116 - - - - - - - [6-19,30-50,75-80]
Int - 16 - Mago, Patrick 10 11 - - 1 - 4 - 54 2 - - - - - - [51-61]
Int - 17 - Sele, Hame 30 11 - - - - 14 - 171 - - - - - - - [23-53]
Int - 18 - Nicholls, Mark 12 10 1 - - - 2 - 16 - - - - - - - [53-65]
359 5 1 32 7 1872 10 2 22 3 4 1/5 -
Completion Rate - 38/47 81%
Opposition Offloads - 6
Effective 1st Tackles
0 min 11m KO
1 min 15m Reynolds kick
3 min 15m Reynolds kick COF
5 min 49m P SS Err(Walker) SS Err(Graham)
8 min 0m P P GOAL
9 min 16m Reynolds kick
11 min 46m Walker kick
12 min 31m Reynolds kick
15 min 7m P / Reynolds kick COF
16 min 14m Reynolds kick
19 min 27m WT Err / SS Err(SuA) SCR
20 min 17m Reynolds kick COF
22 min 6m WT Err SCR / ChOv
24 min 12m Reynolds kick COF / SS NO TRY
25 min 19m SS Err(Reynolds) SCR
27 min 31m Reynolds kick COF SS P(SuA) SS-CC
28 min 17m WT Err SCR / SS Err(Graham) SCR
32 min 0m SCR / WT-6A / P / TRY
34 min 12m Reynolds kick COF
36 min 28m SCR / Walker kick COF
37 min 0m WT Err SCR / WT-6A TRY
40 min 92m SS P(DCook) SS Err(DGagai) WT-CC
half time
41 min 8m Reynolds kick
42 min 4m SS NO TRY / ChOv
44 min 9m Reynolds kick
46 min 0m WT Err SCR / TRY
48 min 19m Reynolds kick
50 min 25m Reynolds kick
52 min 72m SS Err(Mago)
54 min 9m WT-6A / Reynolds kick
56 min 0m WT Err SCR / TRY
58 min 94m SS Err(Mago) 80m / SS P(Nicholls)
60 min 60m Reynolds kick
61 min 93m SS Err(SuA) 88m SS P(Mitchell) 92m / SS P(Walker) / (WT TRY)
65 min 41m KO 10m SS P(Burgess)
67 min 75m Reynolds kick COF 28m / SS-6A(Tatola) / (WT TRY)
70 min 10m KO
71 min 8m WT Err / WT-6A / ChOv
73 min 39m Reynolds kick DIG
76 min 26m WT Err / P / Graham kick
79 min 2m Reynolds kick
Average effective 1st tackle location
- 25.8m - for the whole match
- 20.4m - 1st half
- 32.4m - 2nd half
Other First Grade Matches
42-16 NQSt Syd Rstrs b Nth Qld
16-12 Robi Gold Coast b Warriors
56-24 Koga Penrith b Cronulla
26-8 LngS Brisbane b Canterbury
20-14 Bruc Melbourne b Canberra
10-4 NISC Parramatta b Newcastle
34-4 Koga St Geo-Ill b Manly
W D L B Diff PT
PARRAMATTA 8 - 1 - +114 16
PENRITH 7 1 1 - +84 15
MELBOURNE 7 - 2 - +73 14
SYD RSTRS 6 - 3 - +158 12
NEWCASTLE 5 1 3 - +45 11
SOUTHS 5 - 4 - +34 10
CANBERRA 5 - 4 - +31 10
WESTS-TIG 4 - 5 - +20 8
Cronulla 4 - 5 - -4 8
Manly 4 - 5 - -30 8
St Geo-Ill 3 - 6 - -16 6
Nth Qld 3 - 6 - -58 6
Warriors 3 - 6 - -97 6
Brisbane 3 - 6 - -109 6
Gold Coast 3 - 6 - -123 6
Canterbury 1 - 8 - -120 2
Judiciary News
In the 58th minute Nicholls was placed on report and subsequently charged with a grade two dangerous contact charge(head/neck). The base penalty is 300 points and he has no loading or carry-over points but qualifies for the 7 year 25% discount, reducing his base charge to 225 points. Mark Nicholls has later decided to take the early guilty plea but contest the grading of a dangerous contact head/neck charge, from a grade two to a grade one. Nicholls has successfully contested the downgrading of a dangerous contact head/neck charge, from a grade two to a grade one at the judicary. This has reduced the base penalty to 100 points and then has two 25% discounts applied(7 year discount and early guilty plea). He will not miss a match but will have 50 carry over points.
In the 61st minute Mitchell was placed on report is facing a fine for a grade 1 careless high tackle charge from a high tackle in the 61st minute. The base charge is a $750 fine. He has taken the early guilty plea which has reduced by 25% to $550. After the match the MRC has charged Mitchell with a grade two striking charge for striking Josh Reynolds in the 6th minute of the game after Josh Reynolds made contact with Campbell Graham's head with his boot. The base penalty is 300 points and he has no loading or carry-over points. Mitchell has later taken the early guilty plea which reduces the charge by 25% or 225 points and will miss two games with 25 carryover points.
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