Stadium Australia
Sun Jul 22, 3:00pm
WIN 20-14
Rabbitohs coach Jason Taylor and co-captain Roy Asotasi both described rookie hooker Issac Luke as "a superstar in the making" following his man of the match performance in the Rabbitohs 20-14 win over the Cowboys today. Luke constantly tormented the Cowboys defence out of dummy half and was a rock in the defence in the middle of the park, an effort that earned him the Rabbitohs players' player award and the Channel Nine man of the match gong. Luke scored his first NRL try in the Rabbitohs no.9 and Taylor said he had a big future ahead of him as long as he kept working hard on his game. "Issac had another good game for us, we need to keep his feet on the ground, but I thought he was the difference today," Taylor said. "When I brought him into first grade for the first time against Melbourne I was looking for a little bit more in attack. I didn't know if he was ready and he was so nervous he was tired after one minute. Today when I pulled him off after about 25 minutes he wasn't happy to get replaced so that is a good sign." Asotasi has acted as a mentor to Luke since he joined the club at the end of last year. "He is a superstar in the making," Asotasi said. "He gives us that go forward he is so quick off the mark. We've got to keep his feet on the ground, he's a fellow Kiwi and we have to look after each other." The Cowboys opened the scoring through an Ashley Graham try in the 15th minute for an early 4-0 lead. That was until debutante halfback Eddie Paea sliced through the Cowboys defence from close range for his first NRL try in the 22nd minute. With Nathan Merritt's conversion the Rabbitohs led 6-4. From there Souths looked the side most likely to score again but a Merritt penalty goal, after Carl Webb was penalised for a high shot on Paea, in the 40th minute was the only addition to the score and the Rabbitohs went to the break leading 8-4. The NRL's leading tryscorer Cowboys fullback Matt Bowen struck soon after the break for his 17th try in 18 games this year. And when Johnathan Thurston landed the conversion North Queesland led 10-8 after 45 minutes. Luke then scored the Rabbitohs second try of the game in the 55th minute after a series of short passes on the Cowboys line to give the home side the lead 12-10. Five minutes later Faalogo put Ben Rogers through a hole from a scrum on the 50m line and the Souths five-eighth showed good pace to score his side's third try. Merritt landed the conversion and Souths led 18-10 in the 61st minute. Cowboys centre Scott Minto scored to peg the score back to 18-14 with 10 minutes to play which set the scene for a nerve-racking finish. Another penalty goal from Merritt, after Webb was penalised for holding down Luke in the play-the-ball, put the Rabbitohs a converted try clear and a 20-14 lead and that is the way things stayed until the full-time siren. A loss would have had the Rabbitohs behind the eight ball in the race for the eight but now they remain well and truly in the hunt. "We needed a win to stay in touch with the eight," Taylor said. "It's exciting for our fans and exciting for our players and that's what we set out to do at the start of the season. We wanted to be in contention for the top eight towards the end of the season and we are. For the fans and everyone associated with the club that's very exciting."
HT
Paea, Luke, Rogers tries
Merritt 4 from 5 goals
Crowd 10,022
Referee S.Clark
Penalities 11-5
Scrums 7-2
Min Tac Pe MT LB HU DR m Er OL K
Merritt 80 8 - - 1 14 - 121 1 1 -
Talanoa 80 7 - 3 1 8 7 52 - 1 1
Vagana 80 12 - 1 - 10 4 64 1 1 -
Hegarty 80 15 - 1 - 10 7 71 1 3 -
Mellor 80 2 - - 1 14 3 143 1 1 -
Rogers 80 24 1 6 1 9 1 103 1 2 7
Paea 80 13 1 2 1 7 - 77 - - 6
Cusack(c) 53 25 - - - 12 - 86 - - -
Luke 55 18 1 - 2 12 7 160 1 2 1
Asotasi(c) 80 25 - 1 - 20 2 208 - 2 -
Sutton 48 20 1 2 - 12 2 100 1 1 -
Faalogo 49 12 - 1 - 16 - 118 - 1 -
Widders 66 19 1 3 - 4 - 22 - - 5
Rigon 53 21 - 2 - 7 4 55 - 2 -
Stuart 46 18 - 2 - 13 1 98 1 - -
Manuokafoa 8 4 - - - 3 - 35 - - -
Pettybourne 12 8 - 2 1 5 - 56 - - -
TOTAL 251 5 26 8 8 17 20
Completion Rate - 31/41
Other FG Matches
W D L B Diff PT
MELBOURNE 16 0 2 1 +271 34
MANLY 14 0 4 1 +189 30
PARRAMATTA 11 0 7 1 +55 24
NTH QLD 10 0 8 1 -69 22
BRISBANE 9 0 9 1 +78 20
WARRIORS 9 0 9 1 +69 20
BULLDOGS 9 0 9 1 +44 20
WESTS-TIG 9 0 9 1 -18 20
Souths 8 0 10 1 -8 18
Gold Coast 8 0 10 1 -80 18
Newcastle 8 0 10 1 -150 18
Cronulla 7 0 11 1 +49 16
Canberra 7 0 11 1 -61 16
St Geo-Ill 7 0 11 1 -74 16
Sydney 7 0 11 1 -183 16
Penrith 5 0 13 1 -112 12
Judiciary News
No one was charged out of the match
Reserve Grade - NSW Premier League - Round 19
v Parramatta, North Sydney Oval Sat Jul 21 2:30pm
WIN 28-18
Late change Issac Gordon and Champion were out. It probably wasn't the Bears most polished performance however it is always great to beat the Eels who are consistantly a tough side to beat. Norths were leading 10-nil when the Eels had a player sent of for an illegal challenge on Bears kicker Joe Williams. Parramatta were able to fight back despite being 1 man short and were leading 18-16 before Troy Boston scored in the corner after a great cut-out pass from Joe Williams. Reece Simmonds scored from dummy half to make sure of the win.
10 min 4-0
24 min 10-0
33 min 12-0
36 min 12-4
39 min 12-10
49 min 16-10
54 min 16-16
63 min 16-18
73 min 22-18
76 min 28-18
Y.Gordon 2, Geddes, Boston, Simmonds tries
Williams 4 from 6 goals
Final Line Up
T G/A FG
Flbk - Simmonds, Reece 1 - -
Wing - Baird, Bladen - - -
Cntr - Nichols, Greg - - -
Cntr - Gordon, Yileen 2 - -
Wing - Boston, Troy 1 - -
5/8 - Paulson, Germaine - - -
Half - Williams, Joe - 4/6 -
Prop - Geddes, Scott 1 - -
Hook - Irvine, Daniel - - -
Prop - Falemaka, Joe - - -
SRow - Lowe, Ben - - -
SRow - Greenfield, Michael - - -
Lock - Bobongie, Jardine - - -
Int - Ta'akimoeaka, Conrad - - -
Int - Verlinden, Ryan - - -
Int - Wynyard, David - - -
5 4/6 -
Other Reserve Grade Matches
W D L B Diff PT
BULLDOGS 12 0 5 2 +10 28
PENRITH 11 0 6 2 +165 26
NEWCASTLE 10 1 5 3 +46 27
ST GEO-ILL 9 2 6 2 +54 24
BALM-RYDE 9 1 7 2 +23 23
NORTHS 8 0 8 3 -9 22
PARRAMATTA 8 1 8 2 +74 21
MANLY 8 1 8 2 +33 21
Canberra 7 0 9 3 +20 20
Cronulla 7 0 10 2 -63 18
Newtown 5 2 10 2 -25 16
Auckland 6 0 11 2 -90 16
Wests 5 0 12 2 -238 14
NSWRL Jersey Flegg - Under 20's - Round 19
v Manly-Warringah, 1:05pm
LOSS 16-18
17 min 4-0
21 min 6-0
32 min 12-0
35 min 12-6
44 min 16-6
50 min 16-12
67 min 16-18
Powell 2, Douglas tries
Browne 1 from 2, Nathan 1 from 2 goals.
Other U20 Matches
W D L B Diff PT
PARRAMATTA 13 1 3 2 +264 31
PENRITH 13 1 2 2 +199 31**
CANBERRA 11 2 4 2 +96 28
BULLDOGS 10 2 4 2 +138 26**
BALMAIN 8 2 5 3 +17 24**
NEWCASTLE 8 0 8 2 +98 20**
MANLY 7 2 6 2 +44 20**
SOUTHS 7 1 8 2 -54 19**
Cronulla 5 1 10 3 -15 17
Wests 5 0 10 3 -47 16**
Sydney 5 0 11 2 -172 14**
Norths 2 0 13 3 -270 10**
C.Coast 2 0 13 3 -286 10**
** - Washed out match in Rd13