Sun Aug 15, 2:00pm
Late Changes
Beau Champion dropped out of the squad, Dylan Farrell coming into the centers and Jamie Simpson onto the bench. Crossman travelled to Melbourne as 18th man.
LOSS 16-18
The South Sydney Rabbitohs fell just two points short of defeating the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne, going down 18 points to 16 at AAMI Park today (Sunday). The Rabbitohs trailed 18-4 after 44 minutes, but mounted a late comeback to give themselves a chance of taking home the two elusive competition points from the Victorian capital. Nathan Merritt scored a double for the Rabbitohs, registering his 100th try in the NRL in the process. The Rabbitohs muscled up from the opening kick off, with big men Roy Asotasi, Sam Burgess and Jaiman Lowe working hard for metres up the middle. The Rabbitohs looked more composed than the Storm, but it was unstructured play that led to the first points. South Sydney, looking stranded on the last tackle, spread the ball to the right, finding Nathan Merritt 30 metres out from his own line with a little bit of space in front of him. He took the chance and raced 50 metres before drawing the fullback and passing inside to Capewell who scored in the right hand corner for a four-nil lead after six minutes. The Storm took the lead in the 12th minute when Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater combined to score adjacent to the posts. Smith converted to give the home side a two-point advantage. The Rabbitohs had a couple of opportunities at the Melbourne end of the ground, but an error from a goal-line drop-out put the Rabbitohs under pressure in the 19th minute. Seven minutes of sustained pressure led to the Storm’s next points when Ryan Hinchcliffe scored under the posts from dummy half in the 26th minute. Cameron Smith converted to give the Storm a 12-4 lead. Both sides struggled to hold their feet and the ball over the next ten minutes, with the rain falling and the grass looking slippery under foot. The Rabbitohs had a chance to post points in the 38th minute with Merritt unable to ground the ball after a Sandow bomb, but the Rabbitohs were applying some late pressure after sustaining a mountain of pressure themselves in the first 40 minutes. The Storm started the second half perfectly with Hinchcliffe’s second try coming from a Cooper Cronk bomb to the right hand corner. Smith converted from the sideline to lead 18-4 just after the break. South Sydney mounted some pressure around the 57th minute, earning some repeat sets which came close to paying dividends. They continued to play a majority of the game in the Storm’s half which would pay off for the Rabbitohs. The pressure paid off in the 64th minute when Nathan Merritt crossed for his 99th career try in the right hand corner. The Rabbitohs caught the Storm short on the right hand side and good balls from Wesser and Farrell gave Merritt a chance to beat four defenders to score. Sandow converted from the sideline to reduce the deficit to eight. Seven minutes later Merritt scored his 100th career try, capping an amazing set of six for the winger. The Rabbitohs were spreading the ball from touch line to touch line. Merritt saved a ball going into touch on the right wing, and the very next play he scored on the left side of the field after a sensational effort to get the ball down in heavy traffic. Sandow converted to take the scores to 18-16 in favour of the Storm. The Rabbitohs threw everything at the Storm over the final five minutes of play. After the siren, the Rabbitohs mounted one final attacking raid down the left hand touch line but the ball was kicked dead by the defence and the Storm held on for a two-point victory. Chris Sandow and Nathan Merritt were the Rabbitohs’ best today, with Issac Luke looking dangerous at times in the second half. Luke Capewell looked string with ball in hand and he defended well throughout the game. Sam Burgess worked hard all match, and the whole side tried right to the end after having played a 90-minute war of attrition the week before. A flat period during the middle of match hurt the Rabbitohs, but the team is still alive in the race for the semi finals in season 2010.
6 min 4-0
12 min 4-6
26 min 4-12
42 min 4-18
64 min 18-10
71 min 18-16
Merritt 2, Capewell tries
Sandow 2 from 3 goals
Crowd 9,172
Referee S.Lyons/C.James
Penalities 6-3
Scrums 10-8
Min Tac Pe MT LB HU DR m Er OL K TA
Wesser 80 4 - - - 14 - 88 - - - -
Merritt 80 7 - 2 2 9 1 53 2 - - 1 RW
Best 80 12 - - 1 13 3 121 1 2 - 1 LC
Farrell 80 19 - 4 - 5 1 53 - - 1 1 RC
Talanoa 80 4 - 1 1 13 4 87 - 1 1 -
Capewell 80 22 - 4 2 7 - 94 1 - 2 -
Sandow 80 16 1 7 - 6 1 39 2 - 18 -
Lowe.J 48 27 - 4 - 12 - 94 - - - -
Luke 80 18 - 3 - 5 5 43 5 1 - -
Asotasi 48 13 - 2 - 18 - 183 1 1 - -
Tyrrell 46 20 - 2 - 6 - 50 - - - -
Pettybourne 65 30 - 2 - 10 - 63 - - - -
Burgess 80 27 - 2 - 20 - 120 1 4 1 -
Stapleton 30 19 - - - 5 - 42 - - - -
McPherson 27 16 - 1 - 4 - 29 - - - -
Crocker 36 29 1 - - 11 - 86 - - - -
Simpson 20 9 1 - - 3 - 23 - - - -
TOTAL 292 3 34 6 1268 13 9 23 3
Completion Rate 29/39 74%
Effective 1st Tackles
1 min 19m Sandow kick COF
2 min 7m Sandow kick
5 min 0m TRY
8 min 18m Sandow kick
10 min 24m Farrell kick DIG / (M TRY)
15 min 23m Sandow kick
17 min 0m M Err / P / Burgess kick CIG
19 min 41m SS Err (asotasi) SCR
20 min 65m DO
21 min 74m DO
22 min 29m M Err / Capewell kick DIG
24 min 98m SS Err (Luke) SCR 79m / SS P (Sandow) / (M TRY)
29 min 32m M Err SCR / SS Err (Luke)
31 min 60m P / SS Err (Luke) SCR
33 min 19m M Err SCR / Sandow kick
35 min 12m M Err SCR / SS Err (Burgess) SCR
36 min 20m Sandow kick
37 min 26m M Err / Sandow kick SS Err (Merritt)
39 min 66m DO
40 min 65m M Err SCR Capewell kick
half time
40 min 49m SS P (Crocker) / (M TRY)
45 min 33m Sandow kick
46 min 72m DO
48 min 85m SS Err (Sandow) SCR
49 min 75m DO
50 min 19m M Err / Sandow kick SCR
53 min 15m P / Sandow kick
54 min 70m SS Err (Best)
58 min 17m M Err / P / P / Sandow kick SS Err (Burgess) SCR
60 min 45m Sandow kick
62 min 0m M Err / P / P / Sandow kick CIG
64 min 0m TRY
66 min 15m Sandow kick
68 min 54m SS Err (Luke) SCR
70 min 0m M Err SCR / TRY
72 min 65m Sandow kick 12m / SS P (Simpson)
75 min 16m Sandow kick
77 min 9m SCR / Sandow kick COF
79 min 0m P / Talanoa kick CIG
Average effective 1st tackle location
- 34.3m - for the whole match
- 34.9m - 1st half
- 33.6m - 2nd half
If you now remove the tries
- 36.7m - 1st half
- 37.6m - 2nd half
Other FG Matches
30-14 Lang Parramatta b Brisbane
18-12 Ende Cronulla b Sydney
37-18 Robi Gold Coast b Nth Qld
28-14 StAu Canberra b Canterbury
22-10 MtSm Warriors b Newcastle
43-18 Camp Wests-Tig b Penrith
32-10 Koga St Geo-Ill b Manly
W D L B Diff PT
ST GEO-ILL 15 - 6 2 +213 34
GOLD COAST 13 - 8 2 +24 30
WESTS-TIG 13 - 8 2 +23 30
PENRITH 12 - 9 2 +76 28
SYDNEY 12 - 9 2 +32 28
WARRIORS 12 - 9 2 +6 28
MANLY 11 - 10 2 +54 26
BRISBANE 11 - 10 2 +25 26
Souths 10 - 11 2 +59 24
Parramatta 10 - 11 2 -54 24
Canberra 10 - 11 2 -56 24
Newcastle 9 - 12 2 -58 22
Canterbury 7 - 14 2 -47 18
Cronulla 6 - 15 2 -211 16
Nth Qld 5 - 16 2 -186 14
Melbourne 12 - 9 2 +78 0 **
Judiciary News
No one was placed on report
NYC Round 23
v Melbourne
Sun Aug 15, 11:45am
WIN 46-42
Team was 1-17. In the Toyota Cup, the South Sydney Rabbitohs mounted an amazing second half comeback to defeat the Melbourne Storm 46 points to 42 at AAMI Park in Melbourne. The Rabbitohs trailed by 20 points with 20 minutes left on the clock, but a four-try blitz saw the Rabbitohs snatch a victory which propels them to second position on the competition ladder. Winger James Roberts scored a double for South Sydney in the amazing victory.
4 min 6-0
7 min 6-6
11 min 6-12
18 min 6-18
26 min 10-18
31 min 16-18
40 min 16-24
43 min 22-24
48 min 22-30
56 min 22-36
60 min 22-42
67 min 28-42
71 min 34-42
73 min 40-42
78 min 46-42
Roberts 2, Vaivai, Peats, Shearer, Reynolds, Mansour, Morgan tries
Reynolds 7 from 8 goals
Other NYC Matches
46-18 Lang Brisbane b Parramatta
20-16 Ende Cronulla b Sydney
24-22 Robi Nth Qld b Gold Coast
60-18 StAu Canterbury b Canberra
30-26 MtSm Warriors b Newcastle
44-24 Camp Wests-Tig b Penrith
46-14 Koga St Geo-Ill b Manly
W D L B Diff PT
NTH QLD 13 3 5 2 +176 33
SOUTHS 14 - 7 2 +87 32
WARRIORS 13 1 7 2 +138 31
SYDNEY 13 1 7 2 +95 31
CANTERBURY 13 2 7 2 +97 30
CANBERRA 13 - 8 2 +26 30
MANLY 12 - 9 2 +52 28
WESTS-TIG 11 - 10 2 +82 26
Gold Coast 10 1 10 2 -71 25
Brisbane 9 1 11 2 +65 23
Newcastle 9 1 11 2 -48 23
St Geo-Ill 9 - 12 2 +12 22
Cronulla 8 1 12 2 -123 21
Penrith 7 - 14 2 -183 18
Melbourne 5 2 14 2 -149 16
Parramatta 3 1 17 2 -258 11
NRL Club Championship
W D L B Diff PT
WARRIORS 25 1 16 4 +148 59
Sydney 25 1 16 4 +127 59
St Geo-Ill 24 - 18 4 +225 56
Souths 24 - 18 4 +146 56
Wests-Tig 24 - 18 4 +92 56
Gold Coast 23 1 18 4 -57 55
Manly 23 - 19 4 +108 54
Canberra 23 - 19 4 -30 54
Brisbane 20 1 21 4 +98 49
Canterbury 19 2 21 4 +50 48
Nth Qld 18 1 21 4 -10 47
Penrith 19 - 21 4 -107 46
Newcastle 18 1 23 4 -96 45
Cronulla 14 1 27 4 -334 37
Parramatta 13 1 28 4 -312 35
Melbourne 17 2 23 4 -51 16 **
NSW Cup Rd23
v Windsor
Windsor Sports ComplexSat Aug 14, 6:00pm
LOSS 4-78
Itula, Talanoa, Simpson and Crossman did not play. McLean started at fullback, Stevens on the wing, Jackson in the centers. Nightingale started at prop. Zrieka and Jack Hawkins were added to the bench. Norths boss Greg Florimo said the undermanned Bears were desperate to atone. ``We were understrength,’’ he said. ``Souths’ injuries are affecting us and we had a couple of young guys from A-grade who haven’t had that experience. ``We have another game this weekend to redeem ourselves and we’re aiming to beat the Tigers. ``We need to get a bit of respect back for the fans and for ourselves.’‘
2 min 0-6
6 min 0-12
20 min 4-12
24 min 4-16
26 min 4-22
30 min 4-26
33 min 4-32
39 min 4-38
48 min 4-44
53 min 4-50
56 min 4-56
63 min 4-62
66 min 4-66
72 min 4-72
79 min 4-78
Johnston tries
Paea 0 from 1 goals
Other NSW Cup Matches
26-22 MtSm Newtown b Auckland
36-16 Leic Wests b Melbourne
46-10 Leic Balm-Ryde b Cronulla
46-16 Crst Canterbury b C Coast
48-28 Ring Wntwrthvll b Shllhrbr
W D L Diff PT
NEWTOWN 17 1 4 +131 35
CANTERBURY 17 - 5 +269 34
BALMAIN-RYDE 17 - 5 +168 34
WINDSOR 15 2 5 +248 32
WESTS 13 1 8 +120 27
WENTWORTHVILE 10 1 11 -13 21
MELBOURNE 10 - 12 +4 20
CRONULLA 7 1 14 +12 15
Auckland 7 - 15 -198 14
Central Coast 6 - 16 -205 12
Shellharbour 5 - 17 -180 10
Norths 5 - 17 -344 10