2021 NRL Premiership - Minor Preliminary Final

(2v4) South Sydney v Manly-Warringah

Lang Stadium

Fri Sep 24, 8:05pm

Selected Preliminary Semi-Final Team

CyberView from the Hill - Last Week

CyberView from the Hill - This Week

Late Changes

Cartwright, Burns were trimmed 24 hours before the game. Milne was trimmed on game day.

WIN 36-16

Finals are being played in Queensland due to the Greater Sydney Delta Variant covid outbreak.

Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes from 7:50pm, as the Manly team bus requiring a police escort through traffic to the venue.

Wayne Bennett and the Bunnies finally broke their preliminary duck from both during his tenure and before it with their 36-16 win over Manly. The fourth time proving a charm as Cody Walker and Damien Cook carved Manly to pieces. Reynolds took a backseat against the Sea Eagles on Friday night, nursing a groin strain that was picked up on Tuesday and kept quiet right until he took the field for a pre-game fitness test. The Sea Eagles woes meanwhile began before a kick-off that was delayed by 15 minutes, Des Hasler's team bus requiring a police escort through traffic to Suncorp Stadium. Their incredible season ended up under the wheels of it even with Reynolds battling early, largely because Walker was in his element. Walker's first – which saw three players fumble a dribbling kick before he nabbed it gave Souths a early 6 nil lead. Garrick was soon after denied a first half try due to obstruction. Then in a counter attack a great cutout pass by Taaffe saw the obligatory Alex Johnston try as Souths moved out to a 12 nil lead. Tom Trbojevic also was denied a try when he fumbled over the line. Reynolds' first kick of the night started the play in the 30th minute, but Cook's left-foot dink when the bomb came down left it in the shade. Cook too stood tallest where in previous finals he has been tough to find, laying on a show-stealing four-pointer that shot the Sea Eagles down for good. Walker of course was right where he needed to be, on the end of a glorious grubber for an 18-0 lead. Two opportunistic first-half tries answered concerns that have often come around big games for Walker. Souths went into the break leading 22 nil after Paulo crossed for his first try. With only seven completed sets and another seven squandered through poor handling at that stage, Manly were as complicit as anyone in their downfall. After the break a poor kick from Walker, Manly hit back to reduce the margin to 22 to 6. Right to the end the Sea Eagles kept fighting with Garrick and Trbojevic both eventually scoring when the game was gone. But in a few minutes Marshall had put paid any comeback when he put Graham through the gap to take a 28 to 6 lead. This was then followed 9 minutes later with another Reynolds kick caught on the full by Jaxson Paulo as he moonwalked to the tryline for a 32 to 6 lead. Blake Taaffe played a significant part too in a team that supposedly had no hope without Latrell Mitchell, making himself at home once more in the No.1 and taking the goalkicking duties from Reynolds. Jaxson Paulo's double – scoring a try either side of half-time – doused the briefest of Manly fightbacks that was given hope when Reuben Garrick got on the scoreboard. Right to the end the Sea Eagles kept fighting with Garrick and Trbojevic both eventually scoring when the game was gone. But the last try went to Alex Johnston in another left side attacking play as he equalled Les Brennan's record of 29 tries for South Sydney in a season. Bennett conceded playing Reynolds with both their cardinal and myrtle careers on the line was "a risk" but pointed to a nine-day recovery for next Sunday's grand final as ample time for the injury to heal. "He had an injury that [meant] he was pretty close to not playing," Bennett said. "The thing he couldn't do was kick. We didn't know if he'd get through the game either but we took the risk and we managed to pull it off."

12 min  6-0  Walker try Taaffe goal
22 min 12-0  Johnston try Taaffe goal
28 min 18-0  Walker try Taaffe goal
37 min 22-0  Paulo try Taaffe miss
HT     22-0
43 min 22-6
50 min 28-6  Graham try Taaffe goal
59 min 32-6  Paulo try Taaffe miss
73 min 32-10
76 min 32-16
79 min 36-16 Johnston try Taaffe miss

Walker 2, Johnston 2, Paulo 2, Graham tries
Taaffe 4 from 7 goals

Referee     A.Klien
Crowd       26,294   (Played with 75% capacity due to the Brisbane Covid outbreak)

Scrums       4-5 (1H  1-2 )
Penalities   4-1 (1H  1-1 )
6 Again      4-4 (1H  2-2 )

Final Line Up -                      
                                 Min Tac Pe 6A MT LB  Rn  DR    m Er OL   K TA  T  G/A  FG 2FG
Flbk -  1 - Taaffe, Blake         80   1  -  -  2  -  10   1  149  1  -   -  2  -  4/7   -   -     
RWng -  5 - Paulo, Jaxson         80   3  -  -  2  1  15   -  108  -  1   -  -  2  -     -   -
RCnt -  4 - Graham, Campbell      80  18  -  -  4  1  13   1   98  -  2   -  1  1  -     -   -
LCnt -  3 - Gagai, Dane           80  17  -  -  3  -  19   1  165  3  -   1  1  -  -     -   -
LWng -  2 - Johnston, Alex        80   4  -  -  1  2  15   1  132  -  2   -  -  2  -     -   -
5/8  -  6 - Walker, Cody          80  20  -  -  4  -  17   -  100  2  1  11  -  2  -     -   -
Half -  7 - Reynolds, Adam        69  17  -  1  2  -  14   -   92  -  -   9  1  -  -     -   - (c) [0-69]
Prop -  8 - Nicholls, Mark        31  17  -  -  1  -  13   -  106  -  -   -  -  -  -     -   -     [0-19,67-68,69-80]
Hook -  9 - Cook, Damien          80  38  -  1  2  -  10   6  101  -  -   3  1  -  -     -   -     
Prop - 10 - Tatola, Junior        42  22  -  1  -  -  11   -  102  2  -   -  -  -  -     -   -     [0-19,57-80]
SRow - 11 - Koloamatangi, Keaon   67  24  -  -  3  -  14   -  131  -  1   -  -  -  -     -   -     [0-67]
SRow - 12 - Su'A, Jaydn           80  28  -  -  3  -  15   -  109  1  -   -  -  -  -     -   -     
Lock - 13 - Murray, Cameron       63  35  1  -  -  -  24   -  195  1  3   -  -  -  -     -   -     [0-34,51-80]

Int  - 14 - Marshall, Benji       29  12  -  -  3  -   5   -   33  -  -   -  1  -  -     -   -     [34-51,68-80]
Int  - 15 - Host, Jacob           24   8  -  -  1  -   5   -   30  -  -   -  -  -  -     -   -     [56-80]
Int  - 16 - Burgess, Tom          37  17  -  1  2  -  16   -  129  -  1   -  -  -  -     -   -     [19-56]
Int  - 17 - Arrow, Jai            38  25  -  -  1  -  13   -  111  1  -   -  -  -  -     -   -     [19-57]

Conc - 19 - Mago, Patrick                                                                          (DNP)

                                     306  1  4 34  4         1897 11 11  24  7  7  4/7   -   -

Completion Rate      - 37/48 77%

Opposition Offloads  - 5
 
Effective 1st Tackles

 0 min  16m Walker kick COF
 2 min  32m Walker kick COF
 4 min  18m Walker kick COF
 6 min   0m MW Err / SS NO TRY / Walker kick CIG
 9 min  17m NW-6TG SCR MW-6A / SS Err(Taaffe) SCR
10 min   8m Walker kick
12 min   0m MW-6TG / DGagai kick TRY
14 min  66m SS Err(SuA)
16 min  22m MW Err / Walker kick COF 17m / SS-6A(DCook)
18 min  48m Walker kick COF 10m / SS P(Murray) / (MW NO TRY)
20 min   0m P / DCook kick CIG
22 min   0m MW-6A / TRY
24 min  62m SS Err(Arrow) / (MW NO TRY)
27 min  12m Walker kick MW-6TG / ChOv
28 min   0m Reynolds kick DCook kick TRY
31 min  25m Reynolds kick /
33 min  10m Reynolds kick COF
35 min  65m MW Err / SS Err(Walker) SCR 40m / SS-6A(Graham)
37 min   0m MW Err / TRY
39 min  72m MW-ShKO SS Err(DGagai)

half time

40 min  18m KO
42 min  55m Walker kick OOF / (MW TRY)
45 min  19m KO
47 min  33m Reynolds kick
48 min  10m MW Err / Reynolds kick
50 min   0m MW Err / Reynolds kick
52 min  10m Reynolds kick COF
54 min  40m Walker kick / 18m / SS-6A(Burgess)
57 min  34m MW-6A / Reynolds kick
59 min   0m Reynolds kick TRY
61 min  70m MW-ShKO
63 min  16m MW Err SCR / Reynolds kick COF
65 min   7m MW Err P / SS Err(DGagai) SCR
70 min   0m P-10SB / MW-6TG MW-CC(x) SCR / MW-6A / DCook kick CIG
71 min  22m MW-ShDO / SS Err(Murray) 12m / SS-6A(Murray)
73 min  23m MW Err / P / SS NO TRY SS Err(Tatola) SS-CC(x) SCR / (MW TRY)
75 min  13m KO
76 min 100m MW Err / SS Err(Tatola) SCR (MW TRY)
77 min  14m KO
79 min   0m MW Err SCR / TRY

Average effective 1st tackle location
- 24.6m - for the whole match

- 23.6m - 1st half  
- 25.8m - 2nd half  

Other First Grade Matches

10-6  LngS (3v1) Penrith    b Melbourne
      

Judiciary News

No one has been charged out of the match.


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