Western Sydney Stadium
Sat Jul 18, 5:30pm
Marsters and Dennis were trimmed 24 hours before the game. Johns and Dillon were 18th men.
LOSS 18-20
Newcastle narrowly withstood a South Sydney tsunami to hang on 20-18 at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday. The Rabbitohs cruelled themselves with errors for much of the contest but came alive in the final 15 minutes, scoring three tries and having another denied by the Bunker. Ponga's three missed conversions almost proved incredibly costly. Mark Nicholls scored in the 65th minute before Damien Cook notched a double. Newcastle defended their line grimly at the death while the Rabbitohs rode a powerful wave of momentum. The Knights had managed just 22 points in their previous three outings and Ponga's form was questioned after he recorded zero try or line break involvements for two games straight. The star fullback quietened his critics with a scintillating first-half touchdown - his first since round four - as well as setting up Bradman Best with a quality grubber. Halfback Mitchell Pearce's kicking game was strong as he helped lift Newcastle into the top four in back-rower Aidan Guerra's 200th NRL appearance. The Rabbitohs missed Latrell Mitchell (suspension) and Campbell Graham (facial fracture), but completing only 72 percent of their sets hurt badly. Debutant winger Jaxson Paulo set up Damien Cook's second try with a kick in a glimpse of his talent. The Knights were without Daniel Saifiti (knee) but welcomed back Connor Watson, Mitch Barnett and Sione Mata'utia from the casualty ward. Both sides had early chances, but Newcastle capitalised when teenager Best belied his inexperience to assist winger Enari Tuala with a flick, using the strength and skill of a seasoned centre. Rabbitohs fans loudly disapproved that a forward pass wasn't ruled. Pearce shut them up when he dug into the line, copping a whack for his troubles, and linked with hard-running halves partner Kurt Mann to extend the lead. Chants of "Newcastle!" reverberated after Pearce piled on the pressure in the set after points by kicking a 40-20. An error let South Sydney off. Newcastle continued to threaten, routinely slipping out of tackles, but the scoreboard didn't quite reflect their dominance with 63 percent of possession after 25 minutes. Seeing Pearce pull the strings for the Knights, Rabbitohs halfback Adam Reynolds produced a 40-20 of his own to get his team on the attack. Again, their handling betrayed them. Ponga then got on the score-sheet in brilliant fashion, burning Cody Walker on the outside and zipping away in the 28th minute. A glut of six-again calls and penalties gave South Sydney every hope of ending the half with a try. It looked like they would when they created a massive right-edge overlap, but winger Corey Allan couldn't control a low, long pass. Ponga's grubber for Best kept Newcastle on the front foot and the No.1 added a penalty goal in the 58th minute to make it 20-0. After holding firm for so long, the Knights cracked in soft fashion when bench prop Nicholls charged across for his first try as a Rabbitoh. South Sydney quickly added a second four-pointer when Cook scampered over from dummy half following an Alex Johnston line break. Suddenly the Rabbitohs had all the running and they appeared to have closed the gap further when Tom Burgess forced his way into the in-goal, only for the Bunker to deem the prop had lost the ball. They weren't to be denied in the 73rd minute, however, as Cook won the race to a well-weighted in-field kick from Paulo. It seemed inevitable that South Sydney would claim a fourth to win the match but the Knights scrapped hard to turn them away and secure the two competition points.
10 min 0-6
13 min 0-10
28 min 0-14
HT 0-14
48 min 0-18
52 min 0-20
65 min 6-20 Nicholls try Reynolds goal
67 min 12-20 D.Cook try Reynolds goal
72 min 18-20 D.Cook try Reynolds goal
D.Cook 2, Nicholls tries
Reynolds 3 from 3 goals
Referee G.Atkins
Crowd 4,249 (Match played with 25% capacity restricted attendance due to COVID-19)
Scrums 5-9 (1H 3-3 )
Penalities 4-2 (1H 3-0 )
6 Again 5-4 (1H 5-4 )
Final Line Up -
Min Tac Pe 6A MT LB Rn DR m Er OL K TA T G/A FG
Flbk - 1 - Johnston, Alex 80 7 - - 2 1 18 - 180 1 2 - - - - -
RWng - 5 - Allan, Corey 80 11 - - - - 12 - 83 1 - - - - - -
RCnt - 3 - Roberts, James 80 23 - - 3 - 6 - 70 3 - - - - - -
LCnt - 4 - Gagai, Dane 80 20 - - - - 17 - 194 - - - - - - -
LWng - 2 + Paulo, Jaxson 80 6 - - 3 1 18 - 165 - - 2 1 - - -
5/8 - 6 - Walker, Cody 80 21 - 3 4 1 18 - 121 - - 5 - - - -
Half - 7 - Reynolds, Adam 80 16 - - 3 - 12 - 56 1 2 11 - - 3/3 - (c)
Prop - 8 - Tatola, Junior 48 40 2 - 1 - 8 - 73 - - - - - - - [0-18,50-80]
Hook - 9 - Cook, Damien 80 56 - - 4 1 13 12 128 - - 2 - 2 - -
Prop - 10 - Burgess, Tom 43 23 - - 3 - 16 - 179 2 - - - - - - [0-23,60-80]
SRow - 11 - Su'A, Jaydn 80 27 - - 4 - 10 - 98 - - - - - - -
SRow - 12 - Lowe, Ethan 60 29 - 1 2 - 7 - 44 1 - - - - - - [0-60]
Lock - 13 - Murray, Cameron 63 47 - - 2 - 15 1 118 1 2 - - - - - [0-33,50-80]
Int - 14 - Nicholls, Mark 16 9 - - - 1 7 - 68 1 - - - 1 - - [56-72]
Int - 15 - Sele, Hame 41 21 - - 2 - 12 - 108 - 1 - - - - - [23-56,72-80]
Int - 16 - Sironen, Bayley 32 23 - - 1 - 9 - 73 1 - - - - - - [18-50]
Int - 17 - Mago, Patrick 17 15 - - 1 - 5 - 52 - - - - - - - [33-50]
394 2 4 35 5 1815 12 7 20 1 3 3/3 -
Completion Rate - 31/43 72%
Opposition Offloads - 9
Effective 1st Tackles
1 min 74m SS Err(Murray) SCR
3 min 22m Walker kick COF
5 min 26m Nw-6A / Reynolds kick
6 min 73m SS Err(Roberts)
8 min 94m Reynolds kick DIG 44m SS-6A(Lowe) 55m / SS-6A(Walker) / (Nw TRY)
12 min 44m KO 16m / SS-6A(Walker) / (Nw TRY)
15 min 92m KO 15m / Nw 40-20
18 min 10m Nw Err SCR / Reynolds kick COF
19 min 28m Reynolds kick COF
21 min 21m Walker kick COF
22 min 90m SS Err(Roberts)
25 min 12m Nw Err SCR / Reynolds kick 40-20 / Nw-6A / SS Err(Murray) SCR
27 min 53m Walker kick ChDn 46m SS-6A(Walker) / (Nw TRY)
29 min 18m KO
31 min 14m Reynolds kick COF
32 min 29m Reynolds kick 24m SS 6TG(Roberts)
35 min 18m Nw Err SCR / Nw-6A / P / SS Err(Sironen) SCR
39 min 18m Nw-6A / Nw-6A / P / P / SS NO TRY SS Err(CAllan) SCR
half time
40 min 12m KO
42 min 18m SCR / Reynolds kick ChOv
44 min 15m Nw Err / Reynolds kick ChOv
46 min 53m SS Err(Roberts) SCR
47 min 67m DO / (Nw TRY)
50 min 100m KO 14m / SS P(Tatola) 61m / SS P(Tatola) (Nw GOAL)
53 min 7m KO
54 min 11m Paulo kick SCR
58 min 24m P / SS Err(Johnston) SCR
60 min 86m SCR / P Nw-CC SS Err(Nicholls) SCR
63 min 6m SS Err(Tatola) SS-CC / Walker kick COF
64 min 80m SS Err(Reynolds)
65 min 0m Nw Err / DCook kick Nw 6TG / TRY
67 min 0m TRY
69 min 25m Reynolds kick COF
70 min 14m Nw Err / SS NO TRY SS Err(Burgess) SCR
72 min 0m Paulo kick TRY
74 min 82m SS Err(Burgess) SS-CC(x) SCR
75 min 11m Nw Err / DCook kick
77 min 10m Nw Err SCR / Reynolds kick
79 min 2m Walker kick
Average effective 1st tackle location
- 36.1m - for the whole match
- 42.2m - 1st half
- 30.8m - 2nd half
Other First Grade Matches
24-20 SCG Canberra b Syd Rstrs
42-6 SunS Melbourne b Gold Coast
48-0 Leic Wests-Tig b Brisbane
28-22 Woll St Geo-Ill b Canterbury
22-18 Brok Manly b Parramatta
46-10 Gosf Cronulla b Warriors
22-10 Penr Penrith b Nth Qld
W D L B Diff PT
PENRITH 8 1 1 - +96 17
PARRAMATTA 8 - 2 - +110 16
MELBOURNE 8 - 2 - +109 16
NEWCASTLE 6 1 3 - +47 13
SYD RSTRS 6 - 4 - +154 12
CANBERRA 6 - 4 - +35 12
WESTS-TIG 5 - 5 - +68 10
SOUTHS 5 - 5 - +32 10
Cronulla 5 - 5 - +32 10
Manly 5 - 5 - -26 10
St Geo-Ill 4 - 6 - -10 8
Nth Qld 3 - 7 - -70 6
Warriors 3 - 7 - -133 6
Brisbane 3 - 7 - -157 6
Gold Coast 3 - 7 - -159 6
Canterbury 1 - 9 - -126 2
Judiciary News
No one has been charged out of the match.
NSWRL Womens Premiership - Round 1(Restarted)
BYE
The competition has been revised and restarted as a 7 round compeition from scratch with only 7 teams after Cabramatta, Mt Pritchard, St Marys and Penrith Brothers withdrew after COVID-19 outbreak.
Other Womens NSW Premiership Matches
8-8 NSO2 Norths d Wests-Tig
22-0 TLmb C Coast b Canterbury
28-14 Ring Cronulla b Wntwrthvll
W D L B Diff PT
CENTRAL COAST 1 - - - +22 2
CRONULLA 1 - - - +14 2
SOUTHS - - - 1 - 2
NORTHS - 1 - - - 1
Wests-Tigers - 1 - - - 1
Wentworthville - - 1 - -14 -
Canterbury - - 1 - -22 -
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