The grand finalists met in a rematch at the
Cathy Freeman-John Aloisi Memorial Stadium and the sequel was even better than
the original.
Both teams went into the match with 3-1
records, and it was last season’s runners-up who opened the scoring in the
fifth minute when a double knock-on led to a scrum, which led to Curtis Rona
being put through in the corner. When Sam Perrett took advantage of some poor
defending to score in the other corner nine minutes later, the Bulldogs were up
10-0 and it was looking like turning into a rout.
The weather, however, was to be a constant
factor throughout the match, and the Berries’ next two line breaks failed due
to fumbles and poor footwork caused in part by the precipitation. They looked
as if they would go into the sheds with a comfortable lead when an Alex
Johnston kick was saved by Brett Morris, followed by a Glenn Stewart line break
being quashed through Tom Burgess’ knock-on. The sight of the trainer strapping
Greg Inglis’ knee was another worry for i
rossoverdi.
In the thirty-ninth minute, however, the
complexion of the match changed. A Canterbury infringement at the play-the-ball
gave Souths a scrum feed, and the resulting passage of play put Isaac Luke
over, but not before Sam Kasiano’s knee collided with his head, ruling him out
for the rest of the match. Adam Reynolds, as is his wont, made no mistake with
the conversion or the penalty, and the eight-point try put them two points
behind.
The second half, however, opened with
little sign of a Rabbitohs comeback. Canterbury extended their lead in the
twelfth minute of the period when Josh Morris’ chest and hands were on the
right end of a kick, and Trent Hodkinson’s conversion put the score at 16-8.
Souths responded soon after, front-rower David Tyrrell getting on the end of a
deflected grubber kick and grounding underneath the posts.
In a brutal war of attrition at a
rain-soaked Stade Olympique, that would turn out to be the final try. Both
teams had bombs defused in the in-goal area, and a Canterbury play-the-ball
infringement resulted in Souths being held up over the line and then blowing a
kick. A South play-the-ball infringement well within goal-kicking range soon
followed, but i biancoazzurri gambled
and went for the try. When that failed, Souths ran the ball down the pitch,
drawing a penalty from Canterbury’s Lancastrian prop James Graham. Reynolds’
kick tied the scores and one readied oneself for that David Gallop-induced
abomination, golden point extra time.
The post-penalty kick-off, which looked to
be sailing out of bounds, was inexplicably misfielded by two Rabbitohs players.
The line drop-out was long, but not long enough to prevent Hodkinson from
getting within field goal range and putting the Bulldogs ahead. When Reynolds
tried the same from an impossible situation forty-five metres out, he was
cleaned up by Graham, charging in to smother the kick. The fracas, if you will,
that followed resulted in a report, a sin binning, some crowd trouble, and the
awarding of a penalty to Souths. Bryson Goodwin did the honours for the
injury-ravaged reigning premiers, and another chapter in this great rivalry was
written.
Canterbury-Bankstown 17 – South Sydney 18
Tries: Rona 5’; Perrett 14’; J. Morris
(C.-B.); Luke 39’; Tyrrell 59’ (S. Syd)
Conversions: Hodkinson 2/3 (C.-B.);
Reynolds 2/2 (S. Syd)
Penalties: Reynolds 2/2; Goodwin 1/1 (S.
Syd)
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