Adam Reynolds field goal seals late victory for South Sydney Rabbitohs over Canterbury Bulldogs; Rabbitohs have beaten the bulldogs by 21-14. ALMOST two years since the most harrowing night of his short career, Adam Reynolds finally put Canterbury to the sword at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night. The Rabbitohs halfback emerged the hero for his team, which didn’t hit the front until the 73rd minute when he sent veteran winger Lote Tuqiri across with a brilliant spiral cut-out pass. The matchwinning try came from a line dropout that Reynolds forced with a perfect grubber, heaping pressure on the Bulldogs to defend their slender 14-12 lead as the clock wound down. For good measure Reynolds converted from out wide, before adding a long range penalty and drop goal in the dying stages to keep Souths’ minor premiership dream alive. The stunning finale for Reynolds was just reward on the same turf that he exited with hamstring tear in the 2012 grand final qualifier, which saw Canterbury advance to the decider in his absence. The Bulldogs are now no chance of reaching the top four, and must win their final game against Gold Coast to ensure they reach the finals. Souths also have problems ahead of next Thursday night’s blockbuster against the Roosters, with Issac Luke placed on report for dangerous contact. The hooker has 75 carry-over points and any charge will see him miss what could well be a playoff for the J.J. Giltinan Shield. Reynolds could also be missing after a dangerous throw on Moses Mbye was placed on report. Seven nights earlier a meagre crowd more befitting of the Armidale Blues netball team on a crisp New England morning was dribbled across the vast expanses of ANZ Stadium. Thanks to improved weather and Ennis’s final Bulldogs home match, the terraces were more healthily occupied — but still less than half the 43,000 that greeted these same opponents on Good Friday. Canterbury scraped home with a last-ditch drop goal on that occasion, and, despite being underdogs for the return rubber, began like a team with a mental edge. Their revival over the past two weeks has been built upon a rediscovery of a mistake-free brand of power football that emphasises this team’s undeniable strength — their big men. There’s none more fearsome than James Graham, who always relishes his clashes with the Burgess brothers, in particular rugby-bound Sam. Given this could well be their final meeting, Graham was in a rampant mood, while Burgess was rubbery, fumbling twice and throwing a wild pass that was lucky not to be intercepted. On the plus side Burgess scored South Sydney’s lone try before halftime, which levelled the scores at 6-all on 28 minutes. It came from five straight penalties — the only blip on Canterbury’s complete dominance during the opening stanza. Lifted by the vocal reception for Ennis, who entered the field with his four young children, the Bulldogs hit the front after just seven minutes. Ennis’s fellow Shark-in-waiting, Mitch Brown, finished a dynamic blindside move that was started by a Mbye short ball to Josh Morris. Apart from the penalty-assisted possession glut midway through the half, Souths were again clunky. A halftime deadlock would not do justice to Canterbury’s execution, and the scoreboard complied in the 33rd minute when Ennis struggled across from dummy half to set up their 12-6 lead at the interval. Souths took just five minutes to square the ledger a second time — once again through Keary and Burgess. This time the diminutive five eighth was even more brilliant, stepping past two defenders with lightning feet before flicking a ball into the Englishman’s grasp right on the try line. Soon afterwards, Burgess was crossing a less sought-after stripe — the western sideline. He did so with a limp in his left leg, but allayed the fears of the Rabbitohs faithful by returning with just under 20 minutes left. By that staged Canterbury had edged back in front, thanks to a Trent Hodkinson penalty goal in the 54th minute. South Sydney’s bid to overturn the lead wasn’t helped with Burgess struggling to play with pain in his right shoulder, which was injured last month in Canberra, and the loss of Chris McQueen to a poked eye after accidental contact from Keary. Nevertheless they managed to do so courtesy of Hodkinson, who kicked out on the full from deep within his own territory in the 70th minute. A dropout maintained the pressure, before Tuqiri’s try from the ensuing set gave Souths the lead for the first time with just seven minutes left. Josh Massoud The Daily Telegraph rugbyleagueforum/topic/5614042/1/#new
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 12:23:25 +0000
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