Eels 14 Defeat Rabbitohs 8
20 Mar 2009
The South Sydney Rabbitohs fell to the Parramatta Eels in round two of the Telstra Premiership tonight (Friday), going down 14 points to 8 at ANZ Stadium in front of 20,871 Members and supporters.
The scores were locked at eight-all in the first half, with a lone Eels try proving the difference in a tightly fought battle.
The Rabbitohs struck first, peppering the Eels line with a few attacking raids, which paid off for halfback Chris Sandow who scored the opening points. Sandow put up a towering bomb which couldn't be diffused by the Eels, leaving Sandow to clean up the ball in the in-goal area to score. Issac Luke converted to give the Rabbitohs a six-nil lead after only five minutes.
The Eels struck back just four minutes later when lock-forward Feleti Mateo spun out of a tackle on the Rabbitohs' line. Luke Burt converted the try to level the scores at six-all.
The Eels hit the lead in the 20th minute when Luke Burt kicked a penalty goal, the Rabbitohs then matching suit by kicking a penalty goal of their own through Luke. The scores were locked at eight-all at the break.
The Eels seemed to be making easy metres through the middle of the ruck, an area in which the Rabbitohs were so tight the previous week against the Roosters. The Rabbitohs did not look quite as organised and looked flat in attack.
The Rabbitohs had opportunities to mount some attacking raids in the second half but nothing came to fruition. Both Nathan Merritt and Rhys Wesser pulled off some try-saving defence, however in the 61st minute of play, winger Joel Reddy crossed in the left hand corner to give the Eels a six-point advantage after Burt's conversion.
The Rabbitohs had a couple of scoring opportunities in the final stages of the match but couldn't finish them off, leaving the final score at 14-8 in favour of the away team.
Rabbitohs Head Coach Jason Taylor said after the match: "The opposition deserved the points. We just didn't have the zip that we had last week."
"The short week in preparation didn't help. Playing on Sunday in hot conditions then having to back up on Friday night hurt us.
"We didn't play with any speed which made us easy to defend. After last week we needed to build our game again and we tried to do that.
"In saying all of that, we still only got beaten by a try, we only had a couple of tries scored against us two weeks in a row now, which is very pleasing."
Captain Roy Asotasi said: "We struggled to get out of first gear tonight. We got dominated around the ruck and our forwards weren't making the inroads we did last week."
The Rabbitohs will now prepare for their round three clash with the Newcastle Knights in a home game at Gosford's Bluetongue Stadium next Sunday 29 March, with kick off scheduled for 2pm.
Parramatta Eels 14 (Feleti Mateo, Joel Reddy tries; Luke Burt 3 goals)
defeated
South Sydney Rabbitohs 8 (Chris Sandow try; Issac Luke 2 goals)
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In the Toyota Cup, the South Sydney Rabbitohs have defeated the Parramatta Eels 38 points to 16 at ANZ Stadium.
Both Junior Vaivai and Cameron Pitman scored first half doubles to set up the victory for the home team.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 38 (Cameron Pitman 2, Junior Vaivai 2, John Joseph, Brad Takairangi, Blake Judd tries; Adam Reynolds 3, Junior Vaivai 2 goals)
defeated
Parramatta Eels 16 (Jason Baitieri, Pat O’Hanlon, Boyd Brown tries; Daniel Mortimer 2 goals)