Bulldogs 25 Rabbitohs 12
21 Mar 2008
The Rabbitohs have suffered their second successive loss of the season going down 25-12 to the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium in round 2 of the NRL tonight.
To listen to assistant coach Mark Ellison's post-match interview click here 
Mark Ellison post-match interview v Bulldogs
South Sydney dominated the first half and led 12-6 at the break but were held scoreless by the Bulldogs in the second half.
Much like last week the Rabbitohs failed to complete a number of their sets and were let down by a series of handling errors.
Souths started the game in impressive fashion and back rower Ben Lowe had a dream start to his NRL debut when he crossed for the first points of the contest in the 17th minute. After earlier knocking the ball on over the line in the seventh minute the younger brother of Rabbitohs prop Jaiman took a Ben Rogers inside pass on the short side and carried over Bulldogs fullback Luke Patten for his first NRL try. Issac Luke converted for an early 6-0 lead to the Rabbitohs.
In a first half punctuated by handling errors it was the home side who struck again in the 29th minute through rookie halfback Eddie Paea. The Mascot Jets junior beat two defenders at the Bulldogs line and then beat Patten in a powerful 20m individual effort. Luke again converted for a 12-0 Rabbitohs lead after the half hour.
Souths were denied the chance to go further ahead three minutes later when video referee Chris Ward turned down a John Sutton try after he ruled Nathan Merritt had knocked on in the lead-up while attempting to latch onto a Ben Rogers bomb.
The Rabbitohs dominated much of the game in the first stanza and would have gone into the sheds happy with a 12-0 lead before Matt Utai crossed in the final minute of the first half. With the seconds counting down to half-time the Bulldogs swung the ball wide on their left hand side 20m out from the Rabbitohs line and created an overlap for the winger to cross. Hazem El Masri landed the sideline conversion for a half-time score of 12-6 in favour of the Rabbitohs.
Minus superstar backrower Sonny Bill Williams the Bulldogs scored again just three minutes after half-time when former Maroons centre Willie Tonga crashed over for a four pointer after a second man play opened up a hole in the Rabbitohs defence. El Masri converted to even the scores up at 12-all.
The Bulldogs side scored again in the 46th minute through rookie centre Tim Winitana to hit the lead for the first time in the game. The Rabbitohs defence was breeched for the third time in the game on their right hand edge, and the Bulldogs led 18-12 with the El Masri conversion.
The Bulldogs then edged further ahead with a El Masri penalty goal from 30m out straight in front of the posts after Rabbitohs co-captain was penalised for interfering in the play-the-ball in the 58th minute.
Things got even worse for Souths when Bulldogs fullback Luke Patten crossed for his team’s fourth try of the night in the 71st minute from an inside ball from five-eighth Daniel Holdsworth. The try came on the back of some good goal line defence from the ‘Dogs when they repelled a number of sets of six on their own line at the other end of the park.
El Masri missed the conversion leaving the score at 24-12 and leaving South Sydney with a chance at victory.
But the result was put behind doubt in the 75th minute when Holdsworth landed an easy shot at penalty goal for a 25-12 scoreline.
Bulldogs 25 (M Utai, W Tonga, T Winitana, L Patten tries; H El Masri 4 goals; D Holdsworth field goal) def
Rabbitohs 12 (B Lowe, E Paea tries; I Luke 2 goals)
National Youth Competition - Toyota Cup
Bulldogs 26 def Rabbitohs 24
THE Rabbitohs have suffered a disappointing second round loss 26-24 to the Bulldogs.
After a gutsy fight back a difficult Chris Sandow penalty goal hit the posts after full-time to resign the home side to their second successive loss.
The Bulldogs shot out to an early 16-0 lead after just 12 minutes after tries to Jake Foster (sixth minute), Sene Tala (eighth minute) and Nathan Tannous and two goals to Ben Barba.
But South Sydney didn’t lie down and an 18th minute Junior Seumanutafa and the conversion to Sandow gave Rabbitohs fans reasons to cheer.
In an entertaining contest that featured a number of heavy hits in the forwards that was the way things stayed until half-time.
After the break the Rabbitohs came out firing and Souths junior Trent Trotter crossed after just five minutes for a converted try to peg the score back to 16-12.
The Rabbitohs hit the lead for the first time in the game 18-16 when Sandow converted a BJ Nathan try in the 55th minute.
The Bulldogs hit back through Barba, who converted his try in the 64th minute to recapture the lead for his side 22-18.
But when Rabbitohs centre Anga Moli ran a great line in the 70th minute on the right hand side to crash over for a try and Sandow converted from the sideline the home side led 24-22 and looked set for their first Toyota Cup win.
But it wasn’t to be.
Barba scored his second, a long range effort, in the 77th minute to put the ‘Dogs ahead 26-24 before Sandow’s miss.
Bulldogs Toyota Cup 26 (B Barba 2, J Foster, S Tala, N Tannous tries; B Barba 3 goals) def
Rabbitohs Toyota Cup 24 (J Seumanutafa, T Trotter, BJ Nathan, A Moli tries; C Sandow 4 goals)