Rabbitohs Fall to Tigers in 2011 Heritage Round
08 Apr 2011
The South Sydney Rabbitohs were not able to achieve their goal of three wins on the trot after going down 30 points to 6 against the Wests Tigers at the Sydney Football Stadium tonight (Friday).
The Tigers turned in an excellent performance against the Rabbitohs in front of 22,677 supporters to secure the two competition points from the 2011 Heritage Round.
In an often fiery encounter, the Tigers ran in five tries unanswered tries to register their third win of the season.
The Rabbitohs were the first to score in only the fourth minute of play when halfback Chris Sandow crossed adjacent to the uprights. A short ball from Sandow to captain Roy Asotasi hit the mark, with Asotasi bouncing out of a number of tackles before offloading back to Sandow to score. He converted his own try to give the Rabbitohs an early six-nil lead.
A big hit by Asotasi in defence and a bombed try by Tigers winger Matt Utai gave the Rabbitohs confidence, and a booming 40/20 from Sandow in the 12th minute had the Rabbitohs on the attack.
The points went begging, and only four minutes later Benji Marshall scored from a scrum to level the scores.
In the 35th minute former Rabbitohs Wade McKinnon gave the home side the lead after hooker Robbie Farah broke the Rabbitohs’ defensive line.
In the dying minutes the Sandow-Rhys Wesser combination nearly came up trumps, but at half time the Tigers went into the sheds with a 12-6 lead.
It was a high tempo affair and not much separated the teams at the break. Two defensive lapses cost the Rabbitohs points but they were not out of the contest.
However from the beginning of the second stanza the Rabbitohs were behind the eight-ball.
An early error gave Mitch Brown an opportunity to score in the 46th minute of play, followed by two converted tries to second-rower Simon Dwyer and a penalty goal to Marshall. The Tigers were up by 24 points with ten minutes remaining and the game was out of reach for the Rabbitohs.
The encounter threatened to blow up a number of times, once a cheap hit on John Sutton by Tigers interchange player Alan Schirnack. In the 75th minute Marshall was sin binned for a professional foul on Dave Taylor, but it was all too late for the Rabbitohs to make up any ground.
Sandow and Taylor tried everything they could to breach the Tigers’ defensive line, but it seemed the Tigers were faster in everything they did throughout the game. The Rabbitohs rattled them in defensive a few times, with Greg Inglis pulling off two big hits throughout the match, but the Rabbitohs’ attack was not potent enough to mount consistent pressure on the Tigers.
Unfortunately for the Rabbitohs, Club stalwart Luke Stuart appears to have ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament during the game.
The Rabbitohs move on to play the St George Illawarra Dragons on Monday 18 April at 7pm at ANZ Stadium.
Wests Tigers 30 (Simon Dwyer 2, Benji Marshall, Wade McKinnon, Mitch Brown tries; Benji Marshall 5 goals)
defeated
South Sydney Rabbitohs 6 (Chris Sandow try; Chris Sandow goal)
***
In the Toyota Cup match, the South Sydney Rabbitohs fought back from a 12-point deficit early in the second half to claim a 24 points to 22 victory over the Wests Tigers at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Fullback James Roberts was once again the star of the show, scoring three tries and having a hand in the fourth, as well as making a try saving one-on-one tackle with 40 seconds left on the clock to give the Rabbitohs a two-point victory.
Roberts’ three consecutive tries came in a blistering 21 minute period in the second half which saw the Rabbitohs snatch the lead for the first time in the game with only six minutes left on the clock.
A late try to the Tigers put a scare through the South Sydney camp but a missed conversion attempt from the sideline by the Tigers left them two points short of levelling the scores.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 (James Roberts 3, David Sisifa tries; James Roberts 4 goals)
defeated
Wests Tigers 22 (Falelua Finau 2, Curtis Sironen, Limoni Kamuta tries; Curtis Sironen 3 goals)