Sharks 28 - Rabbitohs 14
09 Aug 2008
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks were too strong for the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Toyota Park tonight (Saturday), defeating the visitors 28 points to 14 in front of 12,618 fans.
The Sharks had the game sewn up by the 60th minute when they led 28-8, but the Rabbitohs never gave up in a brave effort in chilly conditions.
The Rabbitohs came out all guns blazing with some heavy defence and a bit Chris Sandow magic almost leading to the first try in just the second minute. Sandow chipped-and-chased from five metres out but knocked on over the line.
Sandow posted the first points of the match in the fifth minute with a penalty goal. Two minutes later, Jamie Simpson nearly scored in the right hand corner, missing touching-down a Sandow cross-field kick by centimetres.
In the eighth minute, Ben Pomeroy scored the first of two first half tries after running into the goal post and swivelling to score. Luke Covell converted to give the Sharks a 6-2 lead.
It was that man Sandow who saved another Sharks’ four-pointer in the 20th minute when he ran down Cronulla winger Covell after he took an intercept on his own 10 metre line.
Pomeroy scored his second try in the 25th minute when he bounced out of four tackles to score. Covell converted to give the home side a 10-point advantage.
A Sandow 40/20 led to the next try, with David Kidwell carrying the ball forward and offloading to Beau Falloon to score in the 31st minute. Sandow converted to take the scores to 12-8 in favour of the Sharks.
The Rabbitohs had four sets-of-six on the Sharks line at the end of the first stanza but couldn’t breach the defensive line.
Sandow stamped himself all over the first 40 minutes, sparking all of the Rabbitohs attack and aiming up in defence with the Sharks big men targeting him on every occasion. John Sutton looked dangerous with the ball in hand and David Kidwell ran strongly tackled hard at every opportunity.
The Sharks opened the scoring in the second half with a try to winger Covell to make it 16-8.
What was a lop-sided penalty count in favour of the Rabbitohs in the first half, was soon evened up in the second half, giving the Sharks a lion’s share of possession early in the half.
Brett Seymour was the next to score for the Sharks in the 55th minute, splitting two Rabbitohs defenders to score to the left of the posts. Covell converted to give the Sharks a 22-8 lead.
David Simmons scored a 38 metre intercept try in the 60th minute, and Covell’s conversion gave the home side a 20-point advantage with as many minutes left on the clock.
The Rabbitohs struck back with 16 minutes left on the clock, when Beau Champion made a break and offloaded to Merritt who turned the Cronulla defence inside out over a 40 metre run to score adjacent to the posts. Sandow’s conversion sent the score line to 28-14.
The Rabbitohs never gave up and fought right to the death. Sandow was in everything all night and was ably assisted by the likes of John Sutton and Nathan Merritt. The Rabbitohs made good metres up the middle of the ruck, as did the Sharks during stages of the match.
The Rabbitohs move on to play the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at ANZ Stadium next Sunday at 3pm.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 28 (Ben Pomeroy 2, Luke Covell, Brett Seymour, David Simmons tries; Luke Covell 4 goals)
defeated
South Sydney Rabbitohs 14 (Beau Falloon, Nathan Merritt tries; Chris Sandow 3 goals)
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In the Toyota Cup match, the South Sydney Rabbitohs overcame a 22-4 deficit just before half time to snatch a 39-30 victory.
The Rabbitohs trailed 24-10 at half time, but three tries to captain and lock Jason Clark led the red and greens to a great come-from-behind win.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 39 (Jason Clark 3, Aaron Hammett, Joey Matapuku, John Joseph, Cameron Pitman tries; Eddie Paea 5 goals; Malcolm Webster field goal)
defeated
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30 (Stewart Mills, Tohi Leha, Lancen Juodo, Ben Orcher, Sebastian Swain tries; Blake Williamson 4, James Smart goals)