Rabbitohs 34 DEFEAT Bulldogs 30 in Golden Point
07 Jul 2008
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have completed an amazing stretch of four straight, come-from-behind, victories after defeating the Bulldogs 34 points to 30 in golden point extra time in an away game at ANZ Stadium in front of 15,562 fans.
The Rabbitohs came back from a 24-6 deficit to level the scores at 30-all in the 74th minute, with rookie fullback Luke Capewell scoring in the 87th minute to take the two competition points.
The Rabbitohs have now completed big comebacks in their past four games, defeating the Warriors, Titans, Cowboys and now the Bulldogs. Throw in the bye and South Sydney has collected ten competition points in five weeks.
The Rabbitohs were applying the pressure in the opening minutes, securing back-to-back sets-of-six on a number of occasions, but they could not convert the pressure into points.
The Bulldogs scored first courtesy of an 80 metre try to rookie five-eighth Arana Taumata in the 12th minute. They backed up that effort with a try to fullback Brent Crisp three minutes later, with Hazem El Masri’s conversion giving the home side a 10-nil advantage.
It took the Rabbitohs 30 minutes to post their first points when David Fa’alogo crossed on the right hand side of the posts. Halfback Chris Sandow drifted right and found five-eighth Craig Wing steaming into the backline. He drew the defence and turned the ball back inside to Fa’alogo who beat two defenders to score. Issac Luke converted to take the score line to 10-6.
In the 38th minute, El Masri kicked a penalty goal, with the Rabbitohs handing the Bulldogs field position and territory on too many occasions.
One minute later, the Bulldogs found themselves in Rabbitohs territory again, with captain Andrew Ryan crossing for the last try of the half to take the teams into sheds at 18-6 in favour of the Bulldogs.
Issac Luke was strong out of dummy half and Craig Wing looked dangerous when he injected himself into the play. Captain Roy Asotasi began to fire up in the second 20 minutes and was making some metres up the middle. The Bulldogs main man, Sonny Bill Williams, was targeting Sandow in defence, with Sandow sticking in the tackles more often than not.
The second half did not start well for the Rabbitohs with Tim Winitana scoring in the 45th minute. El Masri converted from out wide to lead 24-6.
The Rabbitohs struck back in the 49th minute, and again it was Wing setting up the try. Wing ran a run-around move and pierced the defence, running 40 metres before drawing the defence and offloading to Luke Capewell who ran the final 20 metres to score. Chris Sandow converted to bring the score line to 24-12.
Three minutes later Wing scored a try himself, standing one off the ruck and dummying at the line to score out wide on the right hand side. Sandow converted from out wide to bring the Rabbitohs within six points of the home side.
The Rabbitohs were building momentum with every play, scoring their fourth try in the 58th minute through diminutive halfback Chris Sandow. Sandow ran at the line from 10 metres out and jinked his way through four defenders to score. He converted his own try to level the scores at 24-all.
The Rabbitohs hit the lead for the first time in the 62nd minute when Chris Sandow kicked a 30 metre penalty goal to give the red and greens a 26-24 lead.
The Bulldogs fired back in the 65th minute when winger Heka Nanai scored in the left hand corner. El Masri’s conversion from the sideline gave the Bulldogs a 30-26 lead with 13 minutes left.
The rain started tumbling down with 10 minutes to go but the Rabbitohs did not curb their adventurous style of play. Chris Sandow’s 40/20 in the 71st minute gave the Rabbitohs great field position for their next raid.
The Rabbitohs scored in the 74th minute when John Sutton grubbered for the left hand corner and found Fetuli Talanoa who touched down out wide. The scores were locked at 30-all with five minutes remaining.
The Rabbitohs presented the Bulldogs with a chance to snatch the win with a knock on in their own half, but Ben Roberts grubber kicked on the first tackle and ruined any opportunity the home side of winning in regular time.
Neither side could break the deadlock, and the game went into golden point.
The Rabbitohs stole the win in the 87th minute of play when fullback Luke Capewell scored in the right hand corner. Despite being set up for the field goal attempt, the Rabbitohs went to the blind side through Craig Wing, and the ball made it out to Capewell who was playing on the wing to score.
Rabbitohs Head Coach Jason Taylor said he was not sure if his team could make a miracle comeback again.
"At 24-6 I wasn't sure we could do it two weeks in a row," Taylor said.
"Craig Wing was inspirational in the way he sparked us out there tonight. It was special to watch."
Taylor said his team needs to start playing 80 minutes of football.
"We were poor in the first half. They were desperate to stop their losing streak, but we got it going in the second half. Our job now is to learnto play from the start of the game. That's the challenge for us," Taylor said.
Captain Roy Asotasi said the team needs to make sure its attitude is right next week against the Parramatta Eels.
"It's all mental," Asotasi said.
"We need to turn up with the right attitude. It was harder in the first half than it was in the second half."
The Rabbitohs go on to play the Parramatta Eels next Saturday night at ANZ Stadium.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 34 (Luke Capewell 2, David Fa’alogo, Craig Wing, Chris Sandow, Fetuli Talanoa tries; Chris Sandow 4, Issac Luke goals)
defeated
Bulldogs 30 (Arana Taumata, Brent Crisp, Andrew Ryan, Tim Winitana, Heka Nanai tries; Hazem El Masri 5 goals)
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In the Toyota Cup, the Rabbitoh let slip a 28-12 lead to draw with the Bulldogs 29-all at ANZ Stadium. Both sides scored five tries, with the Bulldogs kicking the match-leveling field goal in the last two minutes of play.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 29 (Dave Tyrrell, Dylan Farrell, Jason Clark, Brad Lupi, Cameron Pitman tries; Eddie Paea 4 goals; Eddie Paea field goal)
drew with
Bulldogs 29 (Ben Barba 2, Jimmy Fawcett, Josh Reynolds, Daniel Harrison tries; Ben Barba 4 goals; Adrian Davis field goal)