Saints v Cowboys Round2(2000)

Round 2
Saturday12 Feb
Saints v
N.Q. Cowboys
WIN Stadium
Saints on TV 2000

Match Report

TV / Video Capture

Scrapbook

Referee Rating

SAINTS TEAM (ROUND 2) v NTH QLD COWBOYS WIN, Sat Feb 12:
Luke Patten, Nathan Blacklock, Jamie Ainscough, Shaun Timmins, Lee
Hookey, Anthony Mundine, Trent Barrett, Wayne Bartrim, Lance Thompson,
Darren Treacy, Craig Smith (c), Nathan Brown (c), Chris Leikvoll.
Res: Corey Pearson, Luke Bailey, Andrew Hart, Jason Hooper, Lee Murphy,
Matt Cooper.
Coaches: David Waite / Andrew Farrar

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FULLTIME SCORE: Saints 12 v Nth Qld Cowboys 6
Match Conditions: Raining and windy: favoured Saints first half.
MATCH SUMMARY:
NQ did their best but were not good enough despite having a strong breeze at their backs in the 2nd half. Saints put on some top defensive efforts and deserved more from the ref who did his best to shut down the game for both teams (see Ref Report). Saints really looked like they are still in need of match practice. The team has improved around the marker area but they just seemed happy enough to get away with the 2pts.
On the up side, top work from Thompson, Treacy and Leikvoll with their defence in the first half. Craig Smith probably worked harder than anyone. Lance Thompson was relentless up the middle in the 2nd half - always attracted plenty of defenders and creating space for his outside men.
Best for Saints: 3- Thompson, 2- Timmins, 1- Ainscough
Next Match: vs Canterbury, Friday, SFS

9th minute	Saints score from simple back line movement, 10m out from NQ line. Patten chimes in, throws a dummy and scores next to the sticks. Easy conversion for Barto. Score: Saints 6 - NQ 0
19th minute	Penalty goal to Saints Score: Saints 8 - NQ 0
24th minute	Error Rate: Saints 4 - NQ 5 Completions: Saints 9/13 - NQ 5/10
29th minute	Last tackle and Saints from inside own half make a clean break downright flank. Timmins flicks beaut pass to Blacklock who is unable to get clean pass to inside supports. Ball goes astray and Saints miss golden opportunity.
30th minute	NQ score. Patten fumbles wet ball after NQ kick. O'Niell converts into wind and rain from out wide. Score: Saints 8 - NQ 6
38th minute	Luke Patten seems to be out numbered behind try line but steps through and runs the ball out, keeping Saints in possession.
HALF TIME	Errors: Saints 9 - NQ 7 Completions: Saints 14/22 - NQ 13/20 Tackles: Saints 158 - NQ 151 Missed tackles: Saints: 4 - NQ 16
42nd minute	Errors: Saints 11 - NQ 8
50th minute	Shaun Timmins follows a kick. The ball is secured by NQ 10m out from their own line. Timmins makes the next 4 tackles & is effective in pinning down NQ. Apart from giving the crowd something to cheer about, Saints now look confident enough to go on with this.
56th minute	Score still 8-6 and anyone's match. Saints rally in desperately defending their try line and hold NQ out.
60th minute	10m out from NQ line and Hooper fires a great cut out pass to Ainscough creating an overlap ->Hookey scores out wide without a hand being laid on him. Conversion not successful. Score: Saints 12 - NQ 6
61st minute	Completions: Saints 20/31 - NQ 20/29
67th minute	Bailey falls on ball to end NQ 18 tackle siege on Saints' defensive line.
75th minute	Great back line move sees Ainscough get outside his opposite ->Hooper ->Hookey. NQ cover well and Hookey (who had inside supports, Patten, Hooper and Blacklock) is bundled into touch. Nevertheless, Saints run 60m after having put in another defensive effort close to their line
77th minute	Field goal attempt from Barrett hits right upright and is unsuccessful

Stats:
Saints 12 ( Patten, Hookey tries, Bartrim 2 goals)
North Queensland 6 ( Bowman try, O'Niell 1 goal)

Luke Patten puts 1st points on	Jamie Ainscough finding space
Corey Pearson offloads in traffic. Hookey collecting.	Lance Thompson up the middle.

Half time and some work to do

Saints get a penalty as Ainscough is in the clear. The Ref wrecks another chance and he seems to know it.	Nathan Blacklock stretches out
In the 50th minute, Timmins literally took the game by the scruff of the neck - 4 tackles in a row.	Trent Barrett sets to kick

Defence
Saints holding out NQ just inches from the line.

Lee Hookey scores for the Dragons

Try time

Try time and congrats

Wayne Bartrim
Barto lines up. It's cold, wet and windy. He hooks this one to the left.

Saints put on another backline raid	Ainscough is into the clear again

Mark Coyne ghost-writes for the Gold Coast Bulletin...
Too early to panic
Coyne writes

(Both articles from Gold Coast Bulletin. Mon Feb 14, 2000)

REFEREE & TOUCH JUDGES have been the sacred cows of football commentary for as long as anyone can remember. RL fans constantly jeer these necessary evils of the game. Commentators on the other hand will witness many bad calls before uttering some forgettable statement. This may be for fear of prosecution or it could be that we are suppose to let life go on and quietly turn a blind eye to these refereeing blunders and baffling decisions. The adjudicators on the field have often been spot-on. However, there are times when they are lacking in competence and some are just too plain lazy to do their job properly. At worse, some have been corrupt and history shows this to be case in this unspoken area of the game. The tally of blatant errors is not meant to be a witch-hunt on any particular referee. Afterall, most are good people who try hard to improve their skills. But they should not be above critical analysis.
This is a list of errors which most people would have seen, either watching the game on TV or live at the match.

REFEREE: Matt Hewitt

When	Description	Team advantaged by Ref error
28th minute	Offside play ignored while Saints try to get out of own danger zone. This being the most blatant error so far after a series of minor offside offences by both teams	N.Q.
35th minute	Timmins collects ball in offside position after it deflects off Barrett's legs. This happened in front of ref and touchie but for some reason we got away with it.	Saints
35th minute	A multitude of NQ players offside. This time no one even bothered to go back even 2 metres. Ref cannot keep up.	N.Q.
38th minute	Ref finally gives offside penalty against NQ but it was while Saints had a 3 man overlap and were clearly going to come close to scoring. Either Ref failed to play advantage or he incorrectly ruled a bounced pass to be a knock on.	N.Q.
43rd minute	Hookey comes into contact with ball in mid air after last tackle kick from NQ. Ball goes to ground and NQ have the ball. Ref orders hand-over; should have been six again.	Saints
51st minute	NQ marker not square but Ainscough steps around and is away for a sprint and probable try. Ref gives another unwanted penalty to Saints on their own 10m line.	N.Q.
54th minute	Saints look likely to score and they knock it back. Touchie notifies ref of 'knock-on' and Ref agrees.	N.Q.
69th minute	NQ throw loose pass from dummy half which goes backwards but Ref seems to call any ball which hits the turf a knock on.	Saints

Total Referee or Touch Judge errors = 8
Errors in favour of Saints = 3
Errors in favour of N.Qld = 5
Penalty Count: N.Qld ; Saints 8 - Nth Qld 7
Comments: We won this match but... The ref was unable to keep up with this slow paced game so he just stifled it more with ridiculous penalties, lack of recognition for the offside rule, and a reluctance to adhere to the 'advantage rule' - I had better refs in my High School games. Matt Hewitt missed so many offside plays that I literally lost count. Both teams were aware of this and took full advantage of Mr Hewitt's inabilities. Unfortunately, this stuffed up a few promising movements and our opportunities to watch good footy were cut short by the Ref's intervention - he only gave a few offside penalties but seemed partial to awarding penalties to the team in advantage and moreover, the team (Saints) making an exciting bust. I give him some credit for doing his job early in the match and getting a few things right but he just got up everyone's nose far too often and blew his whistle far too much to be given any thing other than a low rating.
Rating 1 out of 10 -Willow

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