RESULTS:
SAINTS 30 (Ainscough,
Hooper, Blacklock, Riddell 2 tries. Bartrim 4/5, Roberts goals)
CRONULLA 6 (Best
try, Ferris goal)
Crowd 18,109
MATCH
REPORT:
*PAUL McGREGOR LATE WITHDRAWAL - BEN HORNBY ON BENCH.
Sunday, 18 Feb: The much publicised return of
Paul McGregor was stalled when the centre pulled out. His position was
filled by Lee Hookey. Another withdrawal from the team was Chris Leikvoll
who played in the 1st Division trial. Mark Riddell is a certain inclusion
and Ben Hornby also comes onto the bench.
Both teams come into the match with key players missing
through injury. |
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DRAGONS FLOG CRONULLA 30-6
Toyota Park Woolaware, 18 Feb: In a generally
scrappy but exciting match, Saints have crushed Cronulla 30-6. The local
derby was packed to the rafters. Cronulla was no match for the Dragons
who came to Woolaware looking fitter, faster and smarter than the home
team. Jamie Ainscough was the first scorer in season 2001 for Saints and
was followed soon after by Jason Hooper. The Dragons led 14-0 at half time.
The lead was extended to 20-0 after the break before
Cronulla finally posted a soft try. Saints eventually proved the classier
of the two teams often playing some sensational footy in attack. The forwards
were dynamic in defence, continually driving back Cronulla. Saints' best
player was Craig Smith but special mention must go to debutante, Mark Riddell
who scored two close range tries late in the match.
The writing was on the wall from the outset
when Trent Barrett kicked a 40/20 (the first of the season) in the first
set of six. Moments later and only 10 metres out, Willie Peters sent a
beaut pass to Trent Barrett who in turn sent an even better (cut out) pass
to Mark Gasnier who was calling for it. Gaz went close to scoring but attracted
the attention of the cover defence. He short -passed to Jamie Ainscough
who simply touched down in the corner. Wayne Bartrim adding the icing with
a magnificent conversion which hit the right hand upright and bounced over
the cross bar.
After 4 minutes, it was Saints 6-0. Cronulla have
yet to see the ball. Three minutes later and more possession. Ainscough
at acting half sends it to Peters who delivers a ball to Barrett on the
burst just 10 metres out. |
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Barrett finds a half gap and is scissored by the defence.
However he has his arms free and finds Jason Hooper running off his hip.
The pass is suspect and replays show it to be forward but Hooper runs unchallenged
to score under the posts. After 9 minutes, Saints 12-0. After 15
minutes of football, Saints have been throwing the ball around and look
keen. Their completion rate is 100% with no handling errors.
In the 20th minute, Saints gave the crowd a great exhibition
of attacking football when they ran at Cronulla's
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crooked defensive line, right up the middle
and 20 metres out from their own line. At acting half, Hooper ran the ball
and when stopped, off loaded it to Andrew Hart who in turn found Willie
Peters. The Saints' half made further in roads up the centre and quickly
sent the ball to big Jason Ryles. Ryles offloaded to Amos Roberts
who took full advantage of the broken play busting through one tackle gaining
another 10 metres before finding further support in a flying Nathan Blacklock,
By now the Cronulla defence was shot and Blacklock ran another 20 metres
before throwing a long wayward pass to Gasnier who was running wide. Play
broke down for a moment as the ball hit the turf but Gasnier recovered,
put on a big step and ran the ball back infield breaking a flimsy tackle
attempt. 30 metres out from |
the Cronulla line, Gasnier passed back to Blacklock who had
Ainscough in support on the left wing but was being confronted by a desperate
cover defence. 20 metres out, an unmarked Ainscough realising that Blacklock
couldn't pass, called for a kick and Blacklock
obliged. With no one at home, Ainscough looked a special. Unfortunately,
the kick was deflected off the legs of Cronulla's fullback, Peachey who
didn't play at the ball which then went into touch. It would have been
one the best tries you could ever hope to see but instead, Cronulla were
off the hook.
Saints got the ball back soon after and after another
attacking raid, Barrett put a grubber in towards the goal. Hooper was held
back and there should have been a sin binning. Saints received a
penalty right in front. Wayne Bartrim slotted the two pointer.
After 24 minutes, Saints 14-0
10 minutes before the break, Cronulla had their chances
to score but were frustrated by a determined Dragon's defence. On two occasions,
Nathan Blacklock was instrumental in saving tries on his wing when he forced
his opposite into touch. Wayne Bartrim was never far away in assistance. |
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Ex-Wigan, halfback, Willie Peters too, in his first premiership
game with the Dragons often rallied in defence.
HALF TIME
Saints picked up where they left off with some great
forward charges up the middle of the ruck. Andrew Hart and Lance Thompson
were eager for work but the best was coming from Craig Smith who made a
marvelous bust up the middle and ran the ball into Cronulla's half before
finding Willie Peters backing up. The move broke down but a few minutes
later, Smith was hammering Cronulla's line and soon after, Nathan
Blacklock scored his first of the year next to the uprights after following
a Trent Barrett grubber kick. Amos Roberts converted.
After 46 minutes, Saints 20-0
Despite the strong lead, Saints were making far too many
errors and their opponents were starting to string together few moves but
were also bombing a few chances. Saints forgot to mark up close to their
line and
Cronulla got on the score board with a soft
Colin Best try. After 52 minutes, Saints 20-6
Mark Riddell who came into the game at the 50 minute
mark immediately went looking for work. Saints went up another gear and
in the hot conditions, the Cronulla side were unable to cut the mustard.
Riddell was rewarded for his efforts when Andrew Hart
quickly played the ball to the ex-Rooster who used his strength, pushing
past three defenders and touching down for his first career try. 72
minutes, Saints 24-6 The enthusiasm of a team on top was more than
evident from the re-start as Saints worked back to the half way line before
Barrett sent a long kick downfield which saw |
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Peachey surrounded by 4 of 5 Saints players, including 2
forwards just five metres out. Cronulla were suddenly pinned downed and
soon lost the ball. Moments later, Riddell did a near carbon copy of his
earlier effort with another try. This time, it was Barrett who quickly
played the ball. Riddell dummied, saw the line open and the
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rookie Riddell crashed over for a double.
Barto converts. After 76 minutes, Saints 30-6
In the dying minutes, Saints came close to scoring two
more tries and were finishing even stronger as Cronulla in reply plodded
to the fulltime siren, trying to run around the Dragon's pack only to be
picked off by the cover defence. Such was the story of Cronulla's woes
for the entirety of the match.
FULLTIME
Saints backed each other up all afternoon. The Dragon's
pack got on top early and their opponents were never a serious threat.
Needles to say, all of the forwards did well considering the heat. Coach,
Andrew Farrar's use of the new limited interchange was used to near perfection |
and the big men looked awesome. Luke Bailey (who lined up
his opposites with a few crashing tackles), Colin Ward, Jason Ryles and
Mark Riddell were superb as the big men put on a furious performance in
attack and defence. Back rowers, Andrew Hart and Lance Thompson often
made powerful runs and Wayne Bartrim, who as usual was the target of the
niggles was never long out of the picture. Jason Hooper once again showed
his versatility by playing hooker and he too just kept backing up. But
the pick of the pack was Craig Smith who was throwing himself into the
front line all afternoon.
In the backs, Willie Peters had a big mark on the
game with some great passing and tackling, often taking the legs away from
many Cronulla hopefuls. Trent Barrett as usual was everywhere and it's
hard to imagine him having anything other than a brilliant game. His long
passes were a feature of the match and always had the
Cronulla line guessing. Jamie Ainscough often
put on a good turn of speed and was unlucky not to bag a four pointer.
Lanky Mark Gasnier looks very comfortable in the centres and possesses
a wonderful step. On the wing, Nathan Blacklock completely outclassed his
opposite, Ronald Prince who was bundled into touch a number of times once
with the assistance of Lee Hookey. Up the back, Amos Roberts was safe and
often looked dangerous when coming into the backline. Bench player, Ben
Hornby looked the goods late in the match but had limited opportunity to
impress.
SOTV
BEST PLAYERS:
C. Smith (3 pts),
Trent Barrett (2 pts),
Andrew Hart (1 pt) |
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SOUND
FILES:
(HINT:
best way to download sound files is to right click on pic and use 'save
link' or 'save target' option, then save WAV file to desktop or folder
of choice)
  WAV
(858 Kb) Click on the speaker to hear
Craig
Smith talking after the match
 WAV
(902 Kb) Click on the speaker to hear Trent Barrett talking
after the match
REF
REPORT:
Tony Archer was a bit slack with the 10 metres and let
a few forward passes go. One in particular led to a Saints try. In another
incident, Saints were denied a good scoring opportunity early in the match
when Hooper was taken out. Although Saints got the penalty, the offending
player stayed on the field and we can only wonder what the sin bin rule
is for. The ref also forgot to play advantage a couple of times and then
penalised players for head high tackles (twice) when there was no way that
an infringement took place.
There were also a few times when the touchies missed
obvious infringements and we thought the video ref just took far too long
to come up with a decision re Blacklock's try. There may have a technical
difficulty but it just looked unprofessional.
Overall though, we hardly noticed the ref for much of
the game and therefore he gets a semi thumb up.
Ref rating: 6 out of 10.
MATCH
PICS:
Barrett puts boot to ball
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Jason Hooper scores!
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Craig Smith
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Smith again
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A TALE OF TWO
BENCHES
Cronulla's Chris Beattie sporting a footy snoz
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Lee Hookey in the clear
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Willie Peters in support after Craig Smith bursts through
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Half time and Saints are in a huddle
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Mark Riddell gets a double on debut
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Riddell is congratulated by Andrew Hart
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Amos Roberts
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Ben Hornby
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