StGeorge vs Wests Tigers Rnd2 2001

Saints On TV
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA
DRAGONS

RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL: TV PICS, RESULTS, REPORTS

ROUND 2 - 25 FEBRUARY 2001 - SYDNEY FOOTBALL STADIUM
SAINTS V TIGERS

KICKOFF: Sunday 6pm
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SYDNEY FOOTBALL STADIUM

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SOTV PREVIEW:
BARRETT'S 100th FIRST GRADE GAME
Trent Barrett, age 23, will lace up for the 100th time in first grade when he runs on for the Dragons on Sunday. Since hitting the big league, Trent has played 45 games for the Illawarra Steelers plus 55 games for the St George Illawarra Dragons, the most appearances by any player since the merger began in 1999.
Monday, 19 Feb:
SAINTS: Coach Farrar has named an unchanged team for the rnd 2 match. Only Ben Hornby misses out making way for McGregor who was a late withdrawal last weekend.
1. Amos Roberts, 2. Nathan Blacklock, 3. Mark Gasnier, 4. Paul McGregor*, 5. Jamie Ainscough, 6. Trent Barrett, 7. Willie Peters, 8. Luke Bailey, 9. Jason Hooper, 10. Craig Smith (c), 11. Andrew Hart, 12. Lance Thompson,13. Wayne Bartrim.
Reserves: 14. Jason Ryles,15. Colin Ward, 16. Mark Riddell, 17. Lee Hookey.
TIGERS: Matt Seers, Joel Caine*, Kevin McGuiness, Terry Hill, Lee Murphy*, John Simon, Craig Field, John Skandalis, Ciriaco Mescia, Jason Lowrie, Luke O'Donnell, Darren Senter, Tyran Smith.
Reserves: Owen Craigie, Trent Runciman, Corey Pearson, Shane Walker.
Referee: Bill Harrigan
OUR TIP: SAINTS BY 30.
*late withdrawals:
In for Dragons: Lee Hookey; Out: Paul McGregor
In for Tigers: John Hopoate, John Carlaw; Out: Joel Caine, Lee Murphy

RESULTS:
SAINTS 24
(Amos Roberts, Mark Gasnier, Lee Hookey, Jamie Ainscough tries; Wayne Bartrim 4/6 goals)
TIGERS 26
(Kevin McGuiness 2, Tyran Smith 2, Matt Seers tries; Craig Field 2/3, John Simon 1/2goals)
Crowd 12,842

MATCH REPORT: DRAGONS GO DOWN 26-24 Wests Tigers have scored 2 late tries to snatch victory. At half time Saints led 16-10 and looked the better team. There were 2 controversial tries decided by the vid ref, one went the way of the Tigers while the other went the way of the Dragons.
The turning point came 8 minutes from fulltime when ref Bill Harrigan gave the Tigers a penalty when Saints' broke too early and were offside from the kick off. The Tigers' best player, Tyran Smith scored the winning try minutes later.
This is a match that the Dragons should have won but they became complacent and made far too many errors. The most telling stat was the missed tackles. Saints missed 32 (6 by half time) to the Tiger's 20 (13 by half time).
Apart from the defensive lapses, Saints also failed to find touch with a penalty kick at a crucial moment in the match and elected to go with some poor options in attack.
To make matters worse, Saints also appear to have problems with Lance Thompson who left the field in the 2nd half with a dislocated shoulder.

3 min: Jamie Ainscough scores from a perfectly directed kick off the boot of Willie Peters. The ball had enough back spin on it to deliver a horror bounce to the Tiger's defence. Ainscough took the ball on the chest and ran unopposed to score. Conversion attempt from Wayne Bartrim successful. Score: Saints 6-nil
14 min: Wests, John Simon scores controversial vid ref try after it appeared to be knocked on by the Tigers. Try scorers given the benefit of the doubt. Score: Saints 6-4
19 min: From the scrum, Saints send the ball wide to Lee Hookey who has Nathan Blacklock in support. All eyes are on Blacklock who comes inside. Hookey sells Hopoate a dummy and easily steps around the would-be defender to score an excellent backline try. Bartrim conversion attempt misses. Score: Saints 10-4
24 min: Trent Barrett slices through a gap from 15 m out. He pops a ball to Peters who sends quick pass to Ainscough out wide. The ball hits the deck but Ainscough recovers looking certain to score. Instead, he unselfishly passes inside to Mark Gasnier who crosses for a converted try. Score: Saints 16-4
33 min: Tyran Smith scores for the Tigers. Score: Saints 16-10
HALF TIME
43 min: Wayne Bartrim penalty goal. Score: Saints 18-10
47 min: Wayne Bartrim penalty goal. Score: Saints 20-10
50 min: Wests score converted try through McGuiness. Score: Saints 20-16
54 min: Amos Roberts scores controversial vid ref try after inconclusive fumbling of ball. Wayne Bartrim's conversion attempt hits the uprights and is unsuccessful. Score: Saints 24-16
72 min: McGuiness scores 2nd try. Score: Saints 24-20
74 min: Tyran Smith scores 2nd try and match winning try following a penalty to Wests Tigers after ref deems Saints' player to be offside from the kickoff. Simon converts. Tigers hit lead for the first time. Score: Tigers 26-24
FULLTIME

SOTV BEST PLAYERS:
A number of players performed well in the first half but dropped off in the 2nd half. Lee Hookey and Jamie Ainscough did well with limited opportunities. Trent Barrett set up some fine movements but failed to get involved when needed the most - look forward to seeing him bounce back next week. Craig Smith was the hardest working player in the forwards with Luke Bailey not far behind. Willie Peters never stopped trying for the whole match and seem to trouble the Tigers the most. He gave us some hope of victory in the final minutes of the match with some fine attacking play. The Saints new half back seems to be settling in well.
Willie Peters (3 pts),
Craig Smith (2 pts),
Lee Hookey (1 pt)

REF REPORT:
We take up were we left off with Bill Harrigan. Last year, he was judged by SOTV to be the League's worse ref. Sunday's effort has done ZILCH to alter our opinion.
Without a doubt, he is the most frustrating referee who ever popped a whistle in his mouth. Bill was at best inconsistent. In his 313th game, he did his utmost to let everyone know he was on the paddock and made sure the player's were at each other's throats by evening's end. At one particular point, Bill went feral on the Dragons and proceeded to continually blow the whistle with several consecutive petty penalties.
Bill was guilty of so many lapses in concentration , that its' hard to know where to start.
In summary, Bill committed the following crimes:
- Couldn't keep a a fair and consistent 10 metres.
- Couldn't stop the players slowing down the play the ball.
- Moved off the mark when awarding penalties (once by 10 metres).
- Became petty with some penalties while ignoring dangerous play.
- Too many head high tackles, all of which went unchecked.
- Missed 2 knock ons.
- Players were being taken out in the back play.
- Got in the way of a defending player.
- Bill found a new pet penalty, offside from the kick off.
While it was obvious that Bill had been warning both teams about staying behind the half way line during the kickoff, he chose to lay down the law at a critical moment of the match and thereby handed a scoring opportunity to the Tigers. With so many other things going on in the match, it is something of a mystery why Bill picked his moment to enforce a penalty for a minor misdemeanor. It will be interesting to see how many penalties he gives for the same offence in 2001.
Ref Rating
Bill's EGO: too big to score
Ref score: 1 out of 10.

MATCH PICS:



Jamie Ainscough opens the scoring	Lee Hookey on his to the tryline
Willie Peters backs up Wayne Bartrim	Peters in the clear
Barrett busts through	Barrett & Peters working together
Amos Roberts after being awarded a try	Lee Hookey making a break
Mark Gasnier late in the match, Peters in support

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