StGeorge vs NZWarriors Rnd4 2001

Saints On TV
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA
DRAGONS

RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL: TV PICS, RESULTS, REPORTS

ROUND 4 - 9 March 2001 - Ericsson Stadium, NZ
SAINTS
v
NZ WARRIORS

KICKOFF: Friday 7.30pm (NZ time)

Ericsson Stadium. Conditions moderate, some light rain.

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SOTV PREVIEW: SAINTS TEAM FOR ROUND 4 v NZ WARRIORS Footytab: Warriors 4.5 start, Warriors $2.10 Saints $1.65; Forecast: light rain;
Last 2 matches: (2000) Saints won 36-8 (round 7), Saints won 54-0 (round 14). JAMIE AINSCOUGH NAMED AS SKIPPER Tuesday 6 March: With the sidelining of Craig Smith and Nathan Brown being unavailable through injury, Andrew Farrer has named experienced back, Jamie Ainscough as team captain. League historians will have to go back a long way to find the last time a winger was named captain of a 1st grade RL team.
Chris Leikvoll gets his chance in the front row in place of Smith.
1. Amos Roberts 2. Nathan Blacklock 3. Mark Gasnier 4. Paul McGregor 5. Jamie Ainscough (C) 6. Trent Barrett 7. Willie Peters 8. Luke Bailey 9. Jason Hooper* 10. Chris Leikvoll 11. Andrew Hart 12. Colin Ward 13. Wayne Bartrim
Reserves: 14. Jason Ryles 15. Jamie Fitzgerald 16. Mark Riddell** 17. Lee Hookey LATEST TEAM UPDATES
LANCE THOMPSON FIT TO PLAY
BEN JEFFRIES IN SQUAD AS STAND-IN RESERVE
*Jason Hooper in doubt but improving (corked thigh)
** Mark Riddell out (back injury)
LATE WITHDRAWAL: TRENT BARRETT (calf)

REFEREE: BILL HARRIGAN ( !!!! )

RESULTS:
WARRIORS 34
(Ivan Cleary , Monty Betham , Kevin Campion , Clinton Toopi , Motu Tony tries. Ivan Cleary 7/7 goals)
SAINTS 6
(Paul McGregor try. Nathan Blacklock 1/2 goals)

MATCH REPORT: FULL TIME: WARRIORS 34 - SAINTS 6
TRENT BARRETT OUT INJURED FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1999 Ericsson Stadium, Auckland, 9 March 2001: Saints have been thrashed by the NZ Warriors in Auckland. The Dragons capitulated in the last 10 minutes.
The match was only a few minutes old when Amos Roberts took an attempted grubber on his own line and

stepped through to run some 80 metres before being caught from behind. With the defence shot to bits and an umarked winger to his right, Paul McGregor knocked on and a try went begging. McGregor did score the opening try in 13th minute and Saints were in front 4-0 but apart from these glimpses, they never looked like winning the match. Saints managed a penalty goal but that was to be there last scoring moment. At half time it was 8-6 in favour of the NZ Warriors. NZ increased their lead to 16-6 in the 2nd half and then ran away with it in the final minutes as the Dragons caved in.
Sorely missed was Trent Barrett who was a late withdrawal with a calf muscle injury. It is first time since 1999 that Trent has missed a match. He was replaced by Ben Jeffries. In all, Saints were missing 5 of their regular

first graders but this was no excuse for a poor showing in both defence and attack. The Dragons had to endure long periods without the ball and often spilled what little precious possession they were able to get.
The game was again riddled with unforced errors and sloppy defence from a team which looked to be lacking proper match fitness.

Full credit is due to the smaller Warriors pack who often drove back and slammed down their bigger but less committed opponents.
While watching the match it was puzzling to see coach Farrar being stingy with the interchange. He still had 3 transactions up his sleeve with 10 minutes to go. It appears that once again, the full interchange quota was not used. But this was not the coaches fault with the Dragons losing 4 players with injury. Wayne Bartrim came off early with a strained medial ligament (probably out for a month) and Luke Bailey was also forced from the field with a torn pectoral muscle (possible season injury).
The Warriors, assisted by a 10-3 penalty count from ref Bill Harrigan were far too good with the ball and troubled the St George Illawarra forwards all evening. The perception that the NZ Warriors get a raw deal from Australian refs might have to be put to bed with Bill caning the Dragons at every opportunity.

But this is in no way an excuse. The Dragons were woeful with many players looking for someone else to do

their work. Rarely did they look creative in attack and when they had opportunity, there was no one backing up.
Saints did have a few shining lights with Willie Peters doing his best to spark some sort of response out of his forwards. Lance Thompson often showed that it is possible to take the ball forward but he was alone in this department. When the backs did get the ball, stand in captain, Jamie Ainscough and centre, Mark Gasnier ran at the defence with vigor but they never had much room to move with the forwards generally allowing the defence to intimidate the first receiver.
The Warriors on the other hand looked tremendous as they pummelled through the soft & often embarrassing Dragons defence.

SOTV BEST PLAYERS: Willie Peters (3pts), Mark Gasnier (2pts), Jamie Ainscough (1pt).

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 (1137 Kb) Click on the speaker to hear the injured Trent Barrett talking at half time

WAV (1585 Kb) Click on the pic to hear Jamie Ainscough talking at fulltime

REF REPORT:
Bill Harrigan did it again. He showed us all that the players on the field are merely a support act to his performance. Technically, Bill had a shocker: missing forward passes, offside play (especially in the marker area), high tackles to name but a few. He also once again showed his skill at giving petty penalties and then failing to follow it up with any consistency.
Bill's penalty against Colin Ward in the 2nd half for a late tackle was a load of nonsense. The ref reacted to a combination of crowd calls and theatrics from the tackled NZ kicker.
Another absurd penalty was when ex-saint Kevin Campion pushed Lance Thompson onto the tackled player and it was Thommo who was penalised for falling down. Captain Ainscough protested but with all of Billy's decisions, any complaint just falls on deaf ears. At that stage, the score was 16-6 and Saints were trying to launch a comeback. The penalty was a killer and extended the count to 9-2 in favour of the Warriors.
Final Penalty count: Warriors 10 - Saints 3.
Ref Rating: 1 out of 10.
Bill gets a point for having the nous to score a Friday night gig in NZ, giving him the rest of the weekend to relax in those thermal pools. Smart thinking Billy.

MATCH PICS: