SAINTS 48 defeated EAGLES 18

Scorers for Saints:
Roberts 2, Peters 2, Riddell, Blacklock, Gasnier, Hooper tries.
Riddell 6/7, Roberts 1/1, J. Smith 1/1, Blacklock 0/1 goals.

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FULL MATCH REPORT:
The match begins with a penalty goal to Mark Riddell and Saints lead 2-0 after just 3 minutes.

5 minutes later, Mark Riddell crashed over in what is becoming his trademark. From short range and with good play the ball from Craig Smith, Riddell dived over with Adam Muir and others grabbing in despair. There were legs everywhere and the video ref was called, but there was no doubt that Riddell had scored. Conversion misses and Saints led 6-0 in the 8th minute. For some time, Saints had to defend their line. They saw little ball. In fact the only time they had the ball, the ref ruled a forward pass and the Eagles went back on the attack. On another occasion, Nathan Blacklock fielded a bomb only to lose it forward on the way down and soon after, Jamie Ainscough attempted an intercept (a try saver) only to lose control of the ball and knock on. Finally,

intact. In the 16th minute, Hookey ran down the right side and grubbered forward from 37 metres out. Blacklock soccered the ball forward and almost regathers only to knock on with the line wide open. 3 minutes later, Saints are defending their line again and Kimmorely puts in a cross field bomb. Ainscough plucks the ball from the air runs 70 m before passing to Willie Peters who is tackled. On the back of this great run, Saints are going in for the kill but a desperate Adam Muir strips the ball from Darren Treacy and is penalised. Muir hangs onto the ball and eventually kicks it away. For some reason, the ref doesn't use the sin bin. In the 20th minute, Peters intercepts a Kimmorley pass 10 m out from Saints' line and runs 45m.

are coughing up the ball. In the set that followed, Justin Smith, up the middle of the ruck, got his arms free and managed a magical pass to Peters who burst through 35 metres out from Saints' line. Peters stepped and stood up Steven Menzies and Muir and after a good run, found Amos Roberts on the inside who raced away to score under the posts. Riddell converts and after 32 min, its 18-0. 5 minutes later, Mark Gasnier gets his first try of the year when from acting half, he sells a soft dummy to the marker defence of Geoff Toovey and Muir and he scoots through from 20 m out to score under the posts. With Riddell off the field, Justin Smith converts and Saints lead 24-0.

full giving Saints an excellent attacking opportunity. In the 46th minute, Jason Hooper scores leaving Toovey, then Trindall, then Reeves in his wake. Blacklock's conversion attempt misses but Saints have a 28-0 lead. In the 49th minute, the Dragons are carving the Eagles up. An overlap appears at the halfway and it's Mark Gasnier who strides down the left flank before passing inside to Amos Roberts who scores his 2nd try under the posts. Amos, Saints 4th kicker for the night converts and Saints lead 34-0. In the 55th minute, the Northern Eagles finally get a try when 5/8, Ben Walker, who has been conspicuous by his absence gets through up the middle of the ruck to score. Walker converts and Saints are leading 34-6 In the 58th minute, the Eagles post more points when Brenden Reeves scores. Walker converts. Saints 34-12

full advantage of poor marker defence. With a massive gap to run through, Riddell races towards the line and draws the last of the staggered defence. He swings a pass to Willie Peters who juggles the ball but hangs on long enough to spin and score next the sticks. Willie Peters is rewarded minutes later with his 2nd try of the match and all of a sudden the Eagles have been put away. Saints lead by 46-12. In the 75th minute, Ben Walker gets his 2nd try and converts. Score is now Saints 46 - Eagles 18. Despite scoring most of his team's points, this is a

to the Dragon's defence all night. This was no more evident than in the 78th minute when Walker, while attempting a line drop out decided to kick short and only managed a 5 metre kick. Notwithstanding the fact that a short drop out was a fruitless exercise in any case, the fact that the ball trickled off the boot in such a fashion was representative of the night the Eagles were having. Much to the annoyance of some of the crowd who wanted another try, Mark Riddell quickly took the penalty kick for goal to extend the lead to 48-18. But then things got even worse for the Eagles and

kick for touch and in a match that seemed to have everything, Mark Riddell attempted a field goal which was charged down by an Eagles player. The ball then rebounded onto Riddell's chin and into the waiting arms of Jason Hooper who was some metres in front of the kicker. Hooper raced forward and the passed the ball to Nathan Blacklock who raced over to 'score' and then did a somersault to boot! To many it looked as if Saints had notched up a half century. As it turned out, the ref went for the video ref who must have consulted his rule book before declaring NO TRY and awarding a penalty against Saints for accidental offside. Kimmorley, who'd had enough and with the game, decided to take no chances. He tapped the ball before kicking it out to bring about fulltime.

SOTV BEST PLAYERS:
Wille Peters (3pts)
Mark Riddell (2pts)
Craig Smith (1pt)

WAV (1264 Kb)Click on the pic to hear TV's man of the match Willie Peters

Nathan Brown, Wayne Bartrim, Lance Thompson and Trent Barrett all missing from tonight's team	Interchange bench
Mark Riddell crashes over	Riddell and the left arm lines up the conversion
Willie Peters into space
An overlap and the ball goes wide	Nathan Blacklock tryline bound
Justin Smith offloading to Willie Peters	Willie Peters leaves Menzies behind
Willie with Amos in support	Amos Roberts about to score with Hookey and Blacklock looking on
Mark Gasnier from dummy half bursts through	Gasnier with a clear run to the line
Gaz to plant the ball under the posts	Lads are on their feet and Thommo (sort of) dips his hat
Craig Smith doesn't move after a Kimmorley kick	Will this be seen as obstruction? Never know nowadays
Jason Hooper leaves Toovey behind	Hoopers scores with a number of players in his wake
Gaz in the clear and looks inside to see Amos	Amos on his way to score as Gaz looks on
Mark Riddell makes a fine run to setup Peters	Willie Peters juggles ths ball before scoring

Willie Peters scores much to the despair of the Eagles' players

The charge down cops Riddell on the chin in this blooper	Tingha does a flip
Not the best of days for Eagles' captain, Geoff Toovey	Full time sums it up Saints 48 - Stoopid Eegles 18