SAINTS 42 (Blacklock 2, Peters 2, Roberts, Gasnier, Thompson tries; Riddell 3/3, Bartrim 4/5 goals)
defeated
PENRITH 14 (Wesser, Woods, Girdler tries; Girdler 1/3 goal)

Half Time: Dragons 24-14.

Penalties: Penrith 6 - Saints 3
Crowd: 12,744. 

SAINTS 42 BLITZ PANTHERS 14 Penrith Stadium, 8 April 2001: The Mighty Dragons have firmed as 2001 contenders with 2nd half lock out of the Panthers at Penrith Stadium today. It was 24-14 after 40 minutes with doubles to Willie Peters & Nathan Blacklock who backed up all afternoon. The Dragon's pack established dominance early in the 2nd half paving the way

However, there may be a problem regarding an incident with Jason Hooper who was sin binned & then instinctively took part in an attempted tackle on Girdler who scored in the 21st min. Vid ref Peter Filmer said he had not been influenced by Hooper's attempt. Word is that Saints' 2 points are in jeopardy but a question mark must be placed as to why the ref allowed play to continue so soon after the event with all the players on the field and then seek to have the player sin binned. A decision regarding this is to be made Monday. There are greater concerns for hooker Mark Riddell, who was taken from the field on a stretcher & in a neck brace in the 70th min after he was injured in a tackle.

FULL MATCH REPORT:
Saints racked up another 40+ points having scored a total of 138 points in their last 3 outings - more than any other team in the competition. In fact, St George Illawarra are the NRL's leading point and try scorers thus far for season 2001.
With a number of injured players returning, in particular Lance Thompson and Trent Barrett, Saints hit full throttle against formidable opponents, Penrith who were still in the match up until just after half time when the dominance of the Dragon's forwards became overwhelmingly apparent.
Trent Barrett played last week against the Cowboys but looked restricted as he was still recovering from a calf injury. But in today's round 8 match he went into overdrive, often looking for work in the defensive line and then asserting his authority with some magical breaks up the middle of the ruck.
Barrett's effort places him one step closer to wearing a Blue's jersey in the upcoming State of Origin series.
Both teams were missing a player or two. Saints had lost forward, Colin Ward who was still out with concussion. Penrith's blow was the loss of Craig Gower.
The match began with a try to the Panthers before they were even tackled. Saints struck back when Blacklock crossed for his 1st try and suddenly it was 6-all after just 6 minutes.
Both teams scored again with Nathan Blacklock crossing for his 2nd try (#7 for the season) in the 15th minute to make it 12-10 in favour of Saints. Blacklock too, must be on the short list for a NSW jersey and it is hard to imagine how he could be overlooked
Things got nasty for Saints in the 21st minute when Jason Hooper was sent off for 10 minutes for a professional foul less than a metre out from his own try line. Amongst the noise, matters became confusing and Ref Bill Harrigan allowed play to continue before Hooper could leave the field. Panther's captain, Steve Carter took a quick tap and passed the ball to a Ryan Girdler who scored. Nathan Blacklock tackled Girdler. However, before he realised what he was doing, Jason Hooper also assisted in the tackle by placing his hands on Girdler's shoulders. Hooper backed off and Girdler only just managed to score despite the efforts of Nathan Blacklock to hold the ball up. The Vid Ref awarded the try without penalty but it was a 24 hour wait before we would finally find out that it was Harrigan and not Hooper who was at fault. Since the sin binning rule came into being, there have been a number of incidents where a team has been stripped of their 2 pts for violating the sin bin rule (see Ref Report).
The Girdler try put the Panthers back in the lead 14-12 but they would post no more points. The Dragons just took control and at half time they looked winners at 24-14 in front.
Saints kicked on in the 2nd half and never looked like losing.
REPORT BY THE CLOCK:
3 min: Rhys Wesser try, Ryan Girdler goal. Penrith 6-0
6 min: Nathan Blacklock try, Mark Riddell try. 6-all
12 min: David Woods try, Girdler conversion misses. Penrith 10-6
16 min: Blacklock try, Riddell goal. Saints 12-10
21 min: Jason Hooper sin binned. Girdler try, Girdler misses conversion. Penrith 14-12
27 min: Willie Peters try, Wayne Bartrim goal. Saints 18-14
36 min: Peters try (set move, Bartrim to the line, inside ball to Barrett who draws and passes outside), Bartrim goal. Saints 24-14
HALF TIME: SAINTS IN CONTROL
51 min: Lee Hopkins (Pen) sin binned. Bartrim goal. Saints 26-14
53 min: Amos Roberts try. Bartrim misses conversion. Saints 30-14
55 min: Mark Gasnier try. Bartrim goal (from sideline). Saints 36-14
64 min: Lance Thompson try, Riddell goal. Saints 42-14
FULL TIME

SOTV BEST PLAYERS:
Lance Thompson (3pts) Attacked at every opportunity. Great defensive work. Scored a try a set up a more plays than you shake a stick at. Almost set up a late try after a glorious intercept just before fulltime.
Jason Ryles (2pts) Kept hitting up all day and often busted the first tackle. Showed great composure when targetted by the ref.
Trent Barrett (1pt) The playmaker is back from injury and is now fully fit. A constant source of angst for the Penrith defenders who had no answer when the Bullet made in roads up the centre of the ruck.
Not far away: Wayne Bartrim, Jason Hooper, Nathan Blacklock and Willie Peters.

It took only 10 minutes for the first error to come up. A knock on against the Panthers was simply a bad ref call.
However, Bill's biggest blunder happened in the 21st minute when he failed to see Saints' Jason Hooper from the field & allowed play to continue. Hooper was deemed by the ref to have committed a professional foul by lying in the play the ball area, 2 m out from the Saints line. The penalty was ordinary and happened moments after Harrigan had penalised Hooper for not getting off a tackled player. Harrigan appeared annoyed when Barrett questioned this particular decision. It didn't take long for Harrigan to penalise Saints again and he went one step further by sin binning Hooper for 10 minutes.
Our view was that the ref should have played advantage because Penrith were in strong position to score. A sin binning would surely bring about a stop in play and give Saints a chance to re-set their line.

Unfortunately, Bill momentarily forgot about the sin binning and allowed Penrith's Carter to take a quick tap. Seconds later, Penrith were scoring with Hooper still on the field and even getting involved in the play. This was a ref blunder because play should have stopped until Hooper left the field. Harrigan was later blamed by the NRL which is a new one on all of us.
Audio file (334Kb) of the sin binning - click here
So with the first big hurdle out of the way, Bill proceeded to award petty penalties and by the 25th minute the penalties favoured Penrith 4-1.

In the 30th minute, Peters kicks into a Penrith player who plays at the ball. Peters regathers the ball and everyone is waiting for the ref's call. Unfortunately, Harrigan freezes and it takes an eternity before he calls 6 again. This frustrates both sides as well as the crowd and the home audience. It was almost as if Bill was trying to work out some way of over ruling what he saw with his eyes. Bill did get his chance in the 32nd minute when Saints looked certain to crack the Penrith line. Lance Thompson, one metre out attempts to pay the ball but a Penrith player is lying at his feet. Bill penalises Thompson for trying to 'milk' a penalty. As if a milking was on with a shattered defensive line (mostly offside) and overlaps either side of the ruck. Talk about killing the attack and destroying the flow of play! Audio file (513Kb) of Bill justifying himself - click here

A penalty was awarded against Saints for 'milking' in the above pic

HARRIGAN SIN BINNED
11 April 2001

Bill Harrigan's sin bin blunder has cost him control of Friday night's National Rugby League grand final re-match between Brisbane and the Sydney Roosters.
But Harrigan managed to escape the axe despite being found at fault for St George Illawarra lock Jason Hooper's involvement in a tackle on Penrith centre Ryan Girdler when he had been sin binned.
The code's most experienced referee allowed play to restart during Sunday's 42-14 win to the Dragons without ensuring Hooper had left the field.
After being awarded the penalty, Penrith took a quick tap and Girdler lunged for the line as Hooper vainly joined winger Nathan Blacklock in attempting to prevent the try.
The Dragons and Hooper were yesterday cleared of any blame and Harrigan was found at fault.

Bill Harrigan: dead man walking
Overall rating: 2 out of 10

Tingha opened up with Saints 1st try	He then backed with his 2nd leaving Girdler in his wake
Penrith could barely contain Trent Barrett who made a number of breaks up the middle and set up many more plays for his support players.	Ryles is the big bloke on the left.... Just for the record: Willie Peters is 166cms tall (about 5½ feet) and 74 kilos. Jason Ryles is 194cms (about 6½ feet) and 116 kilos.
Jason Ryles busts through the first tackle again	Lance Thompson crashes through again
Amos Roberts racing towards the tryline	Wayne Bartrim slots a beauty from out wide
Treacy & Bartrim on the bench	Jamie Ainscough almost away
Thommo takes on the line	and scores

Man of the match, Thommo gets a well deserved try & looks to the fans

A scrum  late in the match and Penrith have the feed. As if to make a statement, Saints' push forward.

The Saints' pack drives them back. The Penrith forwards are buckling. The backs look on in despair.

The Penrith scrum along with their hopes just crumbles