Sat Sep 5, 7:30pm AEST
Late Changes
No team changes.
WIN 26-24
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have stolen a last second victory defeating the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 26 points to 24 at Toyota Stadium in front of 14,879 fans. Prop forward Scott Geddes crashed over in the final moments of the Rabbitohs' season to take the win off a gallant Sharks outfit. Geddes, playing his 100th first grade game, scored his first try of the year in the last seconds of the season. The Rabbitohs had to weather an all-out assault from the Sharks defence, with the home side determined to assert themselves physically in the opening 40 minutes. The physicality paid off for Cronulla, with prop Luke Douglas scoring next to the posts in the sixth minute. A grubber kick hit the left upright, wrong-footing the South Sydney chasers with the ball sitting in the in-goal for Douglas to place a hand on it and score. Luke Covell converted to give the Sharks an early six-nil lead. The Rabbitohs struck back in the 14th minute when Eddy Pettybourne charged over on the right fringe. An all-too-familiar short ball from five-eighth John Sutton sent Pettybourne through the hole to score. Chris Sandow converted to level the scores at six-all. The next 20 minutes was the quintessential arm wrestle. In the 19th and 20th minutes, Rabbitohs fullback Nathan Merritt was instrumental in foiling two Sharks try scoring opportunities. In the 22nd minute Ben Lowe was put on report for a high tackle on Douglas, followed by the sin-binning of Sharks lock Paul Gallen for repeated infringements in the 32nd minute. A fight broke out between Rabbitohs winger Jamie Simpson and Sharks rake Terence Seu Seu in the 33rd minute, all before either side could post more points. In the 36th minute, Sharks fullback Mitch Brown reached out to score and Covell converted to restore the home side’s six-point advantage. In the last minute of the first half, departing Rabbitohs utility Craig Wing was awarded a try by the video referee after receiving a pin-point short ball from Sandow on the left side to charge over and score. Sandow converted after the siren to level with scores at 12-all at half time. The Rabbitohs did well to stay with the Sharks in the first 40 minutes, with the red and greens on the wrong end of a 58/42 possession ratio. The Rabbitohs controlled the ball well, completing nearly 90% of their sets in the first stanza. The Sharks opened the scoring in the second with a 44th minute penalty goal to Luke Covell. The Rabbitohs then scored a long-range try in the 51st minute to fullback Nathan Merritt. Wing made a half break up the middle of the field, and found Merritt with a deft offload. Merritt weaved his way to the try line to score under the posts and give the Rabbitohs the lead. Sandow’s conversion gave the Rabbitohs a four-point advantage. Three minutes later, centre Colin Best saved a certain try when he hammered Gallen into touch on his own try line. Gallen eventually got across the line in the 59th minute, reaching out to touch down and level the scores at 18 points-a-piece. The home side scored again four minutes later through prop Kade Snowden who received a nice inside ball from Corey Hughes. Covell’s conversion gave the Sharks a six-point advantage with 15 minutes left on the clock. The Rabbitohs fought back in the 67th minute when Chris McQueen crossed in the right hand corner. A 25 metre pass from five-eighth John Sutton hit McQueen on the chest and he raced 10 metres unmarked to score. The try brought the Rabbitohs within two points of the home side with 12 minutes left on the clock. A knee injury to winger McQueen meant the Rabbitohs were forced to make their final interchange with over nine minutes remaining on the clock. The Rabbitohs were given a repeat set of six in the last minute, and looked to be out of options, but it was Geddes who straightened the play and scored the miracle try to take the victory.
6 min 0-6
14 min 6-6
36 min 12-6
40 min 12-12
44 min 12-14
51 min 18-14
59 min 18-18
63 min 18-24
67 min 22-24
80 min 26-24
Pettybourne, Wing, Merritt, McQueen, Geddes tries
Sandow 3 from 4, Wing 0 from 1 goals
Crowd 14,879
Referee M.Cecchin / G.Sutton
Penalities 4-6
Scrums 9-6
Other FG Matches
37-0 Koga St Geo-Ill b Parramatta
34-12 SFS Wests b Bulldogs
30-0 MtSm Melbourne b Warriors
38-4 Brok Manly b Gold Coast
32-16 SFS Nth Qld b Sydney
35-0 Newc Newcastle b Penrith
22-10 Lang Brisbane b Canberra
W D L B Diff PT
ST GEO-ILL 17 - 7 2 +219 38
BULLDOGS 18 - 6 2 +147 38 **
GOLD COAST 16 - 8 2 +47 36
MELBOURNE 14 1 9 2 +157 33
MANLY 14 - 10 2 +90 32
BRISBANE 14 - 10 2 -56 32
NEWCASTLE 13 - 11 2 +17 30
PARRAMATTA 12 1 11 2 +3 29
Wests-Tig 12 - 12 2 +85 28
Souths 11 1 12 2 +17 27
Penrith 11 1 12 2 -74 27
Nth Qld 11 - 13 2 +84 26
Canberra 9 - 15 2 -31 22
Warriors 7 2 15 2 -188 20
Cronulla 5 - 19 2 -209 14
Sydney 5 - 19 2 -299 14
Judiciary News
South Sydney's Ben Lowe was charged with a grade one careless high tackle but will not miss any matches when the 2010 season gets underway.
NYC Round 26
v Cronulla, 5:15pm
WIN 38-8
In the Toyota Cup match tonight (Saturday), the South Sydney Rabbitohs ran out convincing 38 points to 8 winners over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Toyota Stadium. The Rabbitohs scored seven tries to two to secure sixth spot on the ladder and a duel with the Melbourne Storm in the first week of the Toyota Cup semi finals. The Rabbitohs got away to a slow start trailing four-nil after ten minutes, not registering their first points until the 24th minute when captain Jason Clark scored a try. The Rabbitohs went on to dominate the game in what was at times a spiteful affair.
0 min 0-0
Clark, Reynolds, Capewell, Takairangi, Bennett, Mundine, Pettyborne tries
Reynolds 3 from 4, Mundine 2 from 3 goals
Other NYC Matches
44-16 Koga St Geo-Ill b Parramatta
58-16 SFS Wests b Bulldogs
46-44 MtSm Melbourne b Warriors
44-26 Brok Manly b Gold Coast
58-26 SFS Nth Qld b Sydney
52-30 Newc Newcastle b Penrith
36-24 Lang Brisbane b Canberra
W D L B Diff PT
MANLY 19 1 4 2 +460 43
ST GEO-ILL 19 - 5 2 +297 42
MELBOURNE 19 - 5 2 +236 42
WESTS-TIG 15 1 8 2 +121 35
BRISBANE 15 - 9 2 +137 34
SOUTHS 13 1 10 2 +208 31
WARRIORS 13 1 10 2 +113 31
CANBERRA 11 2 11 2 +21 28
Nth Qld 12 - 12 2 -15 28
Newcastle 9 1 14 2 -160 23
Bulldogs 9 1 14 2 -216 23
Parramatta 8 - 16 2 -94 20
Penrith 8 - 16 2 -182 20
Gold Coast 8 - 16 2 -196 20
Sydney 6 - 18 2 -293 16
Cronulla 4 - 20 2 -447 12
NRL Club Championship
W D L B Diff PT
ST GEO-ILL 36 0 12 4 +516 78
Manly 33 1 14 4 +550 75
Melbourne 33 1 14 4 +393 75
Brisbane 29 - 19 4 +72 66
Wests-Tig 27 1 20 4 +196 61
Bulldogs 27 1 20 4 -72 61 **
Souths 24 2 22 4 +225 58
Gold Coast 24 - 24 4 -148 56
Nth Qld 23 - 25 4 +71 54
Newcastle 22 1 25 4 -151 53
Warriors 20 3 25 4 -95 51
Canberra 20 2 26 4 +48 50
Parramatta 20 1 27 4 -91 49
Penrith 19 1 28 4 -246 47
Sydney 11 - 37 4 -592 30
Cronulla 9 - 39 4 -654 26
NSW Cup Rd22
v Windsor, NSO Fri 7:00pm
WIN 44-24
THE Bears will face the Cronulla Sharks in week one of the NSW Cup after they defeated Windsor 44-24 last Friday night to finish fourth at the end of the regular season. Coach Wayne Lambkin said the hard part of the season was now over. “I believe the hardest part of the year is getting to this stage because you have to play a lot of games and play very consistently,” Lambkin said. “Obviously there is going to be some hard footy in front of us now but there are only a few games left in the year. “We have to win this week because we didn’t finish in the top-two but the win on Friday gives us a home final against the Sharks. “I’m excited about the coming weeks now.” The Bears will be able to play several regular South Sydney players in the final series. “We’ll have Garrett Crossman, Beau Falloon, David Tyrell and maybe Michael Greenfield, if he can make it back from injury, in the finals. “Greenfield has been working pretty hard since the doctor gave him the all-clear to train and he has been coming to games to support the guys when he can.”
Robinson 2, J.Hunt 2, Hogan, Falloon, Crossman, Wara tries
J.Hunt 6 from 8 goals
Other NSW Cup Matches
66-4 Henh Bankstown b Auckland
28-18 Leic Wentwrthvl b Wests
32-22 Hens Newtown b Balmain-Ryde
45-28 Ende C Coast b Cronulla
W D L B Diff PT
BANKSTOWN CITY 15 - 5 2 +328 34
CENTRAL COAST 13 1 6 2 +62 31
WENTWORTHVILLE 12 - 8 2 +190 28
NORTHS 12 - 8 2 +142 28
CRONULLA 11 - 9 2 +105 26
BALMAIN-RYDE 11 - 9 2 +33 26
WESTS 10 1 9 2 +24 25
NEWTOWN 8 - 12 2 -212 20
Shellharbour 7 - 13 2 -74 18
Windsor 5 1 14 2 -271 15
Auckland 4 1 15 2 -317 13