NRL Round 15 offered up some of the bravest and most inspirational performances with players backing up only a few days after what was a brutal Origin II. Individual performances made the round one of the best yet, so let’s see how it all played out.
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 30 vs Wests Tigers 20
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles earned a gutsy 30-20 victory over a spirited Wests Tigers outfit in wet conditions at Brookvale Oval on Friday night. It wasn’t enough to lift Manly off the bottom of the ladder by the end of the round, but the crucial victory goes a long way to distance the Northern Beaches club from it’s first ever wooden spoon. The Sea Eagles halves were the difference in an otherwise closely contested match, both Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans showing their individual brilliance to create points out of nothing. A late Tigers comeback threatened the home side, however Tim Simona was controversially denied a late attempt by the video referees to crush any chance of a thrilling finish. Both teams traded four-pointers early on, Brett Stewart the first across the stripe. He sniffed out a four-pointer in just the third minute of the match. Kieran Foran threw the final pass after tracking across-field to provide the ‘Prince of Brookvale’ with the slightest amount of space which set the tone for much of the night.
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles – Brett Stewart 2, Steve Matai, Kieran Foran, Ligi Sao tries; Feleti Mateo 5 goals
Wests Tigers – Mitchell Moses 2, Pat Richards, Kevin Naqaima tries; Pat Richards 2 goals
Canberra Raiders 20 vs North Queensland Cowboys 21
A Jonathan Thurston masterclass and three field goal attempts in one minute has enabled the Cowboys to make it 11 straight as they came away with the two points in a tight match at GIO Stadium. With Michael Morgan the only player not to back up, the Cowboys’ State of Origin contingent all played strongly in their second game in four days. Thurston had a hand in all three Cowboys tries. He also kicked two conversions, two penalty goals and the winning field goal. The side’s other standouts were hooker Jake Granville and fullback Lachlan Coote. After an 8-6 lead at half-time, Matthew Wright and Gavin Cooper crossed the stripe for the Cowboys to regain a lead which had briefly been pinched from their grasp by a try to Raiders fullback Jack Wighton in the 58th minute. But with Canberra winger Jordon Rapana taken out in the air, a successful penalty by Jarrod Croker in the 78th minute levelled the score at 20-20, threatening to send the game into golden point. The Cowboys won a scrum 35 metres out following a Raiders mistake and Thurston had two field goal attempts charged down in the final minute of the game.
He finally potted the winner with just one second remaining.
Canberra Raiders – Edrick Lee, Blake Austin, Jack Wighton tries; Jarrod Croker 4 goals
North Queensland Cowboys – Antonio Winterstein, Matthew Wright, Gavin Cooper tries; Jonathan Thurston 4 goals; Jonathan Thurston 1 field goal
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Gold Coast Titans 14 vs New Zealand Warriors 36
The Warriors were perfection personified to start the second half as they came back from a four-point deficit at half-time to record a convincing 36-14 win over the Titans at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday night. On the back of a 100 percent completion rate from their first 13 sets of the second stanza, halfback Shaun Johnson orchestrated a three-try blitzkrieg in a 12-minute period before adding the final nail in the coffin two minutes from full-time to crush an injury-decimated Titans outfit. Scoring two tries himself in the 57th and 78th minutes and adding an unblemished six goals from as many attempts, Johnson finished the game with 20 points and took his career points tally beyond 500, helping to lift his team into the top eight in front of a crowd of 14,132. The Titans returned for the second half with a 10-6 advantage but after owning the first three sets were subsequently shut out of the game by a Warriors team that showed remarkable patience and persistence to play mistake-free football that strangled the life out of the home side.
New Zealand Warriors – Shaun Johnson 2, Nathan Friend, Raymond Faitala-Mariner, Konrad Hurrell, Bodene Thompson tries; Johnson 6 goals
Gold Coast Titans – Josh Hoffman, Lachlan Burr, James Roberts tries; Aidan Sezer 1 goal
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24 vs Penrith Panthers 12
A high-octane 80 minutes from Origin discard Josh Reynolds has led the Bulldogs to an impressive and entertaining if spiteful 24-12 win over an injury-hit Panthers side at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night. Renolyds spent ten of those minutes in the sin bin for a professional foul, although he will consider himself a touch unlucky as it wasn’t entirely clear if he made contact with an ankle-tap off the ball on Jamie Soward, who was attempting to chase through for a try, an act which led to one of several first-half flare-ups. Another flare up came after a tackle that left both Greg Eastwood and Josh Jackson on report for lifting Soward; Jackson is now sweating on the judiciary to find out if his Origin III hopes are in doubt. Both sides entered the clash on 14 competition points; the win moves the Bulldogs into the eight and leaves the Panthers needing a likely seven wins from their final 11 games to have a chance of playing finals football in 2015.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs -Sam Perrett 2, Curtis Rona, Josh Reynolds tries; Moses Mbye 4 goals
Penrith Panthers -Bryce Cartwright 2 tries; Jamie Soward 2 goals
Newcastle Knights 28 vs Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30
Livewire Sharks utility Ben Barba has inspired a three-try comeback in the Sharks 30-28 victory over the Newcastle Knights at Hunter Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Named on the bench, Barba entered proceedings in the 49th minute and instantly motivated the Sharks, where they scored three tries in the space of six minutes. Cronulla twice came back from ten points down to condemn the Knights to their fourth-straight loss and their ninth in ten games. With the Knights up 16-12 at half-time, the Newcastle outfit extended their lead with a candidate for try of the year in the 45th minute through Carlos Tuimavave. Sharks looked home and set in the final five before a try to Kade Snowden put them within two points with two minutes remaning. With a short kick off and some spirited attack later the Knights came close but where unable to penitrate a despeterate Sharks Defences walking away losers from a very tight affair.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks – Jack Bird 2, Valentine Holmes, Luke Lewis, Ben Barba tries; Michael Gordon 5 goals
Newcastle Knights – Jake Mamo, Beau Scott, Carlos Tuimavave, Kade Snowden tries; Kurt Gidley 6 goals
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Melbourne Storm 12 vs Brisbane Broncos 14
A defensive performance for the ages has seen Brisbane snap an eight game losing streak against the Storm to record a 14-12 win at AAMI Park. A high quality contest forced the Broncos to defend a staggering 11 goal line drop-outs in order to leave Melbourne as winners for just the second time since 2003. Wayne Bennett’s men made every one of their 383 tackles count, none more so than when Matt Parcell leveled Felise Kaufusi in the final minute to wrap up a famous win. The Broncos made a mere 42% of possession count by exploiting the Storm’s suspect edge defence for all three of their tries. The narrow defeat was further heartbreak for a brave Melbourne who slumped to their sixth loss of the season and fifth by less than five points. Andrew McCullough channeled his inner Superman to put in a game-high 68 tackles, while Matt Gillett made 55 tackles in what was a man of the match performance just five days after playing a grueling Origin II. Despite several Origin stars missing for both sides it was a breathtaking first half that more than lived up to the game’s top-four billing.
Brisbane Broncos – Lachlan Maranta, Jack Reed, Corey Oates tries; Jordan Kahu goal
Melbourne Storm – Blake Green 2 tries; Cameron Smith 2 goals
St George Illawarra Dragons 14 vs Sydney Roosters 19
The Roosters have held on for a tense 19-14 win over St George Illawarra after a length-of-the-field Dragons try blew the game open in the final ten minutes. The Roosters had looked reasonably in control throughout the contest, dominating possession and field position for much of the game without really being able to transfer that into points in the face of some resolute Dragons defence. Roosters winger Shaun Kenny-Dowall was the two-try hero for the Tri-colours, moving one try past club legend Bill Mullins to 105 tries on the night, second all-time for the club behind Anthony Minichiello. Up 18-8 inside the final ten minutes, a length-of-the field Dragons try finished off by Gareth Widdop completely against the run of the play sparked a frantic final stanza where the Roosters had to repel several waves of attack from a Dragons side suddenly full of running but they were able to hold on, with hooker Jake Friend slotting a field goal in the dying seconds to run the clock down.
Sydney Roosters – Shaun Kenny-Dowall 2, Kane Evans tries, James Maloney 3 goals; Jake Friend field goal
St George Illawarra Dragons – Peter Mata’utia, Gareth Widdop tries; Gareth Widdop 3 goals
Snakes and Ladders
As we get further and further into the season some gaps are finally starting to appear in the NRL ladder. The top two teams Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys are now four points ahead of their nearest rival sitting on 24 points. Right underneath them are the Dragons on 20 and the Roosters (now in the top 4), Storm and Rabbitohs on 18. The bottom half of the ladder however is still very tight with only two wins seperating 7th and last position. The Sea Eagles still claim their wooden spoon position with the Newcastle Knights dropping down to second last thretening to take the spoon.
Casualty Ward
Penrith hooker James Segeyaro is the latest player to join the club’s mounting injury list after hurting his knee in Saturday night’s 24-12 NRL loss to Canterbury. Scans on Monday are expected to confirm a medial strain suffered in the second half at ANZ Stadium, which will likely put him in a tracksuit for at least a fortnight. This only adds to the panthers growing hospital room with Jamie Soward, Matt Moylan, Jamal Idris, Josh Mansour, Brett Kite and Peter Wallace all nursing injuries in a bludging injury ward. Other big name players who will be sitting it our for a few weeks include: Aidan Sezer (hamstring, TBC), Nate Myles (foot, TBC), Paul Gallen (ribs, round 16), Billy Slater (shoulder, season) and Tyrone Roberts (ankle, next game).
In the Slammer
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The looming threat of missing out on the last Origin match wasnt enough for some NSW hopefuls to behave with some players now in doubt due to run ins with the judiciary. New South Wales and Canterbury forward Josh Jackson is in doubt for the Holden State of Origin series decider after he was cited by the NRL Match Review Committee with a Grade 2 Dangerous Throw. An early plea would mean Jackson would miss two games, including the Origin decider at Suncorp Stadium on July 8. Jackson was cited for his involvement in a tackle on Panthers half Jamie Soward in the 22nd minute of the Bulldogs’ match at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night. Fellow Bulldogs forward Greg Eastwood was also charged from the incident, but with a lesser Grade 1 Dangerous Throw. Eastwood can avoid suspension with an early plea. Newcastle forward Kade Snowden could miss a week after he was charged with a Grade 1 careless high tackle on Panthers forward Luke Lewis at Hunter Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Newcastle teammate Tariq Sims (Grade 1 careless high tackle) and Brisbane’s Jack Reed (Grade 1 dangerous contact) were both charged, but will escape suspensions with early pleas.
I’m Blind, I’m Deaf…
After an exciting round of footy it hasn’t come without any referee controversy. Jonathan Thurston wasnt happy with the referees decision to play on in the final seconds of play with half of the Raiders line offside, which enabled them to charge down a field goal attempt. Thurston slotted one only seconds later but it raises the question, what would have been the backlash had the Raiders won? One of the most controversial however was Josh Renoylds’ Sin Binning Early in the Panthers v Bulldogs game. Reynolds’ reputation may of come back to haunt him with Referee Boss Tony Archer later admitting the on field ref got it wrong and he should not have been sent off the field. Is an appolgy enough to forgive the referees? Would you prefer they take action and try to offer some form of a fix up? Let us know in the comments or on twitter @sports_banter.