Sharks beat Souths at Gosford
Game Time: 7:30pm
Game Date: Saturday, 24 Feb 2007
Venue: Central Coast Blue Tongue Stadium |
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South Sydney Rabbitohs Head Coach Jason Taylor is pleased with his team's progression after watching his side go down 22 points to four against the Cronulla Sharks at Bluetongue Stadium in terrible conditions tonight (Saturday) in front of 8,011 fans.
Taylor said in his post-match interviews that his defence has improved markedly.
"We wanted to work on our defence and we came on in leaps and bounds in that area of the game," Taylor said.
"They scored three tries from kicks, but they're still worth four points each.
"We only completed 21 sets from 40 and you're not going to beat anyone with that level of ball control.
"We've worked really hard on a lot of areas and we've improved in everything so I'm happy with that."
The Rabbitohs defence in the first half was nothing short of outstanding, thwarting every raid on their line by the Sharks in the opening 40 minutes.
Souths went to the break leading four-nil after winger Paul Mellor touched down in the right-hand corner. The ball was swung right through to Dean Widders who threw a beautiful cut out pass to Mellor, who still had to beat one defender to score.
The Rabbitohs defended well, especially on their own tryline. The forwards were making good metres and the team was looking dangerous in attack, particularly down the right hand side.
As the rain began to tumble the night sky lit up with lightning, the second half was a different story for the Rabbitohs.
Prop Jaiman Lowe was placed on report for a high tackle in the 42nd minute and the Rabbitohs discipline was poor, giving away too many penalties.
The Sharks took the lead in the 50th minute when winger Misi Taulapapa scored from a cross field kick, with Luke Covell converting.
The Sharks then went on to score three more tries in the half, two from cross field bombs, with Covell, Fraser Anderson and Brett Kearney all crossing for four-pointers.
"Peter Cusack, Luke Stuart and Joe Galuvao were my stand outs," Taylor said.
"Dean Widders was good too. He was dangerous early in the game."
The Rabbitohs escaped the game without injury, and are expecting a host of players to fit into the first grade outfit for next Saturday's clash with the St George Illawarra Dragons in the annual Charity Shield at Telstra Stadium with NRL kick off at 8pm. |
Sharks beat Souths at Gosford