The Synopsis - NRL Round 5

Good Friday's daytime match ended controversially with angry Bulldogs fans pelting match officials, with bottles, after a 78th minute Penalty Goal changed an almost certain 1 point win into a 1 point loss. South Sydney's 18-17 victory was an outcome that blindsided most spectators but demonstrated once again that, regardless of circumstances, the Rabbitohs have forgotten how to lose.

The Bulldogs seemed to be on top for all but the last 5 minutes in each half. After dominating the first half, a 38th minute try to Souths' hooker Isaac Luke became an 8 point version when a dangerous kick from Bulldog centre Josh Morris contacted Luke's head - leaving him in the sheds for the rest of match, but narrowing the score to 10-8.

The second half was very similar and with 2 minutes left on the clock, the Bulldogs lead 17 - 16. Souths were on the attack and hoping to equalise with a field goal attempt by Adam Reynolds, but Bulldog Captain James Graham careered into the kickers legs, while attempting a charge down and was duly penalised. Bryson Goodwin kicked the Penalty Goal from in front and the Cardinal and Myrtle fans went home happy while the Blue and White fans went ballistic.

The Gold Coast Titans showed their professionalism as a unit in the first quarter of Friday night's match at Cbus Stadium. The Broncos defence was up to the task and, despite the early lop-sided possession, at 18 minutes in they had a try disallowed. Converted tries at the 26th, 29th and 30th minutes was their reward. 18 nil was an ominous score but the Titans were gifted a converted try approaching ‘oranges' and home team supporters hoped for more in the 2nd half. Sadly that try was only a blip on the radar as the Broncos scored 6 minutes into the second stanza to lead 24 - 6 and were never headed. Titans tries at the 51st and 67th minutes showed that they had not thrown in the towel but the Broncos were in charge all night and finished 26-16 winners.

Assessing Saturday afternoon's 29 - 16 win by the Canberra Raiders over the Manly Sea Eagles cannot be attempted without first highlighting the work of Manly debutante, 18 year old winger Tom Trbojevic. He missed NO tackles, he made NO errors, ran the ball 24 times for 200 metres, made two line breaks and scored two tries. He was terrific. Meanwhile many of his Manly team mates were terrible in their ‘home' game played in Albury on the NSW / Victoria border. The Sea Eagles, for the most part, lacked enthusiasm. Their defence was diabolical at times and their attack, despite numerous opportunities in their opponents ‘red zone', rarely threatened the Raiders line. Trbojevic scored in the 2nd minute and again in the 68th minute, in between, the match was completely in Canberra's control. They led 29-4 and although letting in two late tries, they were never going to lose.

In atrocious conditions on Saturday night at Hunter Stadium the Dragons defeated the Knights 13-0. Clearly St George handled the conditions better than Newcastle.

Most of the crucial clipboard concerns were shared 50/50, yet St George were on top all night. Two stats, however, tell us the story of the match that otherwise included a combined 44 missed tackles and 30 handling errors.

(1) Newcastle had 54 tackles in the St George 20 metre zone and came away with no results.

(2) Along with the rain, a howling southerly blew all night and the Dragons used it much better than the Knights. Newcastle gained only 198 metres from their kicks in general play while St George gained 468.

The only fans who will remember this match will be those Knights followers who caught the flu from sitting around in soaking wet clothes for two hours, while their team played nothing like the leaders of the league that they were.

Sunday's one and only NRL match was dour, uneventful and typical Sharks - odd considering they were playing against the high flying, usually entertaining Roosters. With 60% of the possession the Sharks were able to dominate the first 40 minutes and lead 4 nil. Even diehard supporters (including your correspondent) expected the Roosters to dominate the 2nd half and take home the points. It was not to be. Tries to Valentine Holmes and Luke Lewis saw the Sharks jump out to a 14 nil score after 51 minutes and a huge upset was a distinct possibility. Tries to Roosters Fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (66th) and then benchman Mitch Aubusson (72nd) gave Sharks fans that, ‘here we go again feeling' but stand-in 5/8 Jack Bird scored his 2nd try for the match with five minutes to go and the Sharks, having led all day, finished 20-12 winners. Last week's disasters are forgotten and forgiven.

Monster Monday replaces Super Saturday.

35510 fans, some arriving via the Royal Easter Show, trooped into Homebush Stadium on Easter Monday but many, especially Parramatta fans, will wish they hadn't. This Parramatta team was nothing like the one that defeated South Sydney last week. The Tigers had the ball for 44 sets and the Eels missed at least one tackle in 40 of them. In the Eels 40 sets errors were made in 11.

I described the Sharks match as dour, this match was basically dull, mistake ridden and for 70 minutes uneventful. A converted try from Eels dummy-half Nathan Peats at the 30th minute was undone by an error 90 seconds from the break and Tigers winger, Kevin Naiqama, took advantage scoring in the corner to create a 6-4 half time score. The match wandered aimlessly along with no change in the score for another 30 minutes.

In Round 1 against the Titans, I awarded man of the match honours to Pat Richards and he was the player who brought this match to life. He raced down the sideline from 35 metres out. While managing to avoid touch he kicked the ball to an onside James Tedesco who scored a remarkable try. But Eels fans know that their opponents should not have had the ball except that Parramatta knocked on, three sets in a row, gifting the Tigers possession in attacking positions. Seven minutes later Richards himself scored and the match was over for the home team. Luke Brooks scored at the 79th minute and the Tigers ran out winners 22-6.

The second of three Monday matches was up tempo and well worth fans time both at the ground and on the couch. The Melbourne Storm defeated the Warriors, 30 - 14.

After their Round 2 victory over Parramatta, this commentator among many predicted that Rounds 3 and 4 would tell us much about how the Warriors' season would go. Unfortunately it revealed that they are still not an 80 minute team and this drop in intensity is punished by the better teams - Brisbane and Melbourne are two of the better teams. Although competing strongly for the first quarter, two Storm tries left the Warriors 12 nil down after 33 minutes. An unconverted try to Warriors winger Manu Vatuvei made the half time score 12-4. Nathan Friend and Sebastine Ikahifo scored tries for NZ but they never got closer than 10 points adrift in the second half. Storm Winger Marika Koroibete was terrific scoring 2 tries and running for 214 metres and it was his second try in the 72nd minute that sealed the win for the home team.

In the final match for the Round, Cowboys Captain Jonathan Thurston gave a master class in all the skills needed to succeed at the top level in Rugby League. He led his team to a 30 - 10 victory over the Penrith Panthers, having a hand in every try while kicking four conversions and a penalty goal. Thurston's job was made easy by his forwards led by Matt Scott who carried the ball 21 times and made 32 tackles in just 57 minutes on the park. The Cowboys pack was in charge all night with James Tamou and Jason Taumalolo adding to Scott's work and totalling almost 600 metres between the three of them. The home team were let down by some poor tackling and errors at crucial times. Of course Penrith might have felt they were unlucky, having two tries disallowed by the video referee but when you miss 34 tackles and make 10 errors, while your opponent's stats read 16 and 4, respectively you are going to struggle. There are no easy games in the NRL. Next week the Panthers welcome the Sea Eagles to Pepper Park and both will be desperate to get back into the winners circle.