Tigers Snap Losing Streak with Thumping Win Over Flat Rabbits

The Wests Tigers have steamrolled over a poor South Sydney side 34-6 courtesy of a 2 try effort from James Tedesco.

The Tigers outclassed Souths in every category, which saw them snap a 4 game losing streak and move to 12 competition points. The Tigers still smarting from last week's shock defeat against the Titans, came out of the blocks firing and were rewarded with the first try after only 7 minutes. The Tigers had been dominating territory and field position and this eventually led to a break down the left hand edge by Tedesco who showed his strength and speed to brush past Adam Reynolds. The ball found it's way to Tim Simona whose kick was not cleaned up by Reynolds and was duly pounced on by Tedesco who held off Souths Fullback Alex Johnston to score in the corner. Pat Richards added the extras to make the score 6-0.

It only got better for the home side who extended their lead to 12, minutes later. A barnstorming set saw the Tigers with field position only metres out from the Souths line. Kiwi international Martin Taupau collected a Luke Brooks pass and crashed over the line, whilst also giving poor Alex Johnston a fend he'll never forget. Richards added the 2 points and the score was all of a sudden at 12-0.

Souths had to be the next to score and they were, courtesy of some poor defence by the Tigers outside men. After some good buildup play that saw the ball travel from the right hand side to the left, Bryson Goodwin seemed to be contained by Tigers defenders David Nofoaluma and Kevin Naqiama, however shook free and strolled over the line to reduce the margin to 6 points after Reynold's successful conversion. However that's where the fun would stop for the Rabbitohs who wouldn't score another point for the remainder of the game.
Despite some end to end play from both teams, the score remained 12-6 at half time.

The 2nd half started very similarly to the first. The Tigers came out of the blocks with purpose and energy and were soon rewarded with their 3rd try of the evening. Luke Brooks threw an innocuous dummy which fooled the Souths defence as he broke through. He then fooled Alex Johnston with a little in and away before racing over to score in the corner showing a great turn of pace. Pat Richards again had the radar switched on and nailed the conversion to restore the 12 point advantage.

The game settled into a grind for the next 20 minutes and as the game got older it started to appear more and more likely that the Tigers would get the win. Errors and lack of creativity by Reynolds (his first game back in almost 10 weeks) and Sutton didn't help the Rabbitohs who seemed void of ideas on their 5th tackle options.

The Tigers secured the points on 64 minutes when Martin Taupau continued his impressive evening by charging over three Souths defenders on a 10 metre charge to the line after a flat ball from Luke Brooks. Taupau showed great strength and determination to get to the line and despite the best attention of the Souths defenders, managed to get the ball down on the line.

Salt was further added into the wounds just 4 minutes later when from the scrum, David Nofoaluma charged through some feeble defence to score under the posts. Richards again added the extra points to push the score out to 28-6. However the Tigers weren't done with yet.
Just one minute from full time, James Tedesco ensured his man of the match record was wrapped up by collecting a ball in the middle of the field and stepping his way past two tired Souths defenders to score under the sticks to cap a marvelous game. Richards put the icing on the cake by kicking the goal to wrap up a 34-6 win for the Wests Tigers.

The Tigers energy and enthusiasm from their young squad really paid dividends for them tonight. They will be delighted to snap the 4 game losing streak and will now prepare to get back to back wins for just the second time this year when they face Manly at Brookvale oval next Friday night in what should be a cracking game with both sides fighting to stay in touch with the top 8.

Souths on the other hand will be very disappointed with their effort. Very uncharacteristic of them to defend so poorly and also concede so many points. Their 12 errors were the most since their defeat to Canberra back in round 8. No doubt Michael McGuire will be working tirelessly to fix these issues over the coming fortnight. Thankfully for them they have the bye in round 15 to freshen up and get ready for their round 16 clash also with Manly, at ANZ Stadium on another Friday night game.

Match Details

Wests Tigers 34 South Sydney Rabbitohs 6
Venue: ANZ Stadium
Crowd: 15118
Halftime Score: Wests Tigers 12 South Sydney Rabbitohs 6

WESTS TIGERS (34)
Tries: James Tedesco (2), Martin Taupau (2), Luke Brooks, David Nofoaluma
Field Goals:
Conversions: Pat Richards (5/6)
Penalty Goals:

SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS (6)
Tries: Bryson Goodwin
Field Goals:
Conversions: Adam Reynolds (1/1)
Penalty Goals:

LeagueUnlimited.com Players of the Match:

3 points - James Tedesco
2 points - Martin Taupau
1 point - Luke Brooks

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary

Welcome to Friday Night Footy at ANZ Stadium. It's a cool night here in Sydney. Not a huge crowd in attendance however there is still some time for people to make their way in.
Souths are buoyed by the return of Half Adam Reynolds who is back from a broken hand, this sees John Sutton moves back into the second row and Nathan Brown goes back to the bench. Souths are on a 3 match winning run and have won 4 of their past 5, the Premiers are gaining momentum and are putting other sides on notice.
The Tigers are In the midst of a 4 match winless run and struggling big time. They are as named from Tuesday and will be wanting to put their defeat against the Gold Coast from last week behind them. Tigers have lost 7 of their past 8 against Souths and will want to change that tonight. A win by this young Tigers outfit will have them for fighting towards the top 8.

Big challenge for the Tigers but they have the talent to knock over any team in the NRL, consistency is the key for them.
Souths will be very tough to topple, although need to keep an eye on Reynolds who's match fitness will be done having played just one game in the past 10 weeks.
Looking forward to this one folks!

Surprised at this low crowd, despite it being state of origin weekend. In 25 clashes (11 of those have had more than 20,000 fans). Only once have they had less than 10,000 fans (9,053 at Leichardt in 2003)

Here comes both the teams! We are only minutes away. Who wants a high scorer??

We're underway!!

1: Decent opening set from the Tigers, big kick by Moses is taken by Johnston who is grounded just outside his 10m line

3: Big kick by Brooks is nearly collected by Tedesco! Ball bounces off his shoulder and balloons forward, however John Olive coms to the rescue! Scary moment for Souths

5: Tigers making plenty of metres but last tackle options not helping them, Johnston looking very comfortable at the back so far

7: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by James Tedesco. Kick to come.
Oh Yeah! That's the Tigers we know! Tedesco finishes off a great move to score! Tededsco backs up a break in the middle and fires to Simona who races down the left hand side and kicks inside, Reynolds knocks it back, Tedesco gathers it and runs over to score!

8: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Richards adds the 2 points, 6-0

9: Very strong start by the Tigers, making lots of metres as well. As I write this they get a penalty and are well and truly on the attack, 20m out from the Souths line

9: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Martin Taupau. Kick to come.
Taupau goes bang! Runs through a gaping hole after a nice ball by Brooks. Gives Johnston the big "don't argue!" and sends him flying! 10-0 Tigers! Bang Bang!!

10: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Richards throws this one over, 12-0 early one folks. Tigers firing

11: Souths left shell shocked at the moment. Still plenty of time

12: BOMBED! Tedesco gets on the outside of Gray and is charging to the corner, sends it inside to Nofoaluma who drops it with the line open!!

12: How costly will that be for the Tigers??

14: Brooks kicks out on the full from 40m out, costly error that. South's with great field position and on the attack. They get a penalty two tackles later and Tigers under the pump. How will the premiers respond?

14: TRY SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Scored by Bryson Goodwin. Kick to come.
Wow! This is soft from the Tigers. Goodwin gets the ball after a spread from the right, He looks to be tackled but Tigers players fall off him and Goodwin just strolls in! Boy oh boy that is worrying signs for the Wests Tigers

15: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Conversion attempt by Adam Reynolds successful.
Reynolds is successful with the kick and its 12-6

16: Tigers undoing their good work with that. Regardless Souths are warming to this game now and looking dangerous

18: End to end stuff at the moment from both sides. Defence not the number 1 priority at the moment!

25: Game starting to settle down a touch now, both sides getting in a grove and completing their sets.

26: Johnston showing some real energy and promise with his returns, keeping the Tigers defence on their toes. He's a great talent

28: John Sutton adding some real value out wide, offloading at will and his kicking game is very smart so far tonight

29: Tigers showing their ability to grind out a game, last 10 minutes has been very solid, making Souths work for it.

31: Moses dinks in a lovely little kick that dribbles into touch 5m out, gives his forwards a breather who are working very hard

33: Tigers frustrating Souths into some poor play, they are certainly putting them off their game thus far. Defence has improved since that first try

33: Penalty to Souths, just the 3rd of the game. Souths will move onto the attack. 40m out.

34: George Burgess coughs up the ball on 2nd tackle, no pressure at all! Bad error by the big bopper

36: Hot potato by the Tigers 10m out from the Souths line, it leads now where despite Lawrence nearly scoring at the start. Kick by Lovett is cleared up by Reynold's

38: Penalty to Tigers 10m out as Naiqama is held back after his kick. Big set coming up!

39: Forward pass! Seumanufagai was over as well! Bad luck there for The Tigers.

39: Big break by Grevsmuhl and races away, he is grounded, next play Reynolds for some reason kicks and it goes dead, wasted chance there by the Rabbits

40: That's half time ladies and gents! Pulsating half of footy. Join us in 15 mins for the 2nd half!

40: We're all ready fir the 2nd half, this should be a cracking half. The Rabbits have had to make more than 30 tackles more than the Tigers

40: Grevsmuhl with another big bust! He is tackled by 3 defenders eventually, although burgess eventually drops the offload and the Tigers are off the hook

42: This game is starting to get really physical! Some big hits and solid charges starting to happen

43: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Luke Brooks. Kick to come.
What a try! Brooks throws a dummy and gets through the line, he does a in and away on Johnston and has far too much speed for the Souths Fullback and dives over in the corner! Magical!

44: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
High, Handsome and straight! Great kick, 18-6!

44: Perfect start by Wests, they look full of confidence at the moment.

47: Penalty to the Tigers after an infringement in the play the ball area, only 30 m out!

48: Kick by Moses is cleaned up by Sutton and Souths will be happy to survive that one, they're on the back foot but are trying to stick with the Tigers

49: Whoa! a 80 metre drop out by Richards! That's phenomenal!

50: Can Souths bridge the gap here folks?

53: An error by the Young Tigers has gifted Souths with a promising opportunity only 10m out

54: Tigers get a penalty and have the ball 40m out from the Rabbits line. End to end stuff! What a great game!

56: Burgess held up by Cherrington! Big time play!

58: Tigers showing plenty of fight defensively at the moment, Brooks getting them out of trouble with some huge kicks

59: Tigers get another penalty and will kick for touch, on the attack again only 15m out, this could be the knock out blow if they score here

61: A bit of handbags after an apparent knock on by Cherrington sees Brooks hit McQueen late, Taupau is in there to back up his half back. Another set for Wests here

63: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Martin Taupau. Kick to come.
KAPOW!!! Taupau knocks off three would be defenders and crashes his way to the line of a 10 metre carry! Just pure strength! Can't teach that! 22-6

64: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards unsuccessful.
No good with the kick

66: Tigers have a scrum only 10 metres out, another huge run by Taupau!

67: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by David Nofoaluma. Kick to come.
Straight, hard and dominant! Try Time! Tigers are firing!

67: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Richards bangs over the 2 points and extends the Tigers lead

68: What a performance by the Tigers tonight, really special play

71: Penalty to Souths only 40m out, can they bag their 2nd try of the night?

72: McInnes goes close on the last after collecting the ball from Reynold's kick, if he passes they score yet he decides to take on the line to no avail.

75: Tigers still showing a lot of grit even in these last 10 minutes, they've been by far the better side tonight

75: Going upstairs for a possible try to Goodwin here.

75: No Try! Knock on by Goodwin when trying to pick the ball up

78: Knock on by Johnston after another towering bomb by Moses. One last chance for the Tigers to get some more points

79: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by James Tedesco. Kick to come.
And there it is! Tedesco strolls through and is under the posts. More soft defence by Souths and Tedesco wraps up his 2nd try and also the man of the match award! 32-6!

80: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Richards adds the exclamation point. 34-6. What a convincing win for the Wests Tigers

80: Check Leagueunlimited.com later on for the full match report. Wests Tigers have been immense tonight and deserve the win. 34-6 at full time