Newcastlerabbit
Coach
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- Steve Mascord
- From: The Australian
- May 24, 2010 12:00AM
SOUTH Sydney went to Mt Smart Stadium yesterday with a point to prove. In the Rabbitohs' sombre dressing room last night, the players admitted it was something they had failed utterly and miserably to do.
The Rabbitohs may have only lost to the Warriors by two points, 26-24, in an exciting contest that defied the damp conditions. But the Aucklanders had only two players on their bench for much of the game and only seven days before, Souths had inflated the hopes of their success-starved fans by flogging Wests Tigers 50-10.
"We threw today's game away," winger Nathan Merritt told The Australian.
"We had a great win last week and that was the challenge we tried to give ourselves: back it up and be consistent each week.
"We let them get back into the game, gave away easy metres, gave away penalties.
"We're not playing well enough to be one of the elite teams. It's one thing we've been trying to do. We just didn't step up to the challenge"
The Warriors lost five-eighth James Maloney to a back injury in the 25th minute and prop Sam Rapira to possibly a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear in the 42nd.
Yet Souths could not take advantage of their numbers. Warriors fullback Lance Hohaia, in his 150th game, made a break from the kick-off. A Shannon McPherson fumble allowed Jerome Ropati to score as the half-time siren sounded.
And in the first nine minutes of the second half, the Warriors scored twice, the second time when Russell Packer shrugged off Rabbitoh Ben Lowe and plunged over.
Souths coach John Lang seemed more wounded and saddened by his side's failure to snatch third spot than angry or frustrated.
"It would have been one of those that got away for them, if we had won it," Lang said. "I've got no complaints about the final result, to be perfectly honest.
"Our kicking game was inconsistent, our defence was inconsistent, we gave away some stupid penalties, we came up with some bad handling errors.
"They lost one of their halves, they lost probably their best forward and we couldn't maintain the pressure on them
"Wests Tigers sort of self-destructed a fair bit last week, but we did play some good football. We haven't proven ourselves to be a top-class, battle-hardened professional side yet. Someone said we were on a roll. Yeah, we're on a roll of one game."
Packer, 20, is now set to be the the Warriors' starting prop in lieu of Steve Price and Rapira.
Warriors coach Ivan Cleary had no doubt he would handle the task and was furious that Souths winger Fetula Talanoa was allowed to score from a scrum while Maloney was down.
The interchange officials refused to let a a replacement go on while a scrum was packing. The ground manager is understood to have agreed with the interpretation of the official but Cleary said: "It was a farce, it was ridiculous, it just shouldn't happen.
"It just shows, unfortunately, officials sometimes don't have a handle on the context of the game. Luckily it didn't affect the outcome."
http://www.theburrow.net.au/current...wounded-warriors-drag-rabbitohs-back-to-earth
