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- Brent Read
- From: The Australian
- April 02, 2011 12:00AM
South Sydney's Dylan Farrell goes over to score his third try against Manly. Picture: Brett Costello Source: The Australian
IT was the performance South Sydney fans had been waiting to see. At least, it was for 71 minutes. The final nine minutes at Bluetongue Stadium last night reminded us why the Rabbitohs are far from the finished article.
When William Hopoate - playing fullback for Manly after Brett Stewart was a late scratching with a hamstring injury - scored with less than two minutes remaining, rookie halfback Daly Cherry-Evans had the chance to send the game to golden point extra-time. His kick sailed to the left of the posts and South Sydney fans raised the roof.
By the time the Rabbitohs had returned to halfway, the siren had sounded. What should have been a convincing win turned into a lucky escape.
For the vast majority of the game, the Rabbitohs looked the better side.
Halfback Chris Sandow, so often the target for the club's passionate supporters, produced the sort of controlled display the Rabbitohs have been crying out for. Centre Greg Inglis was quiet but exploded with one scything run in the second half as winger Nathan Merritt scored two tries in two minutes.
Centre Dylan Farrell scored his second hat-trick in only his ninth first grade game before leaving the game in the 55th minute with a shoulder injury. Everyone contributed on a night when Souths spent 70 minutes showing everyone why it can win a premiership.
Unfortunately for coach John Lang, the Rabbitohs then spent the final nine shambolic minutes showing everyone why a premiership may be beyond their reach.
"I said to the boys, 'I think it's a step in the right direction'," Lang said. "We're not quite finishing them off. I knew they weren't going to put up the white flag when we got the lead."
The sides went tit for tat in the opening 55 minutes, but the game swung the Rabbitohs' way when they crossed for three tries in nine minutes midway through the second half. Until that point, Manly five-eighth Kieran Foran almost single-handedly kept his side in the game.
Souths' lead was out to 18 points after Merritt's two tries, the second backing up an Inglis break, to give his side a 32-14 lead. But nerves started fraying when Manly forward Anthony Watmough was given the benefit of the doubt by video referee Sean Hampstead. After Fetuli Talanoa had a try disallowed for Souths, Manly was within six points with five minutes remaining when winger Michael Oldfield scored. The comeback was complete when Hopoate crossed in the corner, leaving Cherry-Evans with the chance to extend the game.
"Souths were really disciplined in the first half," Manly coach Des Hasler said. "I think that's the best they have played all year. We probably left our run a little late. We're disappointed they put 32 points on us."
Much of the damage was caused by Sandow, who obeyed a pre-game plea from Lang to shed the shoulder charge and put his shoulder to the wheel.
"He's been on fire the last six weeks with his training and preparation," Lang said.
In an exciting opening half of swinging fortunes, no one enjoyed more of a roller-coaster ride then Souths debutant winger Kane Morgan. The 21-year-old had a hand in three tries - two for Souths and one for Manly. He made a dream start in only the eighth minute when he produced a freakish piece of skill to create a try for centre Dylan Farrell.
Six minutes later he undid that good work with a calamitous error. Foran's kick seemed innocuous but Morgan made a hash of it. Fullback Merritt couldn't clean it up either. Jamie Buhrer had the simplest of tasks to open his account for the season and level the scores.
Souths went back in front in the 18th minute after Morgan's piece of freakish skill was matched by big backrower Dave Taylor. The 120kg forward produced a perfectly weighted kick, his touch matched by Talanoa's dexterity as he managed to get the ball down with his legs only millimetres from the sideline.
South Sydney 32 (D Farrell 3 N Merritt 2 F Talanoa tries; I Luke 2 C Sandow 2 goals)
Manly 30 (J Buhrer 2 D Harrison W Hopoate M Oldfield A Watmough tries; D Cherry-Evans 3 goals) at Bluetongue Stadium. Referees: Adam Devcich, Ashley Klein. Crowd: 18,108.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...it-against-manly/story-e6frg7mf-1226032317092
