'11 | TRIALS | Feb 5 | Results & Reports

[Timmah]

Today, we had several trials in three different and distinct locations. First off we headed to Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand for a charity match in remembrance of the miners who died in the Pike River mining disaster then heading to the classic surrondings of Recfern Oval for South Sydney's annual Return to Redfern clash against Newtown, before lastly heading to North Ipswich Reserve for Ipswich v Sydney Roosters.

New Zealand Warriors 22 drew with Newcastle Knights 22

In front of a record breaking crowd at Wingham Park, New Zealand decided to rest a few of their superstar players but still brought a formidable side to take on a Newcastle side which had a few first graders but was populated by young players looking to make an impression.

Ater some rusty touches from both sides in the first two quarters, it took until halftime for someone to post points and was new recruit Feleti Mateo who was the architect for Bill Tupou to score in the corner.

They continued their domination in the third quarter scoring two quick tries through Toyota Cup premiership winning fullback Glen Fisiiahi and Pita Godinet who showed some flashes of brilliance to score and set up the former, trying to win a proffesional contract with the Warriors.

Joel Edwards gave Newcastle some points on the board, after crashing over from close but New Zealand would push ahead with the second try to Fisiiahi and Inu converted to make it 22-6. Newcastle made the fourth quarter their own though, scoring three tries throughout the quarter including some good lead up work from Ethan Ford and Chris Adams.

After Newcastle went the length of the field with less than two minutes to go, Simon Williams brushed off Krisnan Inu to tie the match, leaving Peter Mata'utia to win the game off his boot but he pushed it wide and the game ended 22 all, a fair result.

NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS 22 (Fisiiahi 2, Tupou and Godinet tries. Inu 3/4 goals) draw with NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS 22 (Edwards, Houston, Adams and Williams tries. Mata'utia 3/4 goals). Crowd: 6,500

South Sydney Rabbitohs 10 defeated Newtown Jets 4

From the picturesque surrondings of Greymouth to the sweltering heat of Redfern where South Sydney fielding a mostly young side including some of the Toyota Cup side who came within a whisker of winning the premiership last year.

They were taking on fellow foundation club, the Newtown Jets who were also fielding a young squad, using the principal of giving them a "fair go" in conditions which weren't condusive to attacking football.

Souths were the first on the board, through winger Chris McQueen just before the first quarter break of the match but no converted to be 4-0. The game continued to be a struggle between the sides but Souths added to their advantage in the third quarter with James Roberts crossing the stripe.

Adam Reynolds converted the chance and 10 points would be enough to beat Newtown who got a consolation try near the end of the game courtesy of Sione Taka to give us the final score of 10-4.

SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 10 (McQueen, Roberts tries. Reynolds goal.) Defeated NEWTOWN JETS 4 (Sione Taka try). Crowd: Approx 5,000

Ipswich Jets 12 lost to Sydney Roosters 22

The final match on the opening day of the NRL pre-season took us to North Ipswich Reserve where the Sydney Roosters faced QRL Intrust Super Cup club the Ipswich Jets. The clash took a little while to get started before both teams registered tries near quarter time to take the scoreline to 6-all.

With a lineup of largely younger players, the Roosters went ahead again only to be equalled by Ipswich again at 12-all, finally skipping away in the final quarter to record a 22-12 victory.

SYDNEY ROOSTERS 22 (Leilua, Lowe, Naughton, J Carney tries; Leilua 2, Kheirallah 1 goals) defeated IPSWICH JETS 12. Crowd: 4,500

Elsewhere, the Brisbane Broncos Toyota Cup side faced QRL side the Norths Devils at Bishop Park, however with the Devils up 22-4 in the second half, a power outage forced the cancellation of the remainder of the game.
NEXT WEEK

Most teams take to the field next weekend, and of course we have the fantastic All Stars clash which you can catch LIVE score updates of here at LeagueUnlimited.com. The full draw for next weekend (all times AEDT):

Friday 11 February
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks @ Brookvale Oval, 7:00pm
Melbourne Storm v Brisbane Easts / Ipswich Jets @ Langland Park, Brisbane QLD, 8:00pm
North Queensland Cowboys v Wests Tigers @ Brothers Rugby League Club, Townsville QLD, 8:30pm

Saturday 12 February
Warriors v Parramatta Eels @ International Stadium, Rotorua NZ, 3:00pm
Sydney Roosters v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs @ Leichhardt Oval, 5:00pm
Newcastle Knights v Fiji Bati @ EnergyAustralia Stadium, 6:00pm
Harvey Norman All Stars: Indigenous All Stars v NRL All Stars @ Skilled Park, Robina QLD, 7:30pm
Brisbane Broncos v Gold Coast Titans @ Kougari Oval, Wynnum QLD, 8:30pm

Sunday 13 February
Charity Shield: South Sydney Rabbitohs v St George-Illawarra Dragons @ ANZ Stadium, 7:00pm

http://www.leagueunlimited.com/article.php?newsid=20347

 

[Iafeta]

this field the Warriors and Knights are playing on is a disgrace, they could of at least mowed the grass

Even so, looks to me an incredible risk to injury for players. Which might explain why the Knights sent over mostly second-string players.

I'm not dissing the initiative, don't get me wrong.

To put this all into context... Wingham Park had basically been 'done up' over the summer, to prepare for the local winter league season. It was basically put back together when the trial was announced. The other grounds in the Greymouth area are very very small. The only other option would be Rugby Park, which is a decent ground just up the road from my bro's joint... so that would have been fine. Not sure whether West Coast Rugby would hand it over though.

Also, in terms of the grass, the grounds on the West Coast tend to be covered a little more with grass because the ground gets very clayey. Very simple reason for that is because of the immense rain fall on the West Coast. It's the wettest part of New Zealand. I can assure you, having lived there for 4-5 years that I've seen, and played various sports on, grounds in far far worse condition. Also, remember the ground was put back together basically by volunteers... West Coast rugby union players were there to assist on game day to ensure the lines were marked etc etc.

The reason both teams fielded second string sides had absolutely nothing to do with the conditions. Most teams participate in three trials at best per year. This is both club's fourth. This was added very late in the piece, and, as you'll see with most club lists, the first trial is generally a chance to test combinations and trial youngsters rather than do anything ground breaking. Further, the Warriors are still resting their Kiwi internationals and they won't appear later into the trials given their late end to the 2010 season.

This was nothing but a spectacular success for a region in New Zealand that has suffered the utmost tragedy. I personally knew some of the lads who lost their lives. My family is West Coast through and through, my mum lost next door neighbours and best friends from school, my brother was saying to me he knew at least 15 of them. Greymouth is a small town of 10,000. To lose 29 of your brethren in these circumstances, and basically censure its main economic output is absolutely devastating. I would say at least 80% of the town knew someone down in that mine well. It's just the nature of a small isolated part of New Zealand that you know someone. Everyone is related into the industry, my grandfather died of lung cancer from coal mining and was around for the '67 Strongman Mine disaster. In terms of what it means for the West Coast, the West Coast for such a small area has contributed a number of Kiwi internationals, most recently Quentin Pongia and Whetu Taewa. You'll be hard pressed to find many towns the size of Greymouth that are deemed league-centric enough to have hosted rugby league internationals. And, even with internationals having been played previously, the ground smashed its ground record crowd number.

Forget the standard of the pitch. Get a bit of knowledge of a real league heartland into you. This game should in no way shape or form be criticised, because at the end of the day its about a community that will take years to start to move forward again. Rather than criticise, I applaud the Warriors, Newcastle, the NRL, and especially the volunteers who went out of their way to make sure that this community had a few days of cheer - not just the game, but the interaction with the community, the awards night, the training with the kids, even just being present in what is essentially rugby league heartland gripped with immense tragedy.

 

[thommo4pm]

To put this all into context... Wingham Park had basically been 'done up' over the summer, to prepare for the local winter league season. It was basically put back together when the trial was announced. The other grounds in the Greymouth area are very very small. The only other option would be Rugby Park, which is a decent ground just up the road from my bro's joint... so that would have been fine. Not sure whether West Coast Rugby would hand it over though.

Also, in terms of the grass, the grounds on the West Coast tend to be covered a little more with grass because the ground gets very clayey. Very simple reason for that is because of the immense rain fall on the West Coast. It's the wettest part of New Zealand. I can assure you, having lived there for 4-5 years that I've seen, and played various sports on, grounds in far far worse condition. Also, remember the ground was put back together basically by volunteers... West Coast rugby union players were there to assist on game day to ensure the lines were marked etc etc.

The reason both teams fielded second string sides had absolutely nothing to do with the conditions. Most teams participate in three trials at best per year. This is both club's fourth. This was added very late in the piece, and, as you'll see with most club lists, the first trial is generally a chance to test combinations and trial youngsters rather than do anything ground breaking. Further, the Warriors are still resting their Kiwi internationals and they won't appear later into the trials given their late end to the 2010 season.

This was nothing but a spectacular success for a region in New Zealand that has suffered the utmost tragedy. I personally knew some of the lads who lost their lives. My family is West Coast through and through, my mum lost next door neighbours and best friends from school, my brother was saying to me he knew at least 15 of them. Greymouth is a small town of 10,000. To lose 29 of your brethren in these circumstances, and basically censure its main economic output is absolutely devastating. I would say at least 80% of the town knew someone down in that mine well. It's just the nature of a small isolated part of New Zealand that you know someone. Everyone is related into the industry, my grandfather died of lung cancer from coal mining and was around for the '67 Strongman Mine disaster. In terms of what it means for the West Coast, the West Coast for such a small area has contributed a number of Kiwi internationals, most recently Quentin Pongia and Whetu Taewa. You'll be hard pressed to find many towns the size of Greymouth that are deemed league-centric enough to have hosted rugby league internationals. And, even with internationals having been played previously, the ground smashed its ground record crowd number.

Forget the standard of the pitch. Get a bit of knowledge of a real league heartland into you. This game should in no way shape or form be criticised, because at the end of the day its about a community that will take years to start to move forward again. Rather than criticise, I applaud the Warriors, Newcastle, the NRL, and especially the volunteers who went out of their way to make sure that this community had a few days of cheer - not just the game, but the interaction with the community, the awards night, the training with the kids, even just being present in what is essentially rugby league heartland gripped with immense tragedy.

Well said mate.

 

[Timmah]

Yep, that's right, I was having a go at the tragedy

Well said otherwise though.

 

[Iafeta]

Never said you were TBH. I was merely outlining why a change of grounds was impractical and how the conditions came to be (a nigh on miracle they were that good), and how neither of those conditions were pivotal in who was selected, moreso the relevant timing of the trials in relation to both teams preparation for the NRL season. Its very easy to speculate, so I wanted to provide some fact, being from the West Coast, as to how and why things were the way they were, and the massive massive uplifting experience that that most certainly was for my region. It'll take a long long time to recover, and while its only a trial, I can assure you that the West Coast will cherish that game for a very long time to come and it may help some of those people see some positivity moving forward.

 

[Slackboy72]

What on earth is going on here???

 

[Blake]

So the grass was long. Boohoo. What about the surface at Suncorp? How about playing in 40 degree heat in Townsville, the Warriors being made to wear their black shirts. Heat exhaustion is much more dangerous than long grass.

 

[Meth]

Never said you were TBH. I was merely outlining why a change of grounds was impractical and how the conditions came to be (a nigh on miracle they were that good), and how neither of those conditions were pivotal in who was selected, moreso the relevant timing of the trials in relation to both teams preparation for the NRL season.

Timmah inserts the whole 'you're accusing me of hating charity' angle to make people sympathetic towards her and to save face.

 

[Timmah]

Really?

Here I was thinking it came across in the way you both addressed me :crazy:

 

[Iafeta]

Would you prefer I address you as 'her majesty'? Have a re-read, a cocoa and five or six donuts. Did you have anything negative to say about the Pike River accident? No. So how on earth could you contrive that I'm having a crack at you for saying negative things about the tragedy?? How is that even remotely possible? Your comment was that the condition of the ground was the reason that the clubs fielded second string teams, the part of my response to you was that that was not the case, it was to do with the fact it was the first of four trials which are traditionally used to trial some experimental combinations, field youngsters and fringe players, and that the Warriors will be holding back most of their Kiwis till later in the trial campaign due to their late finish with the Four Nations. I'm not sure which part of that you could be so offended by that I would say you're slandering what was a terrible tragedy. I don't think anyone is that inhumane on here to truly do that.