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Balmain Tigers draw 24-24 thanks to big second half

B

Bald Tiger

Juniors
Messages
366
Balmain Tigers remain undefeated and on top of the Premier League after a thrilling 24-24 draw with St George. Played at a sunny Leichhardt Oval on Good Friday afternoon, the Tigers made a huge second half comeback to draw with the last kick of the game.
Coming off a bye last weekend, the Tigers put in a lacklustre first half performance. At the break Balmain were 10-0 down. The second half was a different story with tries to Greally, Samia and Carney to take the score to 18-16 in favour of the Tigers.
Greally scored off a nice Galea dummy half pass and scorched 40 metres to touch down under the posts. Samia scored Balmain’s second, catching well off a Dragons error before Carney sped through to force a nice kick through from Henderson. Sensationally Carney converted his own try from the sideline. Having taken the lead and playing against 12 men - the St George no 16 was finally sent off after three head high tackles - the Tigers squandered the lead. After the visitors kicked an easy penalty and with an 18-24 deficit, life was looking grim for the Tigers.
With minutes to go, enter the Rhino (Heighington) who crashed over from close to the line, but Carney failed to convert. With 90 seconds remaining the Tigers trailed 22-24. The Tigers worked the ball upfield from the restart. With no time remaining, a head high shot from a Dragons player - for which he was sent off - gave Carney the chance to even the scores. Kicking from 35 metres out and bang in front, the winger converted with ease - although many in the healthy crowd were unable to watch. Kicking consistency has not always been Ben’s forte.
The match ended at 24-24. A tremendous team effort in the second half got the Tigers a well-deserved point in a bruising encounter.
Galea played well from dummy half before going off with about 15 minutes to go suffering from a serious leg muscle cramp. Not the usual powerhouse forward display from the Tigers but an all-round performance of which the boys can be proud.
 
H

HappyTiger

Juniors
Messages
724
Just got back from the game myself.It was a solid second half effort and the Tigers can probably be grateful for the point.Benny Galea was pretty good today,match fitness would still be a concern he left the field with 30 minutes remaining and didnt return.After the game he was still limping from cramps.Simon Greally was his usual sharp self at the back,His try was simply awespome.

On a lighter note how was St Georges Flegg side doing for a goalkicker.Of the 7 tries they scored not one was converted. :lol:
 
innsaneink

innsaneink

Referee
Messages
29,362
The Tigers can most definitely be grateful for one point.
There must have been five occasions I saw them in
possession and give away penalties.
They should have won convincingly.
 
H

HappyTiger

Juniors
Messages
724
Yeah your right Insano.They were pretty illdisciplined in the first half especially.Alot of silly penalties.

And Daslacker all those guys did play.Lima spent a large chunk of the second half on the bench.Not sure if he was injured or not.He did return at the death.Small and Simpkins both worked hard and i think its safe to say they met their toughest opponents this season so far.They didnt walk over the top of them like in other games.
 
Southernsaint

Southernsaint

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,228
Bald Tiger - Thanks for the report. Do you mind if I post it on the Saints board too??

Cheers,
Ben S.
 
jilliby kitty

jilliby kitty

Juniors
Messages
770
go the tiges. i know wests have won a ball title but a wests or balmain pl gf appearance this year would be good . 8)
 
P

Pat N

Juniors
Messages
76
HappyTiger said:
On a lighter note how was St Georges Flegg side doing for a goalkicker.Of the 7 tries they scored not one was converted. :lol:
Click to expand...

The goal kicker, Holdsworth got injured not long into the first half. None the less, 0 from 7 is terrible under any conditions.
 
T

tigger

Juniors
Messages
453
I was dissapointed that they had shut the hill side as i took my young fella who just wanted to crawl around making it difficult to watch the game! A terrible first half performance by Balmain, i thought we were very luck to only be down by 10 at half time considering the amount of quality possession had. To our credit we came back, but we also made a hell of alot of silly mistakes both with dropped ball and penalties. STGID have always been a strong PL team so to come out of it with a point after being down by 10 is a great result. Our props continue to shine even though i didn' think they dominated the game, they consistantly made 8 metres and tackled well. If we had Willie Poleo back we would win the GF by 100 8)
 
meltiger

meltiger

First Grade
Messages
6,268
brook said:
daslacker said:
na i've been thinking cashy for wests

But he could be injuried
Click to expand...

nah he's out for another month or so
Click to expand...

OI Miss... Good Friday is not Saturday! :evil:

Good result though, would much rather a win but Saints are perenially good at this level.

Looks like I'm coming to sydney for RL finals :) :)
 
T

Tigerpete

Juniors
Messages
1,955
I just thought i'd add my thoughts on the tigers game yesterday........firstly, a great crowd i thought, i wasnt sure if less people would turn up than normal or what, easily the best turn up for a PL game i've seen.

Now to the game , we defentley met our match yesterday, Saints for the best part of the game stood tall against our forwards although that did change as the game went on. Penalties really did play a big part in the game......i dont think i've ever seen as many differential penalties in a season as there was in this game............too many slack errors by both sides, balmain especially. How many times did those touchies run on as well!!! it must've been 7 or so times????

Benny Galea had his best game so far i thought, although his fitness does seem to be a fair way behind what he would like.....geez those cramps gave him some trouble! The Halves , Harris and Henderson had quiet games i thought, although when Henderson along with Greally and Carney ran the ball they did appear dangerous.

All in all a good performance for the tiges who despite scoring 4 tries to 3 still have the opposition to thank for getting a point out of it.......a great game though and the JF game was also a great game i thought too.
 
B

brook

First Grade
Messages
5,065
yeah I was probably happier with the performance of JF than Premier League even though we didn't end up coming away with the points. We were playing the comp leaders and had probably our best game of the season, despite still missing a few key players.

Add to that that imo there is no way the try that turned the match should have been scored - coming off a very dodgy penalty, and we were a real chance of winning the game.

Its a shame we have our second bye next week 'cause we could have used that performance to gain some momentum but hopefully another week off will see Thomo and Nowland back - or at least closer to returning. I do REALLY hope that barrow kicks all our goals against Manly though - I couldn't work out why Braumman was kicking from the sideline when we had todd on the field
 
meltiger

meltiger

First Grade
Messages
6,268
brook said:
Its a shame we have our second bye next week 'cause we could have used that performance to gain some momentum
Click to expand...

Nah honey, it's much better to get them all out of the way early, as we'll have a clear run and chance to build alot of momentum going into the finals. So long as they don't pick up too many injuries I'd rather be in the situation we're in now.

Tam made me promise last night that I'd go up to watch Richmond and I agreed so long as she takes Justin Timberlake off my puter :evil: so I'll be there to see us spank Easts in a few weeks babe. Stewie and I will come sit with you and Phil during the PL game. The draw worked out perfect, City/Country on Friday, Balmain on Sat and Richmond on Sunday :)
 
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