T
TinghaExpress
Guest
The Dragons have kept their top eighth playoff hopes alive with a much needed 34-28 victory over an unlucky Penrith side.
Saints scorched away to a 20-0 lead in as many minutes before they slowly let the Panthers back in the game through a number of poor decisions and options taken by players.
The Dragons were up 30-10 early in the second stanza before the Panthers stormed home with a couple of unanswered tries of their own. The match though was surrounded in controversy with a number of bemusing referee and video refereeing decisions that mainly went against the visitors.
There was more than a hint of a forward pass in at least two Dragon tries while the most bewildering decision was to disallow what seemed a fair Penrith try. Blacklock earlier had scored a try when there was a hint of a double movement but the video referee allowed it, but minutes later Luke Priddis was disallowed a four pointer which was very similar to Blacklock's effort yet he was ruled to have made a double movement.
The Panthers fought back to 24-10 at halftime to give themselves some hope in what was nearly a hopeless first half from them. The second half was full of excitement and controversy with Penrith all of a sudden getting a sniff of an unlikely comeback. But that was extinguished in the 68th minute with Nathan Blacklock's third try (He now has 12 from just eight games)after an excellent long kick from Brett Firman which earned his team possession of the ball inside the Penrith red zone.
Overall the Dragons were excellent for twenty odd minutes then it was back to the Saints of old for the remainding sixty minutes. There were positives especially the way they came out and fired up after last weeks effort against the Eels. The Dragons were just too quick for Penrith at the beginning of the game and thats where this game was won and lost, a Saints side with a twenty points start in Wollongong is nearly most of the time too much of an ask for any side to peg back as Saints found out from Parra the week before.
I'm still not convinced that this team can win the big matches against the better sides in a semi final situation. Without Gasnier and Barrett in particular the attacking department has been below par for most of the season (apart from the odd game) and i just think you need that bit of class to win the big matches.
Firman alone is doing a good job but he cannot do it all which is why its so important that his current partner Shaun Timmins does his best to releive him of some of the pressure. The return of Lance Thompson gives the back row a more solid look particularly if Bailey stays in that position. The only problem i can see with the Saints forwards is that nobody seems to know any different than the bash and barge style of play.
Saints will play the Warriors next week at Kogarah and looking at the way the Warriors are travelling Saints should comfortably accomodate them at home which will leave both sides on an equal amount of competition points.
Statistics:
St George Illawarra: 1. Ben Hornby, 2. Nathan Blacklock, 3. David Howell, 4. Matt Cooper, 5. John Wilshere, 6. Shaun Timmins, 7. Brett Firman, 8. Chris Leikvoll, 9. Mark Riddell, 10. Ian Donnelly, 11. Luke Bailey, 12. Lance Thompson, 13. Henry Perenara Res 14. Ashton Sims, 15. Brent Kite, 16. John Cross, 17. Michael Howell, 18. Dean Young, 19. Craig Stapleton(two to be omitted) Penrith Panthers: 1. Rhys Wesser, 2. Luke Lewis, 3. Ryan Girdler, 4. Paul Whatuira, 5. Luke Rooney, 6. Preston Campbell, 7. Craig Gower (c), 8. Joel Clinton, 9. Luke Priddis, 10. Martin Lang, 11. Joe Galuvao, 12. Tony Puletua, 13. Scott Sattler Res 14. Colin Ward, 15. Trent Waterhouse, 16. Luke Swain, 17. Shane Rodney.
Result: St George Illawarra 34 (Blacklock 3 , D.Howell, Cooper, Riddell tries; Riddell 3, Firman 2 goals) defeated Penrith Panthers 28 ( Rooney 2, Campbell 2, Whatuira tries; Girdler 4 goals).
Scrums: 5-3 (Saints). Penalties: 8-8 . Venue: WIN Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne. Halftime: 24-10 (Saints).
Saints scorched away to a 20-0 lead in as many minutes before they slowly let the Panthers back in the game through a number of poor decisions and options taken by players.
The Dragons were up 30-10 early in the second stanza before the Panthers stormed home with a couple of unanswered tries of their own. The match though was surrounded in controversy with a number of bemusing referee and video refereeing decisions that mainly went against the visitors.
There was more than a hint of a forward pass in at least two Dragon tries while the most bewildering decision was to disallow what seemed a fair Penrith try. Blacklock earlier had scored a try when there was a hint of a double movement but the video referee allowed it, but minutes later Luke Priddis was disallowed a four pointer which was very similar to Blacklock's effort yet he was ruled to have made a double movement.
The Panthers fought back to 24-10 at halftime to give themselves some hope in what was nearly a hopeless first half from them. The second half was full of excitement and controversy with Penrith all of a sudden getting a sniff of an unlikely comeback. But that was extinguished in the 68th minute with Nathan Blacklock's third try (He now has 12 from just eight games)after an excellent long kick from Brett Firman which earned his team possession of the ball inside the Penrith red zone.
Overall the Dragons were excellent for twenty odd minutes then it was back to the Saints of old for the remainding sixty minutes. There were positives especially the way they came out and fired up after last weeks effort against the Eels. The Dragons were just too quick for Penrith at the beginning of the game and thats where this game was won and lost, a Saints side with a twenty points start in Wollongong is nearly most of the time too much of an ask for any side to peg back as Saints found out from Parra the week before.
I'm still not convinced that this team can win the big matches against the better sides in a semi final situation. Without Gasnier and Barrett in particular the attacking department has been below par for most of the season (apart from the odd game) and i just think you need that bit of class to win the big matches.
Firman alone is doing a good job but he cannot do it all which is why its so important that his current partner Shaun Timmins does his best to releive him of some of the pressure. The return of Lance Thompson gives the back row a more solid look particularly if Bailey stays in that position. The only problem i can see with the Saints forwards is that nobody seems to know any different than the bash and barge style of play.
Saints will play the Warriors next week at Kogarah and looking at the way the Warriors are travelling Saints should comfortably accomodate them at home which will leave both sides on an equal amount of competition points.
Statistics:
St George Illawarra: 1. Ben Hornby, 2. Nathan Blacklock, 3. David Howell, 4. Matt Cooper, 5. John Wilshere, 6. Shaun Timmins, 7. Brett Firman, 8. Chris Leikvoll, 9. Mark Riddell, 10. Ian Donnelly, 11. Luke Bailey, 12. Lance Thompson, 13. Henry Perenara Res 14. Ashton Sims, 15. Brent Kite, 16. John Cross, 17. Michael Howell, 18. Dean Young, 19. Craig Stapleton(two to be omitted) Penrith Panthers: 1. Rhys Wesser, 2. Luke Lewis, 3. Ryan Girdler, 4. Paul Whatuira, 5. Luke Rooney, 6. Preston Campbell, 7. Craig Gower (c), 8. Joel Clinton, 9. Luke Priddis, 10. Martin Lang, 11. Joe Galuvao, 12. Tony Puletua, 13. Scott Sattler Res 14. Colin Ward, 15. Trent Waterhouse, 16. Luke Swain, 17. Shane Rodney.
Result: St George Illawarra 34 (Blacklock 3 , D.Howell, Cooper, Riddell tries; Riddell 3, Firman 2 goals) defeated Penrith Panthers 28 ( Rooney 2, Campbell 2, Whatuira tries; Girdler 4 goals).
Scrums: 5-3 (Saints). Penalties: 8-8 . Venue: WIN Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne. Halftime: 24-10 (Saints).
