Souths respond to disallowed match-winner
Mon 06 Jun, 2016, 7:37am
By
Tony Webeck *, Chief Queensland Correspondent , NRL.com
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Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire has conceded that prop Nathan Brown did cause a "slight obstruction" that led to Adam Reynolds' potential match-winning field goal being overturned, instead turning the blame for Sunday's loss to the Titans on his side's inability to maintain possession.
After trailing 18-0 nearing the 50-minute mark of their clash with the Titans at nib Stadium in Perth on Sunday, the Rabbitohs went about staging what would have been the largest comeback of the season.
A Cameron McInnes try in the final minute and Reynolds' subsequent conversion from wide out saw the Rabbitohs draw level and take plenty of momentum into golden point extra time.
After two failed field goal attempts Reynolds appeared to have snatched victory in the final minute of the first period of golden point when his kick deflected off a Titans hand before scraping over the crossbar.
For a split second it sent Rabbitohs players into raptures and brought Titans players to their knees but referee Grant Atkins sought clarification on the obstruction of Ryan James chasing from marker, a decision the Bunker upheld.
Titans half Ashley Taylor would win the game for his team two minutes into the second period of extra time leaving Maguire to lament the myriad of missed opportunities that came during regulation.
"Once the ball goes over and you see the players reach you think you've got it but the refs made the call and I quickly looked at the video and saw that there was a slight obstruction and they made the call. Can't change that now," said a disappointed Maguire.
"We shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. That first half put so much pressure on us and we've done that for a couple of weeks now and we need to make sure that we fix that because you end up sitting in the same position again.
"We had some opportunities there in the first half, we missed out on a couple of tries but you've just got to build pressure off the back of that.
"Individually we've got to be accountable for putting pressure on the opposition. If we chose to do that in the first half we'd probably be sitting here in a different way."
In the first half the Rabbitohs completed at just 62 per cent and it was their big names who were most at fault.
Despite his heroics in running for 260 metres and making 53 tackles Sam Burgess came up with four errors and Inglis two, including one just before half-time that led directly to Taylor's runaway try for the Titans.
All told they made 14 errors to the Titans' eight and Inglis said it is an area of their game that needs urgent attention ahead of Friday night's clash with the Wests Tigers.
"It is concentration levels throughout the 80 minutes. The game of footy is pretty simple, hold onto the ball, complete and [look after] possession," said a dejected Inglis.
"It's easier said than done as you can see from our completion rate. It certainly hasn't been great the last few weeks and it's something we need to fix up really quick."
South Sydney finished the game with only two fit players on the bench and while Maguire was quick to clear Bryson Goodwin (concussion) of any serious injury he said Luke Keary's twisted ankle will be monitored over the coming days.
"He was obviously on crutches there at the back-end of the game but they tend to throw them straight on the crutches so they've got the weight off so we'll assess that through the week," said Maguire.
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