South Sydney 14 Cronulla 12
Going nowhere: John Sutton gets tackled. Photo: Anthony Johnson
THE Sharks said they couldn’t play on emotion forever.
And as gallant as they were their fairytale on-field start to the season was not to be, losing 14-12 against South Sydney in front of 14,128 fans at ANZ Stadium on Monday night.
Big names Todd Carney and Adam Reynolds dominated for their respective teams and NSW could do worse than pairing the duo to take on the might of Queensland.
Reynolds had his hand in all of South Sydney’s points and his boot was the difference between the two teams while anything Cronulla created stemmed from Carney.
There was no better reflection of the differing on and off-field fortunes of the two sides than within the opening five minutes where Greg Inglis, who had an uncharacteristic quiet game, swooped on an early attacking kick from Sharks pivot Todd Carney.
The grubber rolled into the corner of the in-goal only for Carney to watch Inglis go past Beau Ryan and Matt Wright to race 35 metres down field.
A penalty to Souths from the next tackle gave the home side their first attacking set of the match and they capitalised through an early kick of their own.
Halfback Reynolds, after a two pass shift, kicked a cross field bomb over winger Jonathan Wright’s headfor Andrew Everingham to score the opening try of the match after just four minutes.
Reynolds’ boot was again the try scoring instigator this time a grubber kick again in behind Cronulla’s left-edge defence for centre Dylan Farrell to score before Reynolds’ conversion gave the Rabbitohs a 12-0 lead after 15 minutes.
The Sharks won’t without their chances.
In between the Rabbitohs’ opening double, Cronulla fullback Michael Gordon spilt a golden opportunity to hit back before dropping a nice off-load from former Panther teammate Luke Lewis with the try line beckoning.
But minutes later Gordon was not to be denied scoring his first try in Sharks’ colours to hit back midway through the first half.
The spark which had the opening minutes of the game starting in frantic fashion soon evaporated as both teams struggled with ball control.
Although each side marched up field with apparent ease they failed to capitalise on multiple try-scoring opportunities with the Sharks completing just 45 per cent of possession and Souths 67 per cent in the first half.
Eventually, a Matt Wright penalty gave Reynolds a kick for goal as the half-time siren sounded to give his side a 14-6 lead at the break.
A Carney 40/20 ignited the Sharks in the second half, only to be met by a resilient South Sydney defensive unit.
Only a Nathan Merritt shoulder charge could deny the Sharks from scoring their second try.
Carney was again in the play, throwing a bullet-like cut out pass to Matt Wright who looked certain to score before he was crunched by Merritt who was penalised for the now-illegal tackle.
A quick tip-on pass would have seen winger Ryan cross untouched.
The Rabbitohs withstood the ensuing set.
South Sydney were the first team to cross the try line in the second half only for Merritt to be denied from the video referees for an obstruction after Bryson Goodwin collided with Carney on the Sharks try line after some great lead up work from Inglis.
Again it was Souths’ poor timing on their left hand edge which cost them dearly, this time in points to the Sharks.
Ryan raced 90 metres out sprinting a desperate Reynolds in cover to score after a loose ball from John Sutton found space between Goodwin and Merritt with 15 minutes remaining.
Another obstruction denied Reynolds from scoring a well deserved match winning try in the final minutes of the match.
SOUTH SYDNEY 14 (A Everingham D Farrell tries A Reynolds 3 goals) bt CRONULLA 12 (M Gordon B Ryan tries M Gordon 2 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Jared Maxwell, Adam Gee. Crowd: 14,128.
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