Rabbitohs' Revival Was Just A One-game Wonder

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday May 20, 2008

Greg Prichard

Raiders 38 Souths 10

SOUTH Sydney thought they had emerged from their rut two rounds back, when they beat North Queensland to record their first win of the season before having the bye last weekend.

It is now clear all that win showed us was just how bad the Cowboys are going, because Canberra, who had lost three straight, had no trouble skinning the Rabbitohs alive at Canberra Stadium last night.

The Raiders didn't have to do anything spectacular to get well on top of Souths by midway through the first half. They just had to get to the end of their sets and wait for opposition mistakes, which started coming in the very first minute.

It should have been a regulation collect for the Rabbitohs from a clearing kick by Raiders halfback Todd Carney, but winger Shannon Hegarty and fullback Nathan Merritt got in each other's way and Canberra centre Joel Monaghan, who was just chasing the kick with a view to limiting the return, couldn't believe his luck when the ball richocheted in his direction. Monaghan swooped on it 20 metres out and got away to score.

Carney converted for 6-0 and a few minutes later he had the defence under pressure again, when he came up with a 40-20 kick. But the Rabbitohs survived that onslaught and when Souths centre Beau Champion powered over in a tackle for a 12th-minute try it looked as if the visitors had steadied the ship even though halfback Issac Luke missed with the conversion attempt.

But that was as good as the first half got for Souths. They survived the Raiders hammering their line for more than two minutes straight but when the Rabbitohs lost the ball up the other end in the 19th minute and then conceded a penalty, their world began to cave in. Second-rower Glen Turner crashed over for a Canberra try off the next set, Carney converted to make it 12-4, and after a period of consolidation on top of that the Raiders decided to chance their arm.

Hooker and captain Alan Tongue made a break up the middle, found replacement forward Josh Miller in support and, finally, another replacement forward - Trevor Thurling - chimed in to take the ball for a 30th-minute try.

Carney's conversion made it 18-4, and in the 35th minute Tongue was at it again, this time chip-kicking perfectly for five-eighth Terry Campese to dash through, collect the ball on the bounce and go on to touch down, beating two feeble attempts at tackles along the way.

Carney again converted, to make it 24-4, and then the big screen at the ground cut to a shot of Souths co-owner Russell Crowe, looking forlorn as he stood and watched the game from a glassed-in section of the grandstand. The Canberra crowd enjoyed that.

No doubt Souths coach Jason Taylor would have had a lot to say at half-time, and part of his approach would surely have been to appeal to his players' sense of pride. But the Rabbitohs didn't look any different when the second half began.

Under those circumstances, it was only natural that Canberra tries would soon start coming again and in the 48th minute Monaghan got the ball rolling when he scored his second. The other Canberra centre, Adrian Purtell, scored in the 56th and fullback Bronx Goodwin crossed in the 60th, and with a quarter of the game still left the Raiders had blown Souths away to lead 38-4.

The game petered out from there, although Souths five-eighth Dean Widders created some drama when he was penalised for slamming Tongue's head to the ground in a tackle. Widders scored a try in the final seconds, but, as a consolation for the Rabbitohs, on a scale from one to 10 it rated a zero.

CANBERRA 38 (J Monaghan 2, G Turner, T Thurling, D Campese, A Purtell, B Goodwin tries; T Carney 5 goals) bt SOUTH SYDNEY 10 (B Champion, D Widders tries; I Luke goal) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: G Badger. Crowd: 11,115.