NRL Round 14: Rabbitohs remain top after Rumble at the Reef

Before getting into the details of the game, I have to give a super wrap to the Cairns crowd. Over 16,000 rugby league-mad fans from North Queensland – some even made the trip – packed out Intrust Super Cup team Northern Pride's home Barlow Park to witness what ended up being a super match. When you consider the maximum capacity figure is usually quoted at around the 15,000 mark, it really puts the success of the “Rumble of the Reef” into perspective.

A marvellous advertisement for rugby league and one that I hope is repeated by all teams (not necessarily Cairns but regional areas of Australia) in future.

The game itself was sensational.

South Sydney and the Gold Coast Titans came into the clash rested after a round 13 bye, and before that enjoyed wins over Newcastle (25-18) and North Queensland Cowboys (31-14) respectively. Both teams had been in good form before the bye, setting up a match that had every hardened rugby league fan frothing at the mouth.

And it didn’t disappoint, with several “try of the season” contenders coming out of it.

Souths seemingly had the early ascendency after an early short-range try to Greg Inglis in the 9^th minute that reeked of Isaac Luke brilliance and made the Titans goal-line defence look soft. A tight tussle in the middle saw the Titans fight their way into good field position, when a 23^rd minute cross-field kick was met by a flying Kevin Gordon in the left corner.

Some Albert Kelly brilliance gifted the Titans a 12-6 lead (after Aiden Sezer converted both tries), before Luke struck back for the “home” team to level things up in the 30^th.

Two of the best tries of the match rounded out the first half, with the Rabbitohs’ effort arguably the best of the year.

Titans and NSW Origin back-rower Greg Bird showed he could still fit in the number six jersey when he fed a perfect inside ball to a flying William Zillman, who did what most other players can’t by shrugging Inglis off to put the Titans back into the lead.

The Bunnies bounced back right on half-time in a try that had to be seen to be believed. The ball went through umpteen pairs of hands as they made 30 metres up the left, with the ball being kept alive in tackles with the help of several offloads. It eventually found its way into the hands of Adam Reynolds, who summed up the situation in an instant and dropped it onto the boot across field, finding the hands of Dylan Walker who touched down. It has to be seen to be believed.

After the brilliance of the first half you could be forgiven for thinking the second was a bore. It was always going to be a struggle to live up to the standards set in the first.

The Rabbitohs should have run away with the result, and looked like doing so after tries to Roy Asotasi and Ben Te’o. Souths held a 30-18 lead with about 20 minutes to play, and should have closed out the game by putting the Titans to the sword.

Instead, Titans winger Anthony Don showed blinding pace to break the line down the right side in the 63^rd minute, producing a fine offload that found Kelly who scored his second. The 30-24 scoreline set up a grandstand finish for the Barlow Park crowd, but that is how it would remain after both teams turned off their attack and muscled up in defence.

Despite keeping their stranglehold on first position on the ladder, South Sydney won’t be happy with their effort. The two points always come in handy and it’s a trait of premiership-winning teams to win ugly, but there were several opportunities to wrap the game up and they didn’t do it. Instead of putting the opposition to the sword the Rabbitohs relented, giving the Gold Coast a sniff of victory.

Gold Coast could view it as two points that slipped away, but would gain a lot of confidence from keeping up with the competition leaders. The Titans showed enough in that game to be considered dark horses for the title, with Kelly and Sezer’s partnership in the halves improving every week.

Player of the year: Luke 3, Kelly 2, Reynolds 1

SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 30 (Inglis, Walker, Luke, Asotasi, Te’o tries; Reynolds 5 goals) def GOLD COAST TITANS 24 (Kelly 2, Zillman, Gordon tries; Sezer 4 goals) at Barlow Park, Mackay.