Wolves Victorious Down Under
South Sydney Rabbitohs 28 Warrington Wolves 34
(Match report information courtesy of South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Warrington Wolves rounded off their pre-season training camp in Australia with a win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the friendly match at Redfern Oval.
The Wolves went into an impressive 24 points to nil lead at one stage but had to stand strong against a Rabbitohs' fight-back which took the score to 28-all with 13 minutes left on the clock.
A sell out crowd of 5,000 Members and supporters were there to see this memorable game which saw Super League take on NRL opposition.
The Wolves got away to a cracking start, finding holes in behind the ruck in the Rabbitohs' defence. A second minute try to Evans, eighth minute try to Grix, 14th minute try to Williams, and 29th minute try to Atkins gave the Wolves a 24-nil lead. The Rabbitohs were on the back foot for most of the opening 30 minutes, with the only chance of scoring coming off the back of an Adam Reynolds 40/20 touch finder which led to prop forward Josh Starling being held up adjacent to the posts.
Shaune Corrigan scored the Rabbitohs' first four-pointer in the 31st minute when quick hands from Adam Reynolds opened up the opportunity for Corrigan to fight his way over for the try. Reynolds converted to take the scores to 24-6.
Six minutes later, replacement hooker Brendan McKinnon sighted the smallest gap in the Wolves' defence, burrowing over for the Rabbitohs' second try. Reynolds converted again to reduce the deficit to 12 at the half time break.
The Rabbitohs continued to build their momentum after the major break, with Reynolds kicking another booming 40/20 touch finder to put the Rabbitohs in an attacking position. From the ensuing set of six the ball went left and found five-eighth Ryan Carr who dummied and broke the line to score.
Six minutes later and the Rabbitohs struck again, this time through back rower Nathan Peats who showed enormous power in his legs and upper body to fight off and drag over the line four Warrington defenders to score the Rabbitohs' fourth try. Reynolds converted to reduce the deficit to two points, 24-22 with about 30 minutes left on the clock.
Rabbitohs' McKinnon nearly crossed for his second try four minutes later only to be held up, but the sides would go into the three-quarter time break evenly poised with an exciting final 20 minutes on its way.
Bridge entered the game for the Wolves and struck immediately, scoring in the 61st minute to establish a six-point buffer for the visitors. But the Rabbitohs hit back straight away when Corrigan leapt high for one of Carr's cross-field bombs, coming down with the ball to score his second. Reynolds nailed a pressure shot at goal to level the scores at 28-all.
Both sides then dished out some heavy defence with Wolves' Carvell and Rabbitohs' Dave Tyrrell trading shoulders on a number of occasions.
It was Carvell who would make the difference in the end, charging towards the line and popping a brilliant short ball to Gareth O'Brien who raced 45 metres to score under the posts. Richie Myler converted to take the lead to six with seven minutes to play.
The Rabbitohs were able to fight their way into Warrington territory but were unable to breach their line one more time, with the Rabbitohs going down 34-28 after 80 minutes.
The match saw impressive performances from both teams, giving both sets of fans an enjoyable night out in Redfern.
Warrington Wolves next fixture will be the opening round of Stobart Super League XVII against Hull FC at the KC Stadium on Sunday 5th February, 3pm.
Warrington Wolves 34
Chris Riley, Rhys Evans, Matty Blythe, Ryan Atkins, Rhys Williams, Lee Briers, Stefan Ratchford, Adrian Morley, Mickey Higham, Garreth Carvell, Ben Westwood, Trent Waterhouse, Simon Grix
Subs: Richie Myler, Chris Bridge, Paul Wood, Ben Harrison, Mike Cooper, Chris Hill, Tyrone McCarthy, Gareth O'Brien
Tries: Rhys Evans, Simon Grix, Rhys Williams, Ryan Atkins, Chris Bridge, Gareth O'Brien
Goals: Lee Briers (4), Richie Myler
South Sydney Rabbitohs 28
Fetuli Talanoa, Chris McQueen, Shaune Corrigan, Matt King, Andrew Everingham, Ryan Carr, Adam Reynolds, Scott Geddes, Nathan Peats, Josh Starling, Eddy Pettybourne, Dave Tyrrell, Jason Clark
Subs: Brendan McKinnon, Curtis Johnston, George Burgess, Neccrom Areaiiti, Blake Judd, Kurt French, Blake Matthews, Molan, Leslie, Vale, Andrew Artemi
Tries: Shaune Corrigan (2), Brendan McKinnon, Ryan Carr, Nathan Peats
Goals: Adam Reynolds 4
(Additional details from game day and match updates can be viewed on twitter.com/wolves.rl )
28, Jan, 2012
