2006 Round 8 vs South Sydney Rabbitohs:
Newcastle 24 defeated South Sydney 18.
Newcastle withstood a spirited South Sydney charge in their round 8 clash, before eventually prevailing 24-18. Newcastle looked comfortable mid-way through the second half when they led 18-6, but Souths fought back to draw level, and only a late Danny Buderus try saw the Knights get home.
Newcastle had the boost of Andrew Johns (wearing the unfamiliar number 18) returning a week early from an ankle injury sustained in round 6, but the match started positively for the Rabbitohs when they capitalised on a few repeat sets to cross for the first try. Ben Walker gave a short ball to Joe Galavao, who from close range was virtually impossible to stop. Nathan Merritt converted from almost in front to give the 6-0 lead to the Bunnies.
Newcastle replied quickly, however. Steve Simpson made a strong run, setting up the Knights inside the 20, before Johns gave an inside ball to Milton Thaiday. Thaiday found enough space up the middle of the ruck to half-break the tackle of Merritt, reach out and plant the ball.
A penalty against a Ben Walker-strip in the 24th minute saw the Knights move downfield, and George Carmont was the man on the end of an attacking raid. Andrew Johns gave a second-man pass to Clint Newton who found space, and was able to offload to Carmont who only had to fall across the line. The conversion gave Newcastle the lead for the first time in the game, 12-6.
The only other try-scoring opportunity of the first half came in the 32nd minute to Souths. Newcastle attacked the blind-side from a scrum inside their 20, and as Brian Carney recklessly neared the touchline he flung a ball inside which South Sydney's John Sutton pounced on. A few plays later Mark Minichiello stepped into space and threw an inside pass to Merritt, who appeared to knee the ball towards the tryline before forcing it. The video referee disagreed, however, and the precarious 6-point advantage to the Knights was maintained until halftime - although only when Andrew Johns missed a 45-metre field goal from a line drop-out seconds before halftime.
The second-half started with a few unexpected sights - Kurt Gidley moved to fullback and Jarrod Mullen to five-eighth to cover for a Milton Thaiday ankle injury, and then Craig Smith ran 55 metres in his first line-break of the season! The Rabbitohs made an error in the ensuing set, and Newcastle capitalised with their third try. Andrew Johns put Todd Lowrie in a gap, and he ran 20 metres before passing inside to Johns. The pass went backwards through Johns' hands and fell for Danny Buderus, who ran the remaining 10 metres to put the ball down.
The game twisted again in the 59th minute when Souths fought back from the 12 point deficit. Reaching the Newcastle 20 through a penalty, Shane Walker threw a good second-man pass (completely fooling Matthew Gidley) for David Fa'alogo to stroll across.
South Sydney looked like scoring in the 65th minute, with Adam MacDougall chipping ahead and regathering, before sending his brother Luke chasing another kick. Rather than backing his speed, Matthew Gidley tackled Luke MacDougall without the ball and was promptly sinbinned - however Souths could not take advantage of the resultant penalty. Souths displayed their tenacity to draw level in the 72nd minute, though, when Adam MacDougall took advantage of the extra man to crash across out wide. Nathan Merritt, faced with a difficult sideline conversion to draw level, sent the ball right down the middle to equal the scores.
If there was one thing the Rabbits needed to do in the next set, it was get to their kick. Ben Walker received the ball on the last tackle, but opted to pass to replacement forward Michael Greenfield instead, leading to a scramble that finished with a Newcastle turnover 45 metres out. From the that set Danny Buderus took advantage of a South Sydney defensive line looking for a field goal attempt to muscle his way across from 5 metres out for the match-winning try. Souths still had time for one final fling at the line, but Adam MacDougall was forced back metres out from the chalk.
Souths tried gamely all day, and were possibly the better side, but couldn't quite find enough gaps in pretty solid Knights defence. Newcastle made plenty of errors in a display that wasn't back to their form of two weeks ago, but certainly an improvement from the slaughter at the hands of the Storm the week before. They would also be satisfied at winning their first close game in 2006.
Adam MacDougall was Souths best, waging a war with former team-mate Matthew Gidley which he could claim to have won when Gidley was sinbinned. Johns was not quite his dominant best on return from ankle injury, but Danny Buderus, Steve Simpson and Craig Smith lead a committed forward pack, which was also noteworthy for the Newcastle debut of Luke Davico, playing his first NRL game since 2004.
What they said:
Danny Buderus:
"[On the winning try] Kurt was calling it and I guess it was right at the death. I just hoped that their markers might have chased him and left enough space up the middle. It was a handy option I guess."
"[On a spear-tackle potentially keeping him out of the test] I don't think I've got a problem. I haven't looked at it again, but I only drove in on the tackle. I went down and hit him and drove my legs into him. I don't think I've got any concerns with it."
Andrew Johns:
"It was good to have a hit-out. You realise how much you lose in two weeks out of footy. You lose a bit of the feel for the game. Today, I took a couple of awful options, my kicking game was off, and my attack was a bit off. It was good to get that one out of the way."
"When I trained yesterday and got through that I pretty much knew I could play. I got new anti-infammatories towards the end of the week and it took all the swelling out. Structurally (the ankle) was all right but once all swelling was gone I was confident of playing."
"[On the replaced turf] It was in the back of my mind because there was a lot of talk about it but the powers that be had a look at it and said it was alright."
"The two MacDougall brothers - someone must have given them growling dog bars. They were just indestructible."
Milton Thaiday:
"[On the replaced turf - and the ankle injury that will keep him out for 6 weeks] It was pretty bad out there. There were people slipping. Every time you stepped off your foot you'd dig a big chunk out of the ground. Every run, every step that you took, you could feel it, you knew it wasn't stable, it was loose. I don't reckon it's safe at all."
Steve Simpson:
"[On the replaced turf] Obviously it's not ideal. A few patches came out. I suppose it needs a bit of work and it's only a matter of time until someone does get hurt out there. Hopefully it will fix itself in another week or two."
Michael Hagan:
"It was a pretty gutsy effort by our blokes. We needed everyone today, it was kind of all hands on deck attitude. We need to be winning as many games as we can now. I thought it was a tremendous effort by Danny Buderus and Andrew Johns, in particular the way they defended at times."
"We've probably been on the end of a couple of calls for a couple of weeks. I would not feel great if I was in Shaun's position."
Shaun McRae:
"There were a couple of calls that could go for you or against you. They're crucial decisions and we've got to make sure people are getting them right. But unfortunately the job that officials have, it's very hard to get it right every single time. But I just thought today there were a number of things that didn't quite go our way."
"[On Walkers non-kick in the 75th minute] A lot of people will talk of it as a defining moment of the game, but I'm not sure it was. It was 18-all and a chance to complete the set and go to the corner. Just because you didn't, it does not mean it cost us the game. Whether you make a mistake on last tackle or not, you should still be able to defend that. All we had to do was defend another set of six. Ideally the kick should have gone to the corner of course but I know there was some confusion about the tackle count. Part of (Walker's) role is to make sure he knows what the tackle count is... (but) there were other mistakes in the game we can look at, too."
"The frustration continues really. That's probably the second game this year we have been really close and might have deserved to get something out of it."
"Their nine and seven are the best players we have seen. We coped with them very well but there were just little touches here and there that we didn't (cope with) and ultimately that was the difference."