2006 Round 12 vs St George Illawarra Dragons:
St George Illawarra 38 defeated Newcastle 12.
St George Illawarra decimated Newcastle and exacted revenge for their round 5 thrashing at the hands of the same team in front of a large Knights home crowd in round 12 of the NRL. The Dragons were outstanding in all aspects of play - their forwards providing a platform for their classy backs to cast a spell on the Newcastle defence. Newcastle on the other hands, looked extremely lethargic, and never really threatened to get into a game led from start to finish by the Dragons.
St George Illawarra began the scoring in the 15th minute after both sides looked competitive early on. A series of three crossfield bombs - firstly by Trent Barrett, then by Luke Bailey, and finally by Dean Young ended with Kurt Gidley spilling the ball beside the posts and Mark Gasnier pouncing on the loose ball to score. Gasnier missed the relatively easy conversion, but it wasn't long until the Dragons added to their 4-0 lead.
Inside the Knights 20 metre zone, Trent Barrett gave a short ball to Ben Creagh who reached out, but couldn't quite reach the line. Off the next play though, Newcastle seemed to have not quite regathered, and Corey Payne crossed for a relatively easy try two off the ruck. This time Ben Hornby added the two points to make it 10-0 after 26 minutes.
It was Hornby who caused further headaches for the Knights straight from the kick-off. Deep inside his own territory, a blindside run by Daryl Millard found space with some good stepping, and then found Dean Young. Young was well into space and just had to get the ball to Hornby, who was left with an unopposed 35 metre run to the line. The kick from in front of the posts was this time taken by Aaron Gorrell.
That wasn't the end of the scoring for the half from the Dragons, who scored from a line drop-out 5 minutes later. Kurt Gidley dropped a bomb under little pressure on his own line, and Todd Lowrie batted the ball dead, giving the restart. The restart skewed off the side of Andrew Johns' boot, and Mark Gasnier took the ball 25 out, then flicked a pass to Corey Payne who ran that distance to grab his second try. The conversion was wide, but St George Illawarra led 20-0.
Andrew Johns took advantage of some good field position to force his way across for a typical short-range try with 3 minutes left in the half, giving Newcastle a slight sniff of a comeback at 20-6.
It took St George Illawarra 11 minutes to snuff out that chance in the second half. A Kurt Gidley knock-on on his own line when trying to regather a grubber kick put the Knights under pressure, and Trent Barrett gave a well timed pass which saw Danny Wicks evade a poorly timed Danny Buderus tackle to cross. Buderus could hardly be blamed, after he had attempted to leave the field earlier, only to be told he could not be replaced during a scrum, and forced to remain on-field.
St George Illawarra added two more tries, in the 64th and 68th minutes. Firstly a Trent Barrett kick from 40 metres out was partially charged down by Riley Brown into the arms of Matt Bickerstaff, who took off. He found Trent Barrett on the inside, and Barrett crossed in possibly his last game against the Knights. Then Barrett put a grubber kick in from 10 metres out and Ben Hornby regathered to score. The crowd and commentators disagreed with the videos referees decision to award the try, but it was clear that Hornby's back foot was behind Barrett, and therefore a try was the correct decision.
Newcastle picked up a consolation try in the 75th minute when Andrew Johns gave an inside pass to Kurt Gidley, who crossed from short range. This left the score at fulltime as 38-12.
St George Illawarra hit top form for one of the few times in season 2006, in what was so far an inconsistent season. However, if they maintain this form for the remainder of the season they will be extremely difficult to overlook as competition favourites.
Newcastle looked in some of their worst form of the year. Andrew Johns was poor, Kurt Gidley showed that he should never be selected at fullback again, and the whole side looked as if they desperately needed the approaching bye in round 14. The last month of close games appeared to have taken it's toll, whilst St George Illawarra looked very fresh and out for revenge coming off a bye.
Newcastle will need a big regroup before their away game next Saturday, an important match against the Bulldogs, with whom they are currently in equal fourth position with.
What they said:
Michael Hagan:
"A little feedback came to say they were ready for a big performance. Word was passed around and we talked about it ... not that that helped us. They were much better at doing the little things than we were. That was nearly their (the Dragons') best game of the season. They came off the bye full of energy and we were at the other end of the scale."
"[On Hornby's second try] I lost my glasses before the kickoff. I didn't know whether the bloke (video ref) at the other end might have needed them."
Trent Barrett:
"[On missing rep football this year] You just feel fresher. Origin weeks take a lot out of you - in the head as well as the body. It's the first time I've actually been able to have the bye week off for about four years. I just went home and had a rest and I felt really good coming into this game."
"[On this being his final year in the NRL] It definitely means more to me. I don't want to put any added pressure on myself but this is everything that I'm aiming at now."
Nathan Brown:
"[On whether revenge was a motivating factor] We didn't actually talk about it to be honest. Just like last time, if you're playing a really good side and all their good players are playing and they're right on their game and you're a bit off and your attitude's a bit down then that's what can happen. It just shows how hard it is to be up each week."
"[On Trent Barrett] The last two weeks he's played the best I've seen for a while."
"[On Mark Gasnier - who re-signed with the Dragons during the week] Gaz has dropped the ball five times in the last two weeks. These are big decisions. They couldn't have been handled better by the players, the managers and the club but you're under a lot of scrutiny and pressure. Gaz tonight played his best game for us."
"[On Luke Bailey's selection chances for State of Origin 2] Bailey was outstanding tonight. If he comes up like that next week against Parramatta they have to seriously consider him."