2006 Round 13 vs Bulldogs:
Bulldogs 38 defeated Newcastle 22.
A second half blitz by the Bulldogs saw them run away with victory over Newcastle, in an at times tough, but error-riddled match in round 13 of the NRL.
The scores were locked at 16 all at halftime before the Bulldogs outscored Newcastle 22-6 in the second half. It was a game that whetted the appetite for a classic encounter, but Newcastle looked lethargic and made far too many errors to keep up with the Bulldogs, who jumped 2 places into third spot with the victory.
Following a penalty goal by Andrew Johns, the Bulldogs were the first to open the try-scoring account. Capitalising on good possession inside Newcastle's 20, Sonny Bill Williams running in the centres drew in Anthony Quinn off his wing and left Hazem El Masri wih an unopposed run to the line. El Masri was unable to convert, leaving the Bulldogs with a 2 point lead.
It was the Bulldogs who looked likely to follow up their try with more points, but Daniel Holdsworth held his pass up too long, and Brian Carney was able to come up with a good intercept, then race 65 metres to notch up the Knights first try. Again the conversion was missed, making the score 6-4 to Newcastle.
Newcastle were the next to score after a crazy piece of play in the 22nd minute. Newcastle had the ball stripped in good territory, before Danny Buderus stripped the ball back for Newcastle - albeit seemingly in a 2 man tackle. However, once they had reached the Bulldogs 20, Kirk Reynoldson made a beautiful offload (in an otherwise mistake-riddled game by the bearded second-rower) to Clint Newton who crossed besides the posts. The first conversion of the night by Andrew Johns gave Newcastle a 12-4 advantage.
The lead didn't last long though, as Corey Hughes scored back to back tries within the space of 6 minutes. Firstly in the 30th minute he took advantage of poor marker defence to dive over from dummy half, then in the 36th minute he took a pass close to the line from Daniel Holdsworth, after a good Tony Grimaldi offload, and got through the brittle goal-line defence by Newcastle. Both tries were converted, and the Bulldogs had transformed an eight point deficit into a four point lead.
Anthony Quinn was the man for the Knights, however, who evened up scores right on the bell. After a string of passes, George Carmont did very well to draw El Masri before putting Anthony Quinn in with an easy run to the line. Johns missed the conversion, leaving scores locked 14 all at the break.
Whatever Steven Folkes said to his charges at halftime certainly had the desired effect, as the ran away with the second half four tries to one. El Masri was first to score for the home side, after 51 minutes, when he gathered a scrappy pass right on Newcastle's goal-line. Newcastle's defence over-read the play on the last tackle, and El Masri was able to run the ball around after taking the pass about one metre out. He converted his own try to give the Bulldogs a 20-14 advantage.
Daniel Holdsworth was next to cross in the 55th minute, when he simply outpaced Kirk Reynoldson in the defensive line to cross from 10 metres out. Then Hazem El Masri put it well and truly out of Newcastle's reach in the 67th minute when he outpaced Anthony Quinn to regather a Brent Sherwin grubber kick. The try for El Masri broke Terry Lamb's record of 123 tries for the club, as well as competing his hat-trick for the night.
Clint Newton summed up Newcastle's night when he lost the ball over the line after a 40-metre run in the 71st minute, but the Knights crossed shortly afterwards anyway, when a Bulldogs pass went astray. Anthony Quinn grubbered the ball twice from 40 metres out before eventually forcing the ball. Andrew Johns converted to add some respectability to the scoreline at 32-22, but that disapated in the 78th minute when Reni Maitua bet a dreadful attempted tackle by Riley Brown to score. El Masri slotted the sideline conversion to futher improve his night by giving him 600 career goals.
The Bulldogs would be very pleased with their performance, which was disciplined and professional. Their forward pack totally out-muscled the Knights and they outplayed Newcastle in every facet of the game. Newcastle will have a bye, and they certainly need to use it to improve their game. After the match excuses were made from the camp that they were very tired after a long stretch with no breaks, but they could not detract from the fact that the Knights were simply awful.
What they said:
Michael Hagan:
"Extremely disappointing. We spoke about our performance last week and tonight was as equally poor. It's not an ideal way to go to the bye, but I don't think it was an (excuse)."
Hazem El Masri:
"[On breaking Terry Lamb's tryscoring record] I'm very proud and glad it's over and done with. A few of the guys have been mentioning it, so I'm glad to get it out of the way in one night. A few things went my way, so I was just happy to grab them."
Steve Folkes:
"[On Sonny Bill Williams] That was his best game of the year by far. It was evident right through the week that he was more switched on and more focused and he played that way. He's had a couple of niggling injuries which he is just about over and you could tell he was on from the start."