2007 Round 14 vs Canberra Raiders:
Newcastle 22 defeated Canberra 18.
Newcastle gained some revenge for their 48-18 thrashing at the hands in Canberra, and gained a vital two points by overcoming the Raiders 22-18. The last time the two teams played ended up being Andrew Johns’ final match, and it was far from a fitting farewell. This time around Newcastle appeared to have the upped hand for most of the match, but the winning margin was still within their 6 point ceiling for 2007.
Canberra looked to have opened the scoring early when Allan Tongue went close to forcing a grubber in the Knights in-goal, but to the surprise of many, the try was disallowed. Adam MacDougall took the chance to open the scoring in the 11th minute, when he regathered a Jarrod Mullen grubber. Mullen caught Canberra’s up and in defence off-guard, with a precision kick early in the tackle count.
It stayed at 4-0 for the remainder of the first half, and Canberra hit back early in the second. Lincoln Withers scored a simple try in the 45th by diving over from dummy-half, but then the Knights really took control. First Luke Walsh passed to Cory Paterson, who flicked a pass to Adam MacDougall who dived over from close range in the 50th minute. Seven minutes later Luke Walsh kicked low on the final, bringing the Knights chasers into play, and James McManus was able to kick ahead and regather and pass to a flying Brad Tighe who scored under the posts. Finally, in the 67th minute, Chris Bailey forced his way free of several tacklers from ten metres out to dive across and make the score 22-6.
From that point on, the match was in the bag, but Newcastle relaxed and allowed two late tries to Canberra, to reduce the final margin to 22-18. The inability to close out a match could bite the Knights as the close competition continues.
All Newcastle forwards were impressive, as Josh Perry pulled a hamstring and exited the game in the first ten minutes. Kurt Gidley struggled at first, but quickly regained his confidence in his return from a shoulder injury. Chris Bailey had a great first match of the year, but most plaudits were saved for Danny Buderus, who was the best on ground in his 200th first grade match.
What they said:
Danny Buderus:
"It was very disappointing for a couple of days after Origin. But I've always been one to look forward, not back, and that's the attitude I took again this time. You've just got to shake yourself off and go again. It'll be good to reflect on the milestone, but getting the win was the big thing."
Adam Woolnough:
"'Bedsy' was a bit down when he came back from Origin, but he got stuck into training and the rest of us lifted when we saw that. Bedsy loves the club, and the rest of us love playing with him. It's a special night for him."
Brian Smith:
[On Danny Buderus's 200th match] "The disappointment Danny felt when NSW couldn't win to make the third Origin game a decider was mammoth. But he put it all aside as soon as he came back to Newcastle, and his preparation for this game was outstanding. He took the same attitude on to the field, and he would have played 80 minutes tonight if I hadn't taken him off with five minutes to go. He'll probably have a word to me about that."
"For 70 minutes of the game it was the best defence we had come up with all season."
Neil Henry:
"The game was there to be won. We sort of lost it in the middle part of the second half."