Ugly loss against South Sydney tough for Wests Tigers to swallow

JASON Taylor knows one thing about the numbers from this one. “No matter which way we read them. They’re going to be ugly”.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 22: Glenn Stewart and Issac Luke of the Rabbitohs cheer as Martin Taupau of the Tigers looks dejected after dropping the ball during the round three NRL match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium on March 22, 2015 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

JASON Taylor knows one thing about the numbers from this one.

“No matter which way we read them,’’ the Wests Tigers coach shrugged, “they’re going to be ugly”.

And so they are.

Errors: 19.

Completions: 57 per cent.

Penalties conceded: 9.

Points scored: 6.

Yep, uglier than a mud fence.

Which is why, with most headlines this morning centred around defending premiers Souths - and exactly who in this competition can beat them — the real question is how close the Tigers should have come to doing just that.

ONE HAND, TWO TRIES AS WOUNDED WALKER STARS

Greg Inglis of Souths tackled.

Forget the final deficit of 14 points.

At least six times in this game the joint-venture side created genuine scoring opportunities against the best attacking team in rugby league ... and six times they mucked it up.

“We were way off,’’ Taylor conceded of his side’s attack.

“We made too many errors but I’m not going to sit here and go on about that. Everyone understands.

“You’re going to make it harder on yourself and we did that. We were very scrappy.

“But still, we followed up some disappointing attack with some real effort and grit in defence.”

Skipper Robbie Farah agreed.

“Effort good,’’ he said. “Execution poor”.

And it started in the second minute, when Tigers winger Pat Richards appeared to have scored out wide.

Nup. Offside.

Pat Richards of the Tigers looks dejected.

Then after six minutes, across the other side of the park, Kevin Naiqama spilled the ball over the stripe.

And after 10 minutes, another attacking raid was crucified when Richards was thrown a terrible pass - and fumbled.

Indeed, every time the Tigers got themselves into the opposition Red Zone, they found a way to self detonate.

After 13 minutes, it was a Luke Brooks forward pass. After 23 minutes, a Chris Lawrence spill.

“But we do need to make mention that Souths defence is the best in the competition,’’ Taylor said. “They were number one in that area last year and that, no doubt, played a part in the errors we made.

“So we’re disappointed. We were very scrappy in attack, very scrappy.

“But the fact we hung in there and were still in the game with 10 minutes or so to go was really encouraging.

Issac Luke of the Rabbitohs cheers as Martin Taupau of the Tigers looks dejected after dropping the ball.

“Souths are the dominate side, that’s very clear.

“But we showed that we’re there abouts.”

Farah, again, agreed.

“We can take a lot out of it,’’ the Tigers skipper, who himself dropped a ball over the tryline, said “There’s nothing happened out there that we can’t fix.

“We went with them for a while but the good sides, they play for 80.

“The effort was great. We hung in, scrambled and tackled right to the end.

“So we know we’re not far off. But we don’t want to be close.”

Originally published as Ugly loss against South Sydney tough for Wests Tigers to swallow