NRL 2021: South Sydney Rabbitohs beat Wests Tigers 18-14 | Match Report
Tom Burgess had ‘faith in the bunker’ but just in case he had bounced the ball in goal, Luke Brooks ‘thought he’d give it a go’ and run to the other end. It nearly came off.
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Warren Smith doesn’t get too many things wrong, but it turns out he hadn’t seen it all when he watched Adam Reynolds finish off an incredible team try to seal a famous South Sydney win in 2012.
Nine years later, the rugby league world watched the Rabbitohs pull off an even greater escape when their little No.7 nailed a two-point field goal to tie things up against the Wests Tigers, setting the scene for the craziest 60 seconds of 2021.
In the first set of golden point, powerhouse prop Tom Burgess crashed over for what looked to be the winning try, only for the Tigers to start celebrating when halfback Luke Brooks picked up the loose ball and ran 105 metres to score at the other end.
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Referee Gerard Sutton was about to blow his whistle but allowed play to continue, sparking wild scenes at Stadium Australia that have spawned countless memes.
Tigers coach Michael Maguire lost the plot in the box, an injured Josh Mansour was simply confused, while journalists madly typed away as they watched their headline change in front of their eyes.
Sutton awarded the try to the Tigers, but the Bunker quickly stepped in, and after looking at a couple of replays, flashed the green light to hand the Rabbitohs a stunning win.
“I’ve had them disallowed before, but I was pretty confident in that one,” an ecstatic Burgess said after the game.
“My heart was definitely beating when they went down the other end and scored, but luckily, they could take it back and look at it.
“I just had to have faith. I knew that I got it down for a split second, and that’s all you need these days. The boys were all celebrating so they sold it well. I was pretty confident. I had faith in the Bunker.”
Dan Ginnane described it as “the cruellest way to lose a game”, and even Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett thought the Tigers had won given his previous experiences with the big English prop.
“You don’t get a much better try than that in a game like this,” Bennett said.
“I don’t think any of us thought he’d scored the try because he’s done that about four times for us in the last two years, and every time it’s been no try and he’s carried on like they were tries. We didn’t have much faith, but we’re believers now.”
All Brooks could do was play to the whistle, but even he didn’t know what had happened.
“It’s heartbreaking. I think we deserved the win,” he lamented.
“I didn’t have a good view of the put down, but I saw the ball bounce so I thought I may as well pick it up and give it a go. Unfortunately, he got it down so it was a tough one to take.
“I looked at him (Sutton) and he was about to blow the whistle, but in case he dropped it, I thought I’d give it a go.”
Tries don’t get any better for front-rowers, but long-range efforts are nothing new to the Burgess twins. Tom produced a special 45-metre effort against Lebanon at the 2017 World Cup, while his brother George will always be remembered for his special solo try in the 2014 Grand Final.
“In the context, it was one of the most memorable tries I’ve scored,” Burgess said, paying tribute to hooker Damien Cook for playing short instead of going out the back for another field goal.
“George got one on one with the fullback, and I did, too. You’ve just got to back yourself and go in that situation, because that’s the last thing they want you to do. I had a try for England once which was pretty similar, but I stepped the fullback that time. This one I just shimmied around him.
“It doesn’t happen as a front-rower because you’re usually running into a brick wall. They were worried about the drop goal so they took their eyes off me for a second. Cooky, my old mate, hit me. I thought he was going to do his old beach sprint run, but he hit me. It was the right play.”
Saturday’s try caps off a brilliant fortnight for Burgess who ran for a career-high 233 metres against Brisbane and then backed it up with another 171 as he embraces his role as the experienced head up front.
“I’m feeling good. I’m just playing my role for the team and I want to keep backing it up,” he said.
“It’s no good doing it here and there where I get 250 metres one week and then 80 the next week. You’ve just got to keep backing it up.
“They really came at us hard tonight so my metres were way down early. That’s five in a row for us now, but we’ve got to keep going and not get carried away.”
Why Souths weren’t confident big man had scored try
The Rabbitohs pulled off the craziest win of the year after Tom Burgess crossed for a miracle try to seal a stunning comeback win in golden point as the Tigers celebrated what they thought was a Luke Brooks match-winner at the other end.
In the first set of extra-time, Burgess stormed through the line like his twin George did in the 2014 Grand Final, but appeared to spill the ball as he attempted to slam it down.
As players waited for the whistle to blow, Brooks scooped up the loose ball and raced the length of the field with his teammates celebrating as they chased him in the background.
Sutton awarded the try, prompting hysterical celebrations in Michael Maguire’s coach’s box, only for the Bunker to go back to Burgess’s effort, which was given the green light after several replays showed he grounded it before the ball came loose.
“You don’t get a much better try than that in a game like this,” Wayne Bennett said.
“I don’t think any of us thought he’d scored the try because he’s done that about four times for us in the last two years, and every time it’s been no try and he’s carried on like they were tries. We didn’t have much faith, but we’re believers now.”
Field goal madness
Any debate surrounding the two-point field goal has been put to bed after Adam Reynolds nailed the most remarkable play of the year to force the game into golden point.
The South Sydney skipper became the first player in the league to kick a two-point field goal when he slotted a meaningless one before half-time against the Broncos last week.
But on Saturday night, with his side down 14-12 with six minutes to play, Reynolds landed a 42-metre monster that caught everyone by surprise to level the scores.
“I love Peter’s new rule. It’s made for us,” Bennett joked, praising Peter V’Landys in the process.
“It was ideal because one point wasn’t going to get us there. He snapped it and away we went.”
That was just the start of the drama as Reynolds then missed a penalty from near the sideline after Tommy Talau was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul. He then sliced an attempt that he should have kicked, before Adam Doueihi missed at the other end.
Respect
They were booed off at half-time by their own fans last week, but the Wests Tigers won respect back from the rugby league world after producing their gutsiest 80 minutes of the season.
Fittingly, Aretha Franklin’s Respect was played on the PA system at the break in a fitting tribute to the away side’s gritty response to last week’s horror show.
As disgraceful as they were last week, the Tigers were equally brave on Saturday against a team that was backed into Winx-like odds before kick-off.
“It was a rollercoaster,” Michael Maguire said, whose ecstasy turned to agony during the final play.
“Last week, we weren’t happy with that at all. But what you saw tonight is what the Wests Tigers are about. That’s the standard now of what we need to set ourselves. The effort that the boys put in is exactly what I’ve been talking about.”
Maguire deserves plenty of credit for steadying the ship, with a string of big coaching decisions paying dividends for a man who was lost for words just six days ago.
The call to reward rookie Jake Simpkin was justified as he more than matched it with the Australian No.9. He was worked over by South Sydney’s monster pack but finished with a game-high 55 tackles and just a handful of misses despite being out on his feet from the 20-minute mark.
David Nofoaluma was found out defensively last week but excelled after being moved to the left wing in a move few saw coming.
“We all know what Dave is capable of, and that’s what he needs to do week in, week out,” Maguire said.
“His performance has probably ebbed and flowed, but that’s what we expect.”
Report card
Michael Maguire is flummoxed as to why the Bunker did not intervene to penalise Latrell Mitchell for lashing out at Luke Garner.
Replays showed he kicked him after being dragged down short of halfway after making a great escape from his own in-goal.
“With the technology that we’ve got, we’ve got to be using that to be able to go ‘hang on, those things are happening in the game’,” the coach said.
“I’d like that to be dealt with straight away, rather than after the game. Who knows where the game could have gone if that changed? I do not understand why we don’t use the technology.”
Mitchell could also find himself in hot water for a stray forearm that caught Nofoaluma in the throat, while Tigers duo Zane Musgrove and Garner were also placed on report for dangerous tackles in a spiteful first half.
The Rabbitohs fullback was called out by Sutton after he collected Nofoaluma about a second after he had kicked infield for Laurie to score his third try in as many games, and then lashed out with a boot after Garner tackled him near halfway.
Mitchell headed into Round 6 level with Ryan Papenhuyzen at the top of the Dally M leaderboard, but his chances of claiming the prestigious award will take a massive hit if the match review committee decides to take the incident further.
IT’S A CRUEL, CRUEL GAME
—Nick Campton
Last week was supposed to be rock bottom for the Wests Tigers but this week, somehow, was worse.
It was cruel, what happened to them against South Sydney. The fates are against them. The gods do not like them. They should avoid the two-up ring next week, because things never land their way.
When their fans are handed a little bit of hope, a dream of a chance of victory it is not just taken away from them, it’s snatched from their grasp in unprecedented fashion.
A loss to South Sydney would have be nothing new, even if it came in golden point.
But for it to happen this way, to go from the low of Tom Burgess possibly scoring to the high of Luke Brooks picking up the loose ball and running all the way down the other end and claiming what, for a moment, looked like one of their most famous wins only for it to be ripped away from them - you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.
This must be a different kind of hurt to last week, when they embarrassed themselves against North Queensland and were booed off of Leichhardt Oval. For a loss to really hurt you have to think you were going to win.
And unlike the humiliation against the Cowboys they can be proud of their efforts, and it’s proof Michael Maguire does have something to work with, especially with rookie hooker Jake Simpkin.
Simpkin was handed the toughest of assignments on debut and he passed with flying colours.
He had to lock horns with New South Wales and Australian hooker Damien Cook and tangle with South Sydney’s superstar forward pack - a tall order for any hooker, let alone a kid on debut.
And further to that, Simpkin had to shoulder the weight of a fanbase who are crying out for glimmers of hope, a promise that tomorrow might be better than today
Think about how beloved Harry Grant became last year during his loan deal and how the black, white and gold faithful took the lively rake right into their hearts.
It would be a massive call to say Simpkin is on the same trajectory as Grant, but his efforts on debut were tremendous.
The Queenslander played the full match, churned through 55 tackles and ran for a tidy 65 metres - more than Cook, for those of you counting at home.
He is a player of the future, just like five-eighth Adam Doueihi - who was their best and most creative player - and these are the things the Tigers faithful must hold onto as they battle despair.
There is a future here. Things can’t stay this way forever. Bad luck has to turn at some stage.
Their next match against Manly cannot possibly be worse than this loss. Even a 50-0 loss couldn’t hurt this bad.
But then again, we would have said the same thing last week. And this is the Tigers, for whom nothing can ever seem to go right no matter how hard they try.
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