Round 20: Game of the Week: Penrith v. Wests Tigers

Usually any contest worthy of ‘Game of the Week’ status involves teams in the upper echelon, where a top-shelf match is expected. A game where the outcome is difficult (for those with two eyes) to predict. A game perhaps with a battle between a brilliant attack and a stingy defence, or a young and enthusiastic team against an older but smarter team, or even one featuring a high-flying team is exposed to its Kryptonite.

For those in Sydney on Saturday night who were able to tell the difference between genuine international conflict and sport (apologies to the 3 real non-Kiwi non-bandwagon Rugby followers out there, but for everyone else, here’s a hint: in genuine international conflict, you can’t change teams. To paraphrase Seinfeld, you’re basically just cheering for the Wallabies shirt. We used to hate you, but you’re coaching those wearing our shirt so we love you now Robbie!!!!!!!!!) and those who weren’t interested in being seen (but have still to learn most of the rules) at the SCG, there was an intriguing NRL game on.

No, it didn’t feature teams near the top of the ladder and no, a top-shelf match wasn’t really expected (especially after the significant injury-related absences were announced). Instead, those discerning viewers who chose to watch Penrith take on the Wests Tigers saw two teams long regarded as having significant potential, but who can be incredibly inconsistent (in particular situations) have incredibly poor records. Who would stand up, win this game and, in doing so, continue to gather solid momentum towards playing in the 2nd week of September (and possibly beyond)?

To elaborate on both teams’ inconsistency: Penrith have improved markedly after their wretched 2007, but their home form remained putrid. Before Saturday night, they had won just 5 of their last 22 home games and 14 of their last 40 home games: incredible numbers for what used to be a difficult place for opposing teams to play. On Saturday nights, where they won 15 out of 20 home games between 2003 and 2006, it’s even worse: only 1 win out of their last 10 before this game. From a tipping perspective, Penrith have been expected to turn this around for some time: they had won only 2 of their last 13 home games as the favourite before Saturday night.

For the Tigers, their solid record away from homes over recent years turns very ugly when away day (and dry) games are excluded. Prior to Saturday night, they had won only 3 of their last 23 away games either at night or where it was wet. Also, they have a horrible record both against Penrith (4 wins from 14) and at Penrith (2 out of 7). Memories of the Tigers’ choke at Penrith in 2000 still haunt supporters, but they did win at Penrith last season.

Despite these distinctly poor numbers, both teams entered this game coming off impressive wins in Round 19 but lost important players in the lead-up to this game: Frank Pritchard finally succumbed to his troublesome shoulder (it is believed he boarded a plane to France for emergency treatment) while Brett Hodgson and Beau Ryan were big outs for the Tigers. The first half reflected these important omissions as both teams struggled for rhythm. Penrith looked the more dangerous but both teams committed a rather high number of mistakes and gave each other too many unforced penalties.

The Tigers took an unsafe lead to halftime. Each team scored a try with a dose of luck, but Chris Lawrence’s serpentine run and pass to Tagive was the difference between the teams. But both teams could have had several more tries: the opportunities were there, who would stand up and want this game? One team had to kick a soccer ball in the face of History and take the win.

That team would be Penrith. Even without Pritchard, their forward pack enjoyed a size advantage over the Tigers and this was a factor in their fairly dominant second half performance. But the Tigers failed to back up their excellent effort from the Souths game last week in several crucial areas: their attack looked out of sync for much of the game, their discipline was poor but most importantly, their defence didn’t have the ability to hold as it did against Souths. As Penrith begun to dominate possession (due to Tigers’ errors, penalties but also less Penrith errors and penalties), their quicker players continued to test the Tigers forwards and found them wanting more and more. Penrith’s final 2 tries (to Iosefa and Jennings) came via this channel.

The Tigers’ night was perhaps summed up best in one of the game’s final plays. In a late scrum, they executed their signature scrum play, where the scrum parts and the lock runs up the middle of where the scrum was. They executed this play quite well; unfortunately, it was a meaningless play and their execution near Penrith’s line was poor. I’d call it rusty, but this is Round 20 and the Tigers were only missing one key attacking player.

But for Penrith, this was a major win. While they’ve had frequent success against the Tigers over the years, to do so without Pritchard and at home in a game where they didn’t dominate from the outset is a major step for a fairly young team. In the bizarro world of the Panthers, perhaps they benefited from not having Pritchard in uniform. Their play does tend to be a bit predictable when he and Jennings roam on the left-hand fringe. Without him, players such as Wade Graham, Priddis, Iosefa and Luke Lewis played with a bit more variety but, more importantly, often attacked where the Tigers’ defence was weakest (as opposed to mostly down Pritchard’s side as a matter of course).

For the Tigers, the excellent work done against Souths was all but thrown away. Many thought of that game as a momentum builder, but the only building that took place was of several more bricks into the Tigers’ mausoleum for season 2008.

In other Round 20 games:

On Friday night, Cronulla tried hard but looked awful. Brisbane looked ok, but didn’t seem to have a full game of trying in them. The game would likely have remained at 2-0 for a very long time were it not for Brisbane’s Greg Eastwood and his touch of class in Brisbane’s first try. Eventually, Cronulla threatened to score (and not just through tiring Brisbane out) but they never seriously threatened to win this game.

While another strong crowd saw the game in Brisbane, about 15 people turned up to watch Parramatta and the Cowbores stink it up for 80 minutes. Parramatta started well, but could very well have lost against a team with any semblance of talent, or if the game had a more permissive video referee. The Cowbores were quite unlucky with several possible tries. Unfortunately for them, Chris Ward – or Mr. No as he is known – was in the booth. But when Sione Faumuina is your most gifted attacking player…even Parra couldn’t lose to them, no matter how they tried.

On Saturday night, Canberra’s surprising and rapid ascension up the NRL Ladder continued. Most importantly though, what was once a rather moribund team has now transformed almost before our eyes into one of the most innovative and exciting attacking teams in the NRL.

Todd who? Terry Campese had a brilliant game in the Pissed One’s absence, while Carney’s replacement (Marc Herbert) looked quite capable. Once again though, Colin Best, Joel Monaghan and (to a lesser extent) Adrian Purtell were awesome. Who would have thought these outside backs would be the NRL’s form combination at this time? Who would have thought Campese would anchor the team’s attack, orchestrating several more long-range tries? The poor Gold Coast was thrashed, but few would have survived such an eye-pleasing onslaught.

On Sunday, Melbourne lost in their fourth game after the completion of State of Origin (just like they did in 2007). However, their game yesterday v. the Warriors was much like their last visit to Auckland (in Round 13 last year). On that bleak Sunday afternoon, the Origin-weakened Storm was dominated in possession and field position by the Warriors but their defence did not crack. Finally they got an attacking chance and won 4-2.

In Sunday’s game, the Warriors again dominated possession and field position but again found it very difficult to score points. Melbourne’s defence was again very good, but New Zealand’s inept halves combination made Melbourne’s job rather easy on many last tackle plays. Melbourne eliminated New Zealand’s 6-0 lead after a rare attacking foray and history looked like repeating. The Warriors never looked like scoring a try again, but they were given the win by a Barry Crocker from Michael Crocker: his sideways play-the-ball gave New Zealand a vital two points and they held on (despite Melbourne not receiving penalties when Folau was tackled while a cross-kick was in the air and when a fairly obvious off-side penalty was missed). While the Warriors’ effort was commendable, it still defies logic they defeated the Melbourne Storm in a close game.

In Newcastle, it took the home team about 20 minutes to get going, but get going they did: they thumped Souths by more than the final 27-point margin suggested. Coming off 4 consecutive home losses and in desperate need of a win, Newcastle finally produced a dominant display against a team they were expected to beat (most of their other strong efforts this season have been against highly-ranked teams).

In the Channel 9 game, the Roosters’ task was made significantly easier with the news on Saturday that Manly’s Anthony Watmough and Glen Stewart would miss this game with injury. Manly’s indefatigable back-row is its strength. Watmough and Stewart (who, you may remember, replaced the great Ben Kennedy in Manly’s line-up) are lynchpins for Manly’s defence (with their strength, speed and endurance) but also to their attack. Watmough is annually amongst leading try-scorers for forwards, while Stewart plays an important role as one of Manly’s de facto five-eighths.

Combined with injuries to Jamie Lyon, Luke Williamson and Jason King, there was never going to be a better time for the Roosters to end Manly’s dominance over them. With three early tries, this was always the Roosters’ game. (Note that I avoided the Sexpo/frustrated men/not scoring much of late/Roosters double entendre, partly for good taste, but also because I used that joke in 2006).

In last night’s game, the Dragons barely raised a sweat in putting 26 points on the Bulldogs in almost even time. The game was virtually over at that point. It could be a long 6 weeks for the Bulldogs and there’s little hope on the horizon. Compared to previous down years (2005, 2000 and 1996), the cupboard is much less stocked this time and the Bulldogs’ reputation amongst prospective players is not great. Love them or hate them, the Bulldogs have been consistently successful over the last 30 years and it appears their time on top may be coming to a lengthy close.

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