GUARDIAN VERDICT: South Sydney Rabbitohs 28 Warrington Wolves 34 (From This Is Cheshire)

GUARDIAN VERDICT: South Sydney Rabbitohs 28 Warrington Wolves 34

10:49am Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Sport

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By Rob Bolton

A lifelong ‘Wire’ fan who emigrated to Sydney 16 years ago

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South Sydney Rabbitohs 28 Warrington Wolves 34

MAKE no mistake, Warrington Wolves stunned the 5,000 spectators at sold-out Redfern Oval on Saturday.

They started the game with their traditional attacking blitz and there was simply no answer to the craftsmanship of Lee Briers, blessed with the promising partnership of Stefan Ratchord.

That was not only through Ratchford's reading of the game, but by his kicking too, which predominantly overshadowed Richie Myler’s work with the boot when introduced to the game later on.

Excuse me if I borrow from Rupert Brooke - If we should tackle, think only this of Oz: That there's some corner of a sunny foreign field that is for ever Wolves under a Warrington heaven

Rob Bolton, lifelong 'Wire'

Having lost Adrian Morley to concussion while defending the Warrington line, Garreth Carvell led Wolves' early pack dominance.

And Carvell never tired, with his workrate in attack and defence keeping Warrington in the game as Souths came home with a wet sail looking to steal victory.

The former Hull prop was helped through a brilliantly committed Warrington pack by Ben Westwood, with his bone-crunching tackles, and promising prop Chris Hill, who made constant yards up the middle.

But It was left to a piece of magic by Warrington's new signing Trent Waterhouse who, Solomona-style, slipped out an impossible ball to the ever-present Ratchford to scoot 30 metres before drawing in the full back and releasing Gareth O'Brien between the sticks to the delight of the delirious 400+ travelling Warrington supporters.

With the humid conditions expected to take a toll on both teams, the game was played in quarters and the Souths fans' carnival atmosphere was stunned into silence as Warrington took an 18-point lead in the first quarter.

First Briers' bomb was spilled by Souths full back Fetuli Talanoa and from the resulting play young Rhys Evans ambled over in the corner unopposed. Briers nailed the conversion from the touchline.

Minutes later a cleverly delayed pass from Micky Higham at dummy half led to a Briers break and Simon Grix was on hand to score between the sticks.

Souths found their mark soon after with a great 40/20, but, as on so many occasions during the first half, struggled to worry the Warrington line with poor last options and passes going to ground.

With the quarter drawing to a close, an inauspicious kick by Ratchford was fumbled by Souths over their own line allowing Rhys Willams all the time in the world to touch down. Again Briers drifted a conversion successfully over on the ocean breeze from out wide.

If there was ever a clear indication that Briers wanted to win, it came at the start of the second quarter, when, during a one-on-one tackle on Sam Burgess' younger and bigger brother George, he up-ended him with a David and Goliath tackle. Quick hands followed, with Briers this time sending Ryan Atkins through a hole making it 24-0.

Both sides started to make full use of the trial-game substitutions due to the oppressive heat conditions.

Warrington started to poorly lose the ball in their own half numerous times and it was only a matter of time before Rabbitohs' pressure would tell.

Centre Shaune Corrrigan, Souths' best player, shimmied his way out of a Matty Blythe tackle that resulted in Blythe leaving the field with an ankle injury, and from this Warrington lost their shape.

A skilful piece of back-hand flick from Chris Bridge sent Rhys Evans on his way, only to be stopped over the line, before more disrespectful ball possession from Warrington gave Brendan McKinnon space to squeeze over from dummy half with Wolves in desperate need of the half time hooter.

A 40/20 by Souths at the start of the second half found deputising Ratchford at full back out of position, which led to Souths going over easily.

But with Adam Reynolds’ conversion attempt missed, Warrington still hung on to an eight-point breather.

Myler, taking over the kicking duties, thumped the ball clumsily out on the full, which was again punished by Souths' Nathan Peats walking through an exhausted Warrington defence to make it 24-22.

With stability needed, the outstanding Carvell returned and, with Briers back on, the ball was fed to Bridge, who rounded his opposing centre to score the individual try of the afternoon.

Souths then lost possession and, in their frustration, finally heard referee Tony Archer's whistle for holding down in the tackle on a night when Warrington struggled to be awarded any penalties.

Wolves came narrowly close to scoring a length-of-the-field effort finished off by Myler after Rhys Williams was pulled up for having his foot in touch while simultaneously passing the ball back inside.

Warrington then had their lead wiped off when Corrigan jumped for a bomb to score - surprisingly so, after Ryan Atkins failed to put his recent high-ball catching training with the Sydney Swans to good use.

Let it be said that the arrogance from the Australian press box and Souths supporters, giving the impression that they did not really care about the game, surprisingly changed when Rabbitohs tied the scores.

But as O'Brien went in for the match-winning try the party line towed back to excuses: "This isn't our first team," said one reporter. "Oh we don't care about this, it's only a trial game," said another.

Having lived in Sydney for 15 years, I have learnt to decipher an Aussie's cry.

So as the press went to print with their "it's only our Souths second string team" line, let it be known, trust me, the defeat really hurts.

Excuse me if I borrow from Rupert Brooke - If we should tackle, think only this of Oz: That there's some corner of a sunny foreign field that is for ever Wolves under a Warrington heaven.

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Wolves:

Chris Riley; Rhys Evans, Matty Blythe, Ryan Atkins, Rhys Williams; Lee Briers, Stefan Ratchford; Adrian Morley, Mickey Higham, Garreth Carvell, Ben Westwood, Trent Waterhouse, Simon Grix. Subs: Richie Myler, Chris Bridge, Paul Wood, Ben Harrison, Mike Cooper, Chris Hill, Tyrone McCarthy, Gareth O’Brien

Tries:

Evans, Grix, Williams, Atkins, Bridge, O’Brien.

Goals:

Briers, four, Myler.

South Sydney Rabbitohs:

Fetuli Talanoa; Chris McQueen, Shaune Corrigan, Matt King, Andrew Everingham; Ryan Carr, Adam Reynolds; Scott Geddes, Nathan Peats, Josh Starling, Eddy Pettybourne, Dave Tyrrell, Jason Clark. Subs: Brendan McKinnon, Curtis Johnston, George Burgess, Neccrom Areaiiti, Blake Judd, Kurt French, Blake Matthews, Molan, Leslie, Vale, Andrew Artemi.

Tries:

Corrigan, two, McKinnon, Carr, Peats.

Goals:

Reynolds, four.

Attendance:

5,000