Dragons on fire in local derby

It took St George Illawarra just 18 minutes to seal the latest chapter of their blood feud with neighbours Sharks tonight.

Aided by an 80-20 possession split early on, the Dragons raced to an 18-0 lead after as many minutes on their way to a 38-8 triumph over their woeful Shire-based rivals at WIN Jubilee Stadium.

With the hosts looking to recover after a difficult representative season and the Sharks on a four game winning streak, the rivalry round clash was the most anticipated Botany Bay derby in recent memory.

However, the Dragons erased all memory of their sub-par Origin period – and avenged a shock 16-10 round two loss - with a merciless performance against an overwhelmed opponent.

The defending premiers provided a fitting farewell to superstar centre Mark Gasnier and Newcastle-bound coach Wayne Bennett and fullback Darius Boyd in the trio’s final regular season game at Kogarah.

More importantly, the joint venture club showed they were still capable of reaching the levels they achieved in snaring the past two minor premierships and last year’s title.

The Dragons (29 points) moved back to 3^rd spot after starting tonight’s clash in fourth, while the Sharks (10^th place, 18 points) wasted a chance to go as high as seventh.

In the first half, the Dragons smelt blood down the Sharks’ right edge and scored three times down that side for a 24-0 half-time lead.

Matt Cooper, who captained the Dragons in the absence of the injured Ben Hornby, drew first blood in the fourth minute.

Brett Morris outdid Cooper four minutes later, somehow putting the ball down despite the attention of three defenders and originally looking to offload to Boyd. The NSW flyer was in again in the 13^th minute, but Boyd’s final pass was ruled forward.

Prop Michael Weyman crashed over under the posts in the 18^th minute to all but kill the match as a contest before Cooper was held up four minutes later.

The Dragons went to the left in the 37^th minute, but it was Nathan Fien’s inside ball to Jake Marketo that produed try number four.

Sharks didn’t help their cause in a nightmare opening stanza – although they had a respectable completion rate (just four errors to the Dragons’ two), they were forced to make 183 tackles to 121 and missed 19 tackles.

The errors the Sharks made were often in the Dragons half, denying them the chance to get on the scoreboard.

Their night got worse in the 44^th minute when centre Matthew Wright sustained a suspected neck injury in an innocuous tackle involving Weyman and Adam Cuthbertson.

The 20-year-old was taken to hospital for precautionary scans.

The Sharks salvaged some pride Josh Cordoba crashed over the 46^th minute and Colin Best in the 54^th minute for 24-8.

Nevertheless, the Dragons started grinding their opponents out of the match intheir trademark style, starting with Jamie Soward’s 63th-minute penalty goal.

The Boyd-Morris nexus nearly played dividends again in the 67^th minute, but the Kiama junior fumbled his fullback’s offload with the line begging.

Two minutes later Soward scared in farcical circumstances – the Sharks thought the NSW Origin pivot knocked on from a score and were flat-footed as Soward dashed to the line for 32-8.

Sharks 2012 recruit Jon Green completed the demolition in the 77^th minute to take the Dragons to 38-8.

Hindy's heartbreak at last-second defeat

Parramatta stalwart Nathan Hindmarsh has condemned his teammates for a lack of desperation on the climatic play of his 300^th game.

The Eels led archrivals Penrith 22-16 with one second left before Panthers fullback Lachlan Coote scored a miracle try to force golden point at Centrebet Stadium last night.

Hindmarsh’s teammate then Luke Burt hit the post with a field goal attempt before Panthers half Luke Walsh sealed a miraculous 23-22 win with a successful field goal.

The workaholic second rower criticised the Eels for switching off in the lead-up to Coote’s match-tying four-pointer, which came after a grubber by Michael Jennings and a sideline-to-sideline backline movement.

“They just kept coming, they put a kick in and we should have been more desperate,” Hindmarsh told the Sunday Footy Show.

“I was actually a bit worried (when Jennings got the ball), you have got to scramble there.

“We had enough players around the ball.

“It shows you need to play until the siren blows.”

Hindmarsh couldn’t explain why the Eels have dropped a number of heartbreakers this season, including a draw with defending premiers St George Illawarra and a last-second loss to heavyweights Manly.

“I’m not sure, I don’t know if we get a bit nervous in close games, the tight games we just cannot win and they’re the ones we need to win,” he said.

The Eels are in 13^th place with 15 points from 17 games.

Hindmarsh threw his weight behind the golden point concept despite last night’s loss.

“I don’t have any problem with it, it’s good for the crowd,” he said.

The Robertson junior joined Darren Lockyer (345), Andrew Ettinghausen (328) and Jason Croker (318) as players to play 300 matches for one club.

Hindmarsh is one of the rugby league’s most popular players, having topped the fans voting for the inaugural NRL All Stars game in 2009.

He has made more than 10,000 tackles since making his debut in 1998, played 23 Tests for Australia and 17 Origins for NSW.

Penrith pull off a miracle to break Hindy's heart

Penrith produced one of history’s all-time great Hail Mary plays to stay in touch with the NRL’s top eight tonight.

The ninth-placed Panthers were trailing Parramatta 22-16 with one second left in the regulation 80 minutes but gained possession 10 metres out from the tryline at Centrebet Stadium.

As the fulltime hooter sounded, they put it through seven sets of hands and went from sideline to sideline before returning to the spot where the play started, where Michael Jennings grubbered for Lachlan Coote to touch down just wide of the posts for 22-20.

Panthers five-eighth Travis Burns showed he had ice flowing through his veins by potting the conversion to force golden point.

The Eels nearly snatched victory in the first minute of extra time, but Luke Burt’s field goal try that hit the upright.

Luke Walsh ensured sealed his side’s astonishing win when he potted a relatively simple attempt at the other end in the 86^th minute for 23-22.

“That’s the most important kick I’ve kicked this year,” Walsh said after fulltime.

“It’s great to have Jennings back in the side, we played well and I’m over the moon,” he said of the last-second try.

Eels star Jarryd Hayne was shattered his side came up short in stalwart Nathan Hindmarsh’s 300^th game.

“She’s a cruel game, we had it well and truly wrapped up,” Hayne said.

“You can be so close and not come away with the win.

“I thought it (Burt’s field goal attempt) was over, it just kept fading away and hit the post.”

Scores were knotted 12-12 at halftime after David Simmons and Coote scored for the hosts and Justin Horo and Etu Uaisele for the Eels, who remained in 13^th position.

Reni Maitua opened the scoring for the Eels in the second half, before Simmons completed his brace.

Casey McGuire scored with eight minutes left to make the score 22-16 in favour of the vistors.

Despite the win, the Panthers (20 points) dropped out of the eight after the Wests Tigers (seventh, 20 points) overpowered an understrength North Queensland 38-18 at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

The Tigers are in seventh thanks to their points differential (+8), ahead of eighth-placed Newcastle (20 points, -1 points differential ) and the Panthers (-4 points differential).

Newcastle can leap back into seventh if they avoid defeat against Manly tomorrow.

In Townsville, the Cowboys, minus star halfback Johnathan Thurston and influential prop Matthew Scott, trailed only 12-10 after the opening minute of the second stanza, but faded to hand the Tigers their first victory in a month.

Benji Marshall scored one, then set one up for Tim Moltzen for 24-10 before Matthew Bowen was just as brilliant for the Cowboys to send Willie Tonga over for 24-14.

After a Marshall penalty goal, Blake Ayshford was first to the Kiwi superstar’s towering kick to score with nine minutes left.

Corey Patterson and Liam Fulton traded tries in the dying stages.

Earlier, Tonga scored in the first minute of the second stanza for 12-10.

The Tigers rushed to a 12-0 lead after tries to Gareth Ellis (eighth minute) and Blake Ayshford (23^rd minute) before Paterson opened the Cowboys account when he won the jump for Mathew Bowen’s cross kick in the 36^th minute for a half-time score of 12-4.

Little man Sandow's big field goal snatches miracle win

A mammoth 49-metre, 86^th-minute field goal by Chris Sandow delivered South Sydney a stirring 21-20 victory over archrivals Sydney Roosters tonight.

Parramatta-bound Sandow potted a drop kick from near the half-way line in the sixth minute of golden point extra time after the ancient rivals were locked 20-all after the regulation 80 minutes.

Referees Phil Haines and Brett Suttor were uncertain the towering kick cleared the crossbar, but the replay showed it was good and sparked pandemonium amongst the Bunnies faithful at ANZ Stadium.

Sandow’s decisive play earned the Rabbitohs the win although they had only led for ten minutes of the rivalry round contest.

The Roosters looked home when they led 20-14 after Sam Perrett’s second try in the 67^th minute.

Myles then produced a remarkable play to deny Nathan Merritt a try – the Rabbitohs fullback looked like scoring off a grubber, but the lock-cum-prop managed to kick the ball out of his hands.

However, the Rabbitohs drew level when Greg Inglis touched down with six minutes remaining after John Sutton drew two defenders.

The regulation 80 minutes ended with farce; with Roosters prop Jason Ryles attempting left-footed field goal from 40m out after being found at first receiver by acting half Anthony Mitchell, who seemed concussed minutes earlier.

Souths (18 points) victory moved them to 11^th on the ladder and ended the 15^th-placed Roosters’ (14 points) hopes of playing finals football.

It was also just the fifth Bunnies triumph in 26 attempts against their archrivals.

Kane Linnett drew first blood for the Roosters when he was first to Mitchell Pearce’s well-weighted grubber in the 5^th minute.

The try came after the visitors received a piggyback from Ben Ross, who was penalised for holding down Sam Perrett 70m back down field. Todd Carney converted from the left sideline for 6-0.

Souths’ 11^th-minute equaliser also came through an error; BJ Leilua knocked on Chris Sandow’s cross kick and Isaac Luke touched down two tackles later.

The Rabbitohs shot themselves in the foot in the 16^th minute when Luke fumbled on his own 40m line; the Roosters forced back-to-back sets before Shaun Kenny-Dowall crashed over after a good short ball from Pearce.

At this point the Origin No 7 and halves partner Carney were outshining their South Sydney counterparts Sandow and Sutton, who were struggling to create anything for strike weapon Greg Inglis.

The Bondi club nearly went further ahead in the 29^th minute, but Sandow bundled BJ Leulia into touch just short of the tryline.

That Roosters raid started after Eddie Pettyborne was penalised for abusing referee Phil Suttor after the hulking second rower’s poor ball security led to a turnover.

Sandow, whose form had been impressive leading into the rivalry round clash, then produced a poor kick on the last with the Bunnies 20 metres out from the tryline.

The hosts had a final chance to draw level before halftime, but winger Shaun Corrigan was thrown into touch after an innocuous set with the goal in sight.

The Roosters started the second half as if they wanted to outdo their Redfern rivals in the error count - Jake Friend kicked out on the full before Linnett knocked on 10 metres out from his own in-goal line.

Souths took advantage – and the lead 12-10 – when Dylan Farrell touched down in the corner in the 47^th minute.

Ten minutes later Linnett and Friend then combined to force Chris McQueen into his own in-goal for a line-drop out.

Off the ensuing set, Perrett reclaimed the lead after some razzle-dazzle play from the tricolours.

Sandown potted a penalty goal in the 60^th minute for 14-14 to set up a thrilling finish.

The luckless Rabbitohs, who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in talent on the sideline, lost skipper Michael Crocker to a concussion in the 70^th minute.

Sad sack result for embattled Doggies

There was a new coach and a new era, but it was the same sad-sack result for the embattled Bulldogs tonight.

The Bulldogs, playing their first game under caretaker coach Jim Dymock after Kevin Moore resigned yesterday, went down 36-12 to the New Zealand Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium.

They gave their interim mentor a bright start, racing to a 12-0 lead after as many minutes before conceding 36 straight points on their way to their fourth loss in five games.

It was hoped the end of speculation about Moore’s future would lead to a reversal of fortunes, but tonight’s performance was no better than the losses that led to his demise.

The Bulldogs (11^th, 18 points) will only drop down the ladder if South Sydney beat the Roosters tomorrow, but they need a dramatic form reversal to keep their finals hopes from slipping down the drain.

The sixth-placed Warriors – who will farewell their coach, Penrith-bound Ivan Cleary at the end of the year - moved two points clear of seventh-placed Newcastle, who play Sunday against Manly.

After a spirited showing in the first stanza – which finished 12-12 - the Bulldogs were outclassed in the second half, starting with a soft try to Lance Hohaia in the 44^th minute.

The England-bound utility barged over from dummy half after some lazy marker defence to give the hosts their first lead of the night, 18-12.

New Zealand were able to keep the under-siege Bulldogs in their own half, while the Sydneysiders didn’t help their cause with a series of unforced errors.

Although the Bulldogs execution was lacking precision, their resistance didn’t crumble until the final quarter of the match.

Aaron Heremaia’s 56^th-minute try, which came after a 50m dash abetted by poor marker defence from Andrew Ryan and Gary Warburton, made it 24-12 and augured poorly for the tormented visitors.  

Feleti Mateo touched down six minutes later to extend the lead to 30-12 and kill off any chance of a Bulldogs revival.

Heremaia scored again just after the fulltime siren to pour more heartache on the beleaguered Bulldogs, who started the season as one of the most fancied teams in the competition.

The Canterbury-based club will be without Kris Keating for a few weeks after he damaged elbow ligaments during the loss. NSW hooker Michael Ennis missed tonight’s rivalry round contest due to an ear injury sustained during the Origin series.

The visitors made a dream start when Jonathon Wright was first to Ben Roberts grubber in the 6^th minute. Steve Turner, who missed a relatively simple penalty goal attempt earlier, added the extras for 6-0.

Turner scored in the 10^th minute after Warriors fullback Kevin Locke fumbled another Roberts grubber to give the under siege Bulldogs an improbable, but deserved, 12-0 lead.

The hosts hit back through Elijah Taylor in the 21^st minute before tying the scores 12-12 thanks to James Maloney’s converted four-pointer in the 29^th minute.