Mountain to climb Whalers’ big start harpoons Rams for Rabbitohs: coach SI Championship
NRL
The scores
Otago Whalers ............................... 56 Jordan McEntee 2, Tofatu Solia,
Champ Betham, Tama Apineru, Layne Opetaia, Mackenzie Haugh, Hagan
Free, Sione Fa’aoso, Jayden Hollander tries; Haugh 8 con
Southland Rams ........................... 18 Marama Reti, Alipate Qoro, Sione Kaufononga tries; Anisoni Kaufononga con, Sione Kaufononga 2 con
Halftime: Whalers 226.
YOU could call it a stunning start, but that would be a long way from an accurate description.
You could just state the facts and marvel at the simplicity of it all.
The Whalers rattled on three tries, knocked over two conversions and did not make a single tackle in the first nine minutes of the game.
The Southland Rams never recovered and went on to lose 5618 in a topofthetable South Island Championship game at the North Ground on Saturday.
Here is how that opening period played out.
The Rams kicked off. The Whalers worked the ball into Southland’s territory and kicked an upandunder off their last tackle.
The ball was coming out of the sun, but the Rams got nowhere near it.
Sione Fa’aoso scooped it up and shovelled it to Mika Mafi, who offloaded to winger Tofatu Solia to score.
The visitors trudged back to halfway, kicked off again and the Whalers muscled their way back upfield — a couple of penalties helped — before big Champ Betham smashed his way over.
Fullback Tama Apineru broke free off the next set of six and just like that the Rams trailed 160.
The Whalers took a turn to defend for the next 10 to 15 minutes. They made a series of mistakes but rallied with some muchimproved defence.
Southland did eventually get some reward when Marama Reti barged over. The visitors trailed 226 at the break, but spent most of the next 30 minutes in a huddle under their posts.
The Whalers ran in six more tries to go with the four they scored in the first 40 minutes.
The Rams nabbed two late tries to trim the margin.
Whalers coach Dave Reedy was mostly happy. How he could be only mostly happy was a mystery — his side was utterly dominant.
But he pointed to a series of mistakes midway through the first half and a tired final 10 minutes as evidence his side still has more to give.
‘‘Those sort of starts generally happen against us,’’ he said.
‘‘But that last 10 minutes did not speak too highly [of us].
‘‘But you can’t be too upset. The game was in the bag, but it is just those little lapses that we have to tidy up before the final if we want to progress.’’
That final will be in Dunedin thanks to the Whalers’ comfortable win. They will be hosting Southland, which had already qualified and took the opportunity to rest half a dozen players.
That decision cost the Rams a home final, but Reedy believes they will not be too concerned about that.
‘‘They rested six of their top players today, and they are quality players who they have to bring back in. How much difference that will make, I’m not entirely sure.
‘‘But they don’t mind travelling whereas we do.’’
The winner of the South Island Championship will play the North Island champion and the prize is a berth in the Premiership next season.
In the other game on Saturday, the West Coast Chargers beat the Aoraki Eels 4216.
West Coast fiveeighth Jordan Campbell was named the winner of the inaugural Quentin Pongia Medal, honouring the late Kiwis prop who was originally from the West Coast.
Campbell claimed eight of the nine MVP points on offer.
Preliminary finals Cowboys v Eels
Panthers v Rabbitohs
SYDNEY: Jason Demetriou has told his South Sydney players to come prepared for a war of attrition if they want to knock reigning premiers Penrith off their perch.
By demolishing Cronulla at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, Souths set up a preliminary final — and a tantalising grand final rematch — with the Panthers at Accor Stadium.
In an ominous sign for their reunion with Penrith next Saturday, fullback Latrell Mitchell and fiveeighth Cody Walker remained in second gear in their 3812 win over Cronulla which ensured the Bunnies reached a fifth straight preliminary final.
Penrith, which has lost just four games all season, will come into Saturday’s game oozing with confidence.
Its firstchoice side has played a game a fortnight over the last month, while Souths have been put through the ringer.
But while Mitchell cheekily said in a postgame interview he was happy Souths were on the ‘‘right side of the draw‘‘, coach Demetriou described the challenge as the NRL equivalent of climbing Mount Everest.
‘‘I think Latrell means it’s a game where we are getting them before the GF,’’ Demetriou said.
‘‘They [Penrith] are a highly motivated team and they work really hard for each other.
‘‘We’re under no illusions that this is the hardest task in the game at the moment.
‘‘We can’t just think that to beat Penrith, we can go set for set and hope that we can win 64 — we’ve got to challenge the scoreboard.’’
Since the start of the 2020 season, Souths have only defeated Penrith once in eight attempts, producing an upset in week one of the 2021 finals series before being pipped by the Panthers in the grand final.
That task may get even tougher with the Rabbitohs already without suspended Tom Burgess and fellow frontrower Junior Tatola facing a nervy wait on the outcome of a chicken wing tackle.
There are also injury concerns for forwards Jai Arrow and Siliva Havili along with winger Alex Johnston.
Meanwhile, Parramatta head coach Brad Arthur has taken aim at the ‘‘agenda’’ being driven by people within his own club after guiding the Eels to their first preliminary final since 2009 .
The Eels blew Canberra off the park on Friday in a 404 win to set up a trip to Townsville to face North Queensland, with a spot in the grand final up for grabs.
The win was just Arthur’s third finals victory in 10 games at the club and followed a tumultuous 24 hours in the buildup to their meeting with the Raiders.
A day before the game, an internal document from a meeting last month, which claimed Parramatta was rife with nepotism, made its way into the public domain.
Arthur’s son Jake, who has been booed by his own fans this year, was part of the 17man squad in the semifinal win over Canberra.
But Arthur said the leaked document had a galvanising effect on his side and warned that any backroom moves to disrupt his team had little impact.
‘‘I reckon we showed how it affected the group,’’ Arthur said.
‘‘There’s some personal interest and whoever’s got the agenda, you’re not going to break this group. We’ve worked too hard.
‘‘We didn’t even address it. . . It’s something we can’t control, and it’s rubbish.’’
The Eels will take a charter flight to Townsville on Wednesday where they are playing for a spot in their first grand final since 2009. — AAP