Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Benji Marshall – simply a legend
Congratulations to my old mate Benji Marshall, who had a fantastic game to lead Souths to a victory over the Gold Coast
Titans and equalled the record for the Kiwi who has played the most NRL games – 331.
I have known Benji for a long time and a nicer bloke you wouldn’t meet. I will be very surprised if he is anything other than humble when he breaks that record this week.
He has inspired thousands of kids with his play, and commentators still talk to this day about his behind the back pass that saw Pat Richards streak away to secure the Premiership back in 2005 for the Tigers.
He still has the goods at 36, reviving that no-look pass against the Titans for Alex Johnston to score, and then scoring two tries of his own to ice the cake as the Bunnies won 40-30.
Chiefs’ fans must be having a laugh after Damian McKenzie made it the umpteenth week in a row where his late heroics have grabbed the points, this time a penalty against the Hurricanes making it 26-24 and securing a finals spot against the Crusaders.
He scored and converted a late try against the Blues for 15-12, kicked a golden point penalty to nail the Highlanders 26-23, then came a late penalty against the Crusaders for 26-25, and now his after the hooter penalty has broken hearts in the capital.
So the Crusaders host the Chiefs in two weeks after smashing the Blues, who couldn’t even score a try on their way to their 11-millionth straight loss to the Crusaders, this time 29-6.
They at least have a chance at redemption, facing the Chiefs in the final regular season match, while the Crusaders have the week off. All they have to do is ignore McKenzie for 75 minutes and watch him for the last five, surely?
Meanwhile the Vodafone Warriors copped their annual Anzac Day flogging at the hands of the Melbourne Storm, going down 42-20 in a match that was all over in half an hour.
I said last week that all I asked was that they put in the same kind of effort they had shown to beat St George, and not revert to the insipid display they showed against Manly.
In the end it was somewhere in between, and that might be excused to some degree by a disrupted week when we lost Tohu Harris and David Fusitua to injury, so had to go into the game with a makeshift-looking side that even included outstanding captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck at wing instead of fullback, so that debutant Reece Walsh could play at the back.
Walsh made a good fist of it too, but the defensive line organising presence of RTS at the back was sadly missed.
We haven’t won on Anzac Day since 2014 and while this has become a fixture that I enjoy the drama and ceremony of, almost everything seems to go against us every time.
First the injuries, debuts for Walsh, Tom Ale and Rocco Berry, son of former All Black Marty, add a reshuffled pack and the fact we had too many playing out of position.
With the debutants, more than half the side was in its first year at the club, so it is hardly surprising that it is taking a little time to find what works best for us.
It all showed as the Storm tore us to pieces, especially after Josh Curran got 10 minutes in the bin for doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Playing the reigning Premiers with 13 is daunting, with 12 it’s a nightmare, although we only conceded one try with Curran off the pitch.
The only bright spots were all three debutants doing well and a hat-trick to big winger Ken Maumalo.
It won’t get any easier this weekend when we take on the North Queensland Cowboys, coached by Todd Payten, who was the Warriors interim head coach last year when he declined a fulltime job in favour of Townsville..
They couldn’t win a trick and were hopeless at the start of the year, but they have won their last three and look a totally different proposition now, so come on the Vodafone Warriors.