Media Articles: Souths v Cowboys 040508

[Wolfy]

Crowe cheers Souths to win
May 4, 2008 - 5:03PM

Rabbits 28 Cowboys 24

South Sydney shrugged off another horror week to claim their first win of the season against North Queensland at ANZ Stadium today.

With a fist-pumping co-owner Russell Crowe in the stands for the first time this season, the Rabbitohs ended a 10-game losing streak stretching back to last year after stunning the travel-shy Cowboys 28-24 despite dumping four players to NSW Cup and stripping David Kidwell of the co-captaincy for breaching an alcohol ban.

John Sutton and Beau Champion both bagged doubles for the Bunnies with hooker George Ndaira, new half Isaac Luke and prop Roy Asotasi also impressing in handing the Cowboys their second straight loss.

Souths took the lead for the first time midway through the first half after Nigel Vagana scored the best try of the game - set up by a Ndaira chip and chase - and were never headed from that point despite a late Cowboys fight back.

Kidwell was solid, if not spectacular, as he strived for redemption following the failed breath test last weekend which cost him the co-captaincy, making 26 tackles.

Fullback Matt Bowen was a late inclusion for the Cowboys after being ruled out on Friday with a knee injury, but it was not enough for North Queensland, who lost their third of four away games this season.

Souths had dropped Ben Rogers, Eddie Paea, Jaiman Lowe, and Fetuli Talanoa after all four - plus Kidwell - had failed to adhere to the club's zero-alcohol policy on recovery days.

But after North Queensland twice grabbed the lead in the first half, it was the Bunnies who went into the break 18-12 ahead.

Champion crossed twice for the home side - cancelling out Cowboy touch downs by Ash Graham and Carl Webb - before Vagana gave Souths the lead for the first time in the 26th minute after some clever work by Ndaira.

The Rabbitohs hooker bolted out of dummy-half on the halfway line and chipped ahead with Luke getting a kind bounce before throwing the ball out wide for Vagana to score.

Sutton was the star in the second half after backing up from Friday's City-Country game, scoring two tries to secure a much-needed victory for the battling Bunnies.

SOUTH SYDNEY 28 (B Champion 2 J Sutton 2 N Vagana tries; I Luke 4 goals) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 24 (A Graham C Webb B Vaeau J Williams tries J Thurston 4 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: S Hayne. Crowd: 9818.

AAP

[Wolfy]

Russell Crowe rejoices brave win over Cowboys
By Dean Ritchie at ANZ Stadium
May 04, 2008

SOUTH SYDNEY 28, COWBOYS 24

SOUTH Sydney captain Roy Asotasi - jubilant at his club's first win in 251 excruciating days - spoke with emotion last night by declaring: "It's been a long, long seven weeks."

The Rabbitohs - who have won more premierships than any other Australian rugby league club - have been criticised, laughed at, ridiculed and lambasted after losing their first seven matches of the 2008 season.

But yesterday at Homebush they walked off heroes to the loyal 10,000 fans who had not abandoned them during their opening two months of hell in 2008.

South Sydney's dressing room was emotional, euphoric yet measured after the club's dramatic 28-24 win over North Queensland.

Players wanted to scream in delight but realised they still sat last on the competition ladder. But no one was going to deny Souths players their moment of triumph.

"It's a weight off our shoulders," said Souths lock John Sutton.

"We've been down in the dumps. Losing seven in a row isn't a good thing. But we are still one from eight and there's a long way to go.

"We can't get too carried away."

Asotasi, a stellar performer yesterday, spoke about the pain and hurt at losing every match - until yesterday.

"It's been pretty tough," Asotasi said. "But we learnt a lot along the way. We needed to hang in there today and credit to the boys."

There was no more relieved man than coach Jason Taylor.

Taylor made a gutsy call during the week to drop four players and strip David Kidwell of the captaincy after they all failed breath tests.

But Taylor's stance was vindicated.

Souths showed courage, tenacity and determination to hold out a Cowboys side boasting Johnathan Thurston and Matt Bowen.

"I'd say a few of our blokes will sleep really well tonight," Taylor said. "It was a massive effort. We've been putting in plenty of effort. Today we took another step.

"I'm excited about where we've got ourselves to as a team and there's also a fair bit of relief there."

North Queensland scored after just four minutes through centre Ashley Graham and a good old-fashioned hammering looked likely.

But Souths gritted their teeth and kept shuffling up in defence.

By halftime, centre Beau Champion had scored twice and the home side led 18-12.

Souths managed to keep ahead throughout the second half through Sutton's double.

North Queensland winger John Williams flashed over with eight minutes remaining to make the score 28-24 - the cynics ready for Souths to collapse.

But they held tight.

"It helps your confidence now that the monkey is off our back," Taylor said.

"I think I'm a better coach now. This has helped narrow my focus on what it takes to win."

Souths' win was vital given the club now has a bye and will sit on four competition points.

SOUTH SYDNEY 28 (B Champion 2, J Sutton 2, N Vagana tries; I Luke 4 goals) NORTH QUEENSLAND 24 (A Graham, C Webb, B Vaeau, J Williams tries; J Thurston 4 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: S Hayne. Crowd: 9818.

[Wolfy]

Something to Crowe about
SMH
Brad Walter | May 5, 2008


RUSSELL CROWE stood on the balcony of the owners' box at full-time with his arms raised in triumph, John Sutton hurled the ball into the crowd and punched the air after scoring the match-winning try, and the sight and sound of the Souths players belting out their victory song in a packed dressing room was broadcast on the big screen at ANZ Stadium.

But what best highlighted the significance and emotion of Souths' breakthrough 28-24 victory over North Queensland was the introduction given to coach Jason Taylor by Triple M announcer Anthony Maroon, brother of former Rabbitohs forward Darren Maroon, at the post-match function for the club's members and season ticket holders.

"This guy is the best coach we've had since Jack Gibson," Maroon told an audience who had been singing Glory, Glory to South Sydney as passionately as they did after all seven of the Rabbitohs' consecutive losses and back in the glory days of the 1960s and '70s.

Souths may have been struggling this season but no one at the club ever gave up hope.

And, least of all Taylor.

"Before this match we wrote up on a board how many games we needed to win to make the semis," Taylor revealed. "I know a lot of people would be thinking we hadn't even won a game so how could we be thinking about the semis but I thought that we played well last week against the Broncos, and they beat the Tigers comfortably last night in a similar sort of game, so that gave me confidence.

"One of the things I put up on the board was that we had to win today. If we could do that and then take the bye next week, we've got four points and then we broke up the remainder of the competition so we want to win three of our next four, four of the next five after that and so on. It's tough but I believe we're good enough."

Right up until full-time yesterday, Taylor admitted he was on edge - and he wasn't the only one.

Having pumped his fist in a victory salute when the cameras caught him after Sutton's 68th-minute try put Souths ahead 28-18, Crowe looked slightly nervous when he was again shown on the big screen, this time with his arms folded, following John Williams's response four minutes later for the Cowboys.

After arriving only yesterday from the United States, where he had been making his latest film, Crowe missed the opening 22 minutes of the match and was just taking his seat as centre Beau Champion crossed for the second of his two tries to help level the scores at 12-all.

The Oscar winner surprised the Rabbitohs players when he turned up in their dressing room at half-time but Crowe did not say anything to them until he returned to celebrate with them after the match.

"The good thing about Russell and Peter Holmes a Court is they let Jason do his job," back-rower David Kidwell said. "Afterwards he came down to say well done, and hopefully it'll kick-start our season. He shook everyone's hand and said well done."

When it was suggested that Crowe was Souths' lucky charm, Kidwell said: "Take it how you want, mate. We'll take any lucky charms at the moment."

Taylor added: "Things just started to fall into place this week, and when I heard that Russell was going to be at the game … he's that sort of bloke."

Also in the dressing room at full-time was every member of Souths' full-time squad, including the four players who were dumped to premier league last week for breaching the club's alcohol policy, and injured stars Craig Wing, Michael Greenfield and Scott Geddes.

"The 17 players who played the game got back in the dressing room, and all of our players who are in line for first-grade selection every week and are in our full-time squad were in there waiting for them to shake their hands and clap them off the field," Taylor said. "It's a great feeling what we've got. I'm excited about where we can get ourselves to as a team."

And while he may not yet be in the same class as Gibson, who was last month named coach of the Team of the Century, Taylor said he had learnt from what has been the toughest period of his two years in the role.

"I'm a better coach now, I'm sure of that, than I was before we went through this, and it's really helped me narrow my focus and understand what it takes to win games when the pressure is really on," he said. "It's been a bit of a roller-coaster as far as my mood goes … but you've got to stay positive, you've got to keep working at it. They're the lessons I learnt as a player, and I'm really trying hard to apply them."

Captain Roy Asotasi said: "It's been a long seven weeks but we've learnt a lot of things along the way, and today is just the start."
WHAT THEY SAID

'It hurt me a lot [losing the captaincy]. I love these boys, I love South Sydney, and I love captaining the club with Roy [Asotasi]. I've just got to earn it back. Hopefully, I took one step to getting it back.' DAVID KIDWELL

'I believe John Sutton would be great for State of Origin, because of his versatility. He's been great for us all year and he was great for City against Country on Friday night.' SHANE RICHARDSON

'It showed what we were made of, as a club. Some [players] have made errors and fallen by the wayside, while others have gone forward. It's been a great test for us, but it's not over.' JASON TAYLOR

'I'm very happy with the way we played. We've been down in the dumps, so it's a weight off the shoulders. It was tough losing seven in a row, but we kept turning up and putting the hard yards in and got a win.' JOHN SUTTON

'It's been very hard, but we learned a lot of things about ourselves along the way. We're just relieved to finally get a win. Now we have to get back into the swing of things and, hopefully, keep it going.' ROY ASOTASI