Farah returns in style, Sharks pay the penalty
... kicks that led to another pair of four-pointers and a defensive effort that was instrumental in his side's 42-16 demolition of the hapless
Cronulla Sharks.
...
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Farah returns in style, Sharks pay the penalty
By Jacquelin Magnay
April 17, 2006
Wests Tigers 42 Cronulla 16
New golden boy… Robbie Farah. Photo: Getty Images
HOW quickly can Wests Tigers forget Benji Marshall? In about two minutes. That is how long it took for another Wests Tigers star to step up and take over the mantle as the club's favoured son.
Welcome back, Robbie Farah. Showing no lingering effects of his broken hand that had sidelined him for three games, Farah yesterday hopped about like the Easter Bunny.
But instead of handing out baskets of chocolate eggs, the likeable hooker delivered something far more satisfying: a collection of deftly timed passes that set up two tries for Ryan O'Hara and Michael Crockett, a couple of superbly weighted kicks that led to another pair of four-pointers and a defensive effort that was instrumental in his side's 42-16 demolition of the hapless Cronulla Sharks.
Marshall, sitting on the sidelines nursing his shoulder which he injured last week, said it wasn't too frustrating not taking part, especially when his side picked up its second-phase play in the second half and had the Sharks back-pedalling furiously.
"Robbie coming back was good for us because he helped direct the forwards and [he] got through a lot of work," Marshall said.
But for the 15,550-strong crowd there was also another local hero to cheer. Rocky Trimarchi, a 20-year-old second-rower hanging out on the fringes was the merged club's 100th first-grade player and scored a try on debut.
Trimarchi, a Narellan junior who lives at Bringelly and helps his father bricklaying one day a week, had 25 of his relatives - including all three older sisters and an older brother - in the crowd and they started up the chant "Rocky, Rocky".
It was also a memorable match for captain Brett Hodgson, who broke the points scoring record for the merged Wests Tigers club, bypassing the previous record held by Joel Caine of 526 points with a six-goal haul from seven attempts.
But the biggest talking point after the match was the lopsided penalty count in the second half that generously favoured the home side. Referee Jason Robinson awarded eight penalties to Wests Tigers and just one to Cronulla in the final 40 minutes that resulted in a final 14-3 count.
Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens, still sniffling from a heavy cold that had prevented him from training the team on Saturday, noted that his side bounced on from the 24-16 half-time score "on the back of a lot of possession because the penalty count made it easier for us".
And Cronulla coach Stuart Raper was furious that his side - ranked the second most disciplined side in the competition before the game and up against the worst-disciplined one - had suddenly become a different team. As far-fetched as the Easter Bunny perhaps?
Certainly the first half resembled nothing like the second, although the point-a-minute scoring spree indicated fatigue in defence - perhaps because of the unseasonally warm conditions.
Wests Tigers came out firing, rocketing to a 12-point lead, but then succumbed as soon as Cronulla got their hands on the ball around the 15-minute mark. Second-rower Lance Thompson teamed superbly with five-eighth Brett Kearney during successive attacking raids and it seemed the game was a tit-for-tat touch footy scoring spree.
Even big centre Nigel Vagana, who hurt his ankle in the Tri-Nations final late last year, scored with his first touch of the ball this season, darting from dummy half to power his way over the try line in the 27th minute to give Cronulla a six-point lead.
But the Tigers hit back with two quick tries, including a benefit-of-the-doubt effort to Ben Galea ruled by the video referee, just seconds before half-time. The lead was also kept in check by a superb scything tackle by Hodgson on a runaway Kearney, helped enormously by Paul Whatuira's clean-up, which stopped him from planting the ball across the try line.
Critically, the Sharks were denied the first points after the break when the side was ruled offside during a towering bomb - then came the onslaught of Tiger possession and a glut of tries.
"I thought we had the position to win in the second half if we knuckled down in defence, I knew that that would put is in a position to win the game," Sheens said.
I THINK STUART YOU NEED TO DEMAND OUR TEAM PLAY FOOTBALL I AM AFRAID THEY ARE JUST NOT PLAYING AS A TEAM WE NEED TO DROP SOME BIG NAMES AND GIVE SOME NO NAMES A GO, WE JUST HAVE GOT NO DISCIPLINE NO BODY SEEMS TO GIVE A DAM. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE!