National Rugby League 2007 (NZ and Aus)

ROUND 1

Melbourne Storm 18-16 Wests Tigers (Att 13.535)
Melbourne had 17 year old Israel Folau to thank in getting away to a good start in the opening round of 2007. The Storm struggled against Wests Tigers who put in a great defensive effort to frustrate often the Melbourne side. Folau took a towering bomb and crashed over the line despite two defenders hanging on him.
Brisbane Broncos 16-23 North Queensland Cowboys (Att 50.416)
Infront of over 50.000 the Broncos who won the NRL last year struggled against Queensland Rivals the Cowboys in Brisbane. Added to this International Player of the Year Darren Lockyer limped off with a twisted ankle and saw him on crutches after the game and Prop Corey Parker dislocated his wrist earkly in the game. The Broncos couldnt stop the Cowboys who have Pace and are great at offloading in the tackles to post a hard earned win. Lockyer looks like missing atleast 4 weeks matches going on reports.
New Zealand Warriors 34-18 Parramatta Eels (Att 13.587)
The Warriors finally got a win in the first round of the NRL after 4 losses in the previous years! The Warriors were simply too fast and smart for Parramatta and they raced into a 24-0 lead before Parramatta even scored. The Eels were then always playing catch up footy-and were never going to come back!
Cronulla Sharks 18-0 Penrith Panthers (Att 9.032)
Wasnt a great game but alot has to do with the referee blowing up every two minutes. Seems refs have a new directive each year and the first few weeks like to keep blowing the whistle for nothing. Cronulla will be thankfull for the win though as it ends a 10 match losing streak and are indebted to fullback Brett Kearney for the win as he grabbed a brace of tries.
Manly Sea Eagles 32-6 Canberra Raiders (13.533)
Start signing Jamie Lyon ran in 2 tries on his debut despite not having one of his better days! Canberra are favourites for the wooden spoon and the way they played more or less suggests the bookies will be right. Manly look good and will be in the top 8 without a doubt. Both sides werent anywhere near their best and the Ref and the teams didnt help contribute to any hope of a flowing game.
Newcastle Knights 25-24 Canterbury Bulldogs (18.791)
Sonny Bill Williams was red carded after a high tackle that left Andrew Johns the Knights skipper Knocked out on Friday. Williams will cop a 3 game ban likely and this will hit the Doggies. The Knights just about won the game but 12 man Bulldogs made them work for it and the Knights can count themselves lucky to win.
Gold Coast Titans 18-20 St.George Illawarra Dragons (Played in Brisbane 42.030)
The game was played up the Queensland Coast at Brisbane and the decision backfired for the South Queensland based side making their debut. They gave the dragons a fright and really should of beaten the Dragons who were missing Gasnier and another couple of top Players. Further bad news for the Titans is that 2 Try Hero Chris Walker is out for 8 Weeks with a badly broken Wrist! The Dragons will be pleased with the Rookies they had out especially young Five-Eighth Richie Williams who bagged two tries.
Sydney Roosters 6-18 South Sydney Rabbitohs (Att 24.127)
Good crowd despite the rain saw the Rabbitohs get a good win.The Rabbitohs have been woodenspoonist for the past few years. But then last year Russell Crowe and Business friends took over. The result has seen a couple of high profile signings and a complete transformation of the club from top to bottom. Off the field things have been going very well. On the field they also finally seemed to be going right after years of misery. The Rabbitohs tore the Glamour club Sydney Roosters apart and showed much more passion throughout the game. Young coach Jason Taylor has certainly got his charges in the right frame of mind. But how long will this positive attitude last?

Round 2 Fixtures

St.George-Illawarra Dragons v Newcastle Knights

Penrith Panthers v Canterbury Bulldogs

North Queensland Cowboys v Sydney Roosters

South Sydney Rabbitihs v Parramatta Eels

NZ Warriors v Brisbane Broncos

Gold Coast Titans v Cronulla Sharks

Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm

Wests Tigers v Manly Sea Eagles

www.nrl.com.au

Wow what a huge crowd! Must have been a few freebies given away there. Glad to see the dragons get the season off on the right foot.

No freebies for this one-its not the Bunnies or Doggies!. It was the opening game for the Titans and invested a lot of time and money in it. Queensland is Rugby League mad-Look at the Support the Broncos get-usually plus 30.000 and the Cowboys sell out most games up in Townsville. Fans often travel upto 8 hours to get to games and then drive back! A number in Southern Brisbane dont like the Broncos and so likely will follow the Titans despite them being further down the Coast. Brisbane sells out SOO games in hours and the Internationals always sell well there and so over 90.000 for 2 games of Footy over the Weekend doesnt surprise me at all.

Gasnier is fucked mate and think your Dragons will struggle. Your Rookies might be OK but whether they can perform week in week out is the big question.Derren and Jacko from the Dopes are also big Dragons fans so least you aint alone! Gasnier might be fit for the playoffs depending. I think the Bunnies, with Russell Crowe buying them, could be the shock of the season but doubt they have the power and resources to get to the Grand Final. Again its very difficult to predict. Not alot really between the sides though suspect Canberra will struggle

ST.GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS 12-16 NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS ATT 12.326
Newcastle won this game thanks to two late tries after a patched up St.George side frustrated them for 68 minutes. Fielding 2 youngsters on debut the Dragons played with much spirit. However the Class of Newcastle finally shone through and they grabbed a late victory to keep their 100% record

PENRITH PANTHERS 40-10 CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 16.652
A massive shock as the Panthers were hammered last week and werent expected to even trouble the Doggies. However the Panthers were well up for this game with outstanding New Zealand International Prop Frank Pritchard leading the way. The Doggies just didnt turn up and couldnt complete the basics and the score shows this.

WESTS TIGERS 8-19 MANLY SEA EAGLES ATT 15.185
Wests let themselves down again in a game played in heavy rain. The Sea Eagles missing 5 first teamers showed little effects of this obstacle as they were clearly the better side. Had the weather been kinder then likely the Tigers would have been on the end of a real hammering. Tigers Coach Tim Sheens has said he will make a host of changes for next weeks game!

CANBERRA RAIDERS 16-32 MELBOURNE STORM
Melbourne are a constant thorn in the raiders side as they have won 15 out of the past 20 meetings between the sides. On saturday the Raiders were looking at a shock win going up to half time. Then the lightening fast Billy Slater had a say in things by constantly making a number of line breaks with a couple of these resulting in tries in the second half. Melbourne are a very exciting side to watch and play open footy and this was again in evidence against the Raiders. This open style often created havoc in the raiders defence.

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 43-6 SYDNEY ROOSTERS ATT 21.396
Glamour club Sydney Roosters got a real hammering in Townsville as the Cowboys were on fire and seemed to score at will. Halfback Jonathon Thurston and Fullback Matty Bowen were seemingly challenging each other as who could score or create the most elaborate try as the speed and agility of them was just too much for the Roosters. The Cowboys are looking good but the question is will they crash like they did last year and fail to make the play offs after a great start.

SOUTHS RABBITOHS 31-6 PARRAMATTA EELS ATT 15.165
In appalling conditions the Bunnies tore the Eels apart.Souths won the game mainly by having a good defence alongside a great completion rate of 91% and using the full set of six tackles while the Eels just kept turning over the ball inside their own half and making life easy for the Rabbitohs. If the Bunnies win next week this would be the first time since 1972 they have won their first three games of a season!

GOLD COAST TITANS 18-16 CRONULLA SHARKS ATT 17.946
New boys on the block, Gold Coast Titans got their first win at the second time of asking. As indicated by the score, there was nothing between the two sides and it was only the kicking of Preston Campbell who seperated the sides after 80 Minutes of a thrilling encounter.

NZ WARRIORS 24-14 BRISBANE BRONCOS ATT 16.738
The Warriors often have failed to live upto expectation but they seem to be made of sterner stuff these days under Coach Ivan Cleary. The Broncos threw everything at them in the first half but the Warriors came of with a standing ovation. The second half saw a similar type of game with the Warriors brilliant in defence and taking their limited chances when they came.

After ROUND 2

North Queensland 4 Points
Manly Sea Eagles 4 Points
Souths Rabbitohs 4 Points
NZ Warriors 4 Points
Melbourne Storm 4 Points
Newcastle Knights 4 Points
Cronulla Sharks 2 Points
Penrith Panthers 2 Points
Gold Coast Titans 2 Points
St.George-Illawarra 2 points
Wests Tigers 0 Points
Brisbane Broncos 0 Points
Canterbury Bulldogs 0 Points
Parramatta Eels 0 Points
Canberra Raiders 0 Points
Sydney Roosters 0 Points

ROUND 3 Fixtures

Brisbane Broncos - Penrith Panthers
Parramatta Eels - Wests Tigers
St.George Illawarra - North Queensland
Cronulla Sharks - Souths Rabbitohs
Melbourne Storm - NZ Warriors
Canterbury Bulldogs - Gold Coast Titans
Sydney Roosters - Manly Sea Eages
Canberra Raiders - Newcastle Knights

ROUND 4

South Sydney 10-34 Canterbury Bulldogs (34.315)
Sydney Roosters 10-32 Brisbane Broncos (11.476)
Newcastle Knights 12-22 Melbourne Storm (20.051)
North Queensland 25-24 Wests Tigers (21.879)
Parramatta Eels 38-6 Canberra Raiders (10.092)
Manly Sea Eagles 13-10 New Zealand Warriors (16.418)
Cronulla Sharks 40-4 St.George-Illawarra Dragons
Penrith Panthers 22-24 Gold Coast Titans

1.Manly Sea Eagles 4 4 0 0 8Pts
2.North Queensland 4 4 0 0 8Pts
3.Melbourne Storm 4 4 0 0 8Pts
4.Souths Rabbitohs 4 3 0 1 6Pts
5.Cronulla Sharks 4 2 0 2 4Pts
6.Penrith Panthers 4 2 0 2 4Pts
7.Canterbury Dogs 4 2 0 2 4Pts
8.New Zealand War´ 4 2 0 2 4Pts
9.Parramatta Eels 4 2 0 2 4Pts
10.Gold Coast Titans 4 2 0 2 4Pts
11.Newcastle Knights 4 2 0 2 4Pts
12.Brisbane Broncos 4 1 0 3 2Pts
13.St.George-Illawarra 4 1 0 3 2Pts
14.Canberra Raiders 4 1 0 3 2Pts
15. Wests Tigers 4 0 0 4 0Pts
16.Sydney Roosters 4 0 0 4 0Pts

Round 5 Fixtures

Canberra v Sydney Roosters
Canterbury v Manly
Gold Coast v Brisbane
New Zealand v North Queensland
Penrith v Parramatta
Souths v Newcastle
St.George-Illawarra v Melbourne
Wests v Cronulla

ROUND 5

Penrith 14-27 Parramatta ATT 18.756
Gold Coast 28-16 Brisbane (SUNCORP STADIUM)ATT:47.686
St,George Illawarra 10-24 Melbourne Storm ATT 9.011
Canterbury 14-16 Manly ATT 20.269
NZ Warriors 34-14 North Queensland ATT 11.260
Souths 22-23 Newcastle ATT 18.321
Wests 14-12 Cronulla ATT 17.566
Canberra 37-28 Sydney Roosters

1 . Manly 10Pts
2 . Melbourne 10
3 . North Queensland 8
4 . NZ Warriors 6
5 . Souths 6
6 . Parramatta 6
7 . Gold Coast 6
8 . Newcastle 6
9 . Cronulla 4
10.Canterbury 4
11.Penrith 4
12.Canberra 4
13.Brisbane 2
14.Wests 2
15.St.George-Illawarra 2
16.Sydney Roosters 0

AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND (Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane) Fri 20th April
AUSTRALIA
Hunt (Brisbane), Tate (Brisbane), Lyon (Manly), Hodges (Brisbane), King (Melbourne), Lockyer (CAPTAIN)(Brisbane), Thurston (North Queensland)
Kite (Manly), Smith (Melbourne), Civoniceva (Brisbane), Mason (Canterbury), Hindmarsh (Parramatta), Ryan (Canterbury)
INTERCHANGE-Bailey (Gold Coast), Tupou (Sydney Roosters), Berrigan (Brisbane), Simpson (Newcastle).

NEW ZEALAND
Team to be announced Tuesday

Parramatta 18-21 Canterbury
Newcastle 16-20 Brisbane
Manly 20-6 Gold Coast
North Queensland 6-10 Souths
Cronulla 26-0 Canberra
Melbourne 30-20 Penrith

Manly 12 Points
Melbourne 12 Points
Souths 8 Points
NZ Warriors 8 points
N Queensland 8 points
Cronulla 6 points
Canterbury 6 points
Parramatta 6 Points
Gold Coast 6 Points
Newcastle 6 points
Brisbane 4 Points
Penrith 4 points
Wests 4 Points
St.George-Illawarra 4 Points
Canberra 4 Points
Sydney2 points

Australia 30-06
Australia finally over came a youthful New Zealand side of whom many were mainly under 23 years old. Also missing were the British based Kiwis like Shontayne Hape, Jason Cayless, Brent Webb, Lesley Vainikolo, James Leulei. The Kangeroos dominated in much of the game but the final score flattered them as the young Kiwis gave them a real battle as the Roos led just 6-0 at the break. However finally in the second half the pressure told. It was also the match that saw Brisbane Bronco, Queensland and Australian Captain Darren Lockyer claim his 36th test cap which puts him in second place alongside former St.George Great Reg Gasnier. League legend Mal Meninga still sits in front on 42 Test caps

go the warriors

Cronulla Sharks 16-8 Brisbane Broncos
Manly Sea Eagles 22-12 Parramatta Eels
Newcastle Knights 24-18 New Zealand Warriors
Souths Rabbitohs 10-16 Canberra Raiders
North Queensland 12-22 Penrith Panthers
Sydney Roosters 24-18 Gold Coast Titans
Wests Tigers 27-8 St.George-Illawarra Dragons
Melbourne Storm 38-14 Canterbury Bulldogs

Sydney, Canberra and Penrith all pulled off shocks while with the first State of Origin next Wednesday (23rd May) not far off a few players could miss out!
Manly and Melbourne both won to go 4 Points Clear due to the North Queensland Cowboys shock home loss to Penrith. The Bunnies (Souths) slip further down the table as Wests, Newcastle and Cronulla all won. Last years winners the Brisbane Broncos are way down in 13th and the other big clubs St.George Illawarra and Sydney Roosters are both struggling at the bottom of the table!

1. Manly Sea Eagles 16pts
2. Melbourne Storm 16
3. North Queensland 12
4. Cronulla Sharks 10
5. Wests Tigers 10
6. NZ Warriors 10
7. Newcastle Knights 10
8. Souths Rabbitohs 8
9. Gold Coast Titans 8
10.Parramatta Eels 8
11.Canterbury Bulldogs 8
12.Canberra Raiders 8
13.Brisbane Broncos 6
14.Penrith Panthers 6
15.St.George Illawarra 6
16.Sydney Roosters 6

For Queensland the big fear is Darren Lockyer could be ruled out after picking up an ankle injury and young fullback Karmichael Hunt has been ordered to have a scan on his knee after picking up an injury for the Brisbane Broncos in the same game as Lockyer. Prop Sam Thaiday needs clearance from Doctors after picking up an eye socket injury and another Brisbane Bronco player Centre Brent Tate has a a Hip injury. Queensland have the backs if they stay fit to cause many problems with Inglis, Bowen, Lockyer, hunt etc all having pace to burn and great attacking skills. The problem is the forwards where since Shane Webckes retirement there isnt such a strong forward. The New South Wales have the much stronger forwards but dont have the talent in the backs.

For New South Wales the news isnt much better as Centre Jamie Lyon is sweating on a Judiciary Decision after a bad tackle saw him put on report. Former Australian halfback Brett Kimmorley and Penrith Half Craig Gower are out of form and gower picked up an injury as well. With no real talent at 7 the NSW selectors are likely to go for young Newcastle Half Jarrod Mullen who is seen as the successor to Andrew johns at the Knights. Mullens is only 20 though and the fear is that the pressure of Origin will break him. Anthony Minichello is likely to come back at Fullback after he was ruled out injured for most of the past 18 months. With Matt gasnier also out with long term injury the Backs of New South Wales arent considered to be anywhere near as strong as powerful as Queenslands with Melbourne Storms Greg Inglis, North Queensland Cowboys, Matty Bowen, Jonathon Thurston all in good form and if fit Lockyer and Thurston will form once again a dream partnership at 6 and 7 which the Blues can only dream about.

State of Origin 1 23 May (Brisbane)
State of Origin 2 13 June (Sydney)
State of Origin 3 04 July (Brisbane)