Canterbury Bulldogs march on as NRL attendance record broken

CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 32 SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 0
IAN HOWE, Accor Stadium, Friday

The Good Friday match between the Bulldogs and Rabbitohs is always one of the biggest in the NRL calendar.

But this year’s clash had taken on even more meaning with Canterbury undefeated on top of the ladder chasing their first 6-0 start to a season since 1938, a year in which they won the Premiership, and Souths enjoying a revival in fifth place under Wayne Bennett.

With an attendance of 65,305, the match broke the NRL’s all-time regular season crowd record of 59,708, which had been set in 2013 when South Sydney hosted the Roosters.

And the Bulldogs achieved two other significant milestones, keeping the Rabbitohs scoreless for the first time since 1973 and keeping their opponents scoreless in two successive matches for the first time ever.

The Rabbitohs had won the last six Good Friday clashes, however, and it all meant that former St Helens halfback Lewis Dodd couldn’t have picked a bigger game to make his NRL debut.

Dodd came off the bench in the 57th minute, replacing Cody Walker and not letting himself down, with one smart grubber winning a goal-line dropout.

His delayed debut didn’t come by choice, with injuries, two suspensions and the smart form of youngster Jamie Humphreys forcing Dodd to start his Australian career in reserve grade.

By the time he made his debut the Bulldogs were already 26-0 ahead after a dominant first half that saw them dominate possession and score three tries through Josh Curran, Max King and former Rooster Sitili Tupouniua.

The Rabbitohs had to make 80 more tackles than their opponents in the first half and they were hampered by Euan Aitken’s sin bin for a professional foul on Matt Burton after 18 minutes and Lachlan Hubner’s departure for a failed head-injury assessment.

When Jacob Preston went over in the third minute of the second half it was clearly going to be a long afternoon for the Rabbitohs, while the final try from Bronson Xerri put the Bulldogs on 30 points with five Stephen Crichton conversions from five plus a penalty.

The Canterbury supporters will have gone home convinced that they are on track to make this year’s Grand Final, and they will be looking forward to their trip to Brisbane to face the Broncos next Thursday, while the Rabbitohs face a challenging trip to Melbourne to face the Storm on Anzac Day next Friday.

GAMESTAR: Viliame Kikau was superb, both with and without the ball.

GAMEBREAKER: When Sitili Tupouniua scored the Bulldogs’ third try, with Stephen Crichton’s conversion putting them 20-0 ahead after 33 minutes, the gap was too much for Souths to make up.

MATCHFACTS
BULLDOGS
1 Connor Tracey
5 Marcelo Montoya
3 Bronson Xerri
4 Stephen Crichton
2 Jacob Kiraz
6 Matt Burton
7 Toby Sexton
8 Max King
9 Reed Mahoney
11 Josh Curran
23 Viliame Kikau
12 Jacob Preston
13 Jaeman Salmon
Subs (all used)
14 Kurt Mann
15 Sitili Tupouniua
16 Jack Todd
17 Bailey Hayward

Tries: Curran (11), King (26), Tupouniua (33), Preston (43), Xerri (69)
Goals: Crichton 6/6
Sin bin: Montoya (72) – slapping an opponent

RABBITOHS
1 Jye Gray
2 Campbell Graham
3 Euan Aitken
4 Jack Wighton
5 Isaiah Tass
6 Latrell Mitchell
7 Cody Walker
8 Sean Keppie
9 Peter Mamouzelos
10 Tevita Tatola
11 Keaon Koloamatangi
12 Jai Arrow
13 Lachlan Hubner
Subs (all used)
14 Lewis Dodd
15 Siliva Havili
16 Tallis Duncan
17 Davvy Moale