Illawarra Cutters player James Grehan in action against Newtown Jets at WIN Stadium. Picture: ROBERT PEET
NSW CUP
Too many errors have proven costly for the Illawarra Cutters.
After two rounds of the NSW Cup, the Cutters are winless, going down at home to premiers Newtown in the season opener and now losing away to heavyweights Canterbury-Bankstown.
The Bulldogs downed the Cutters 26-16 at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday after leading 10-6 at half-time.
The match was played in hot conditions.
"I thought our forwards, particularly [Jack] Stockwell, [Michael] Henderson and [Atelea] Vea, played quite well but we just made too many errors in that heat to succeed as a team," Cutters coach Paul McGregor said.
"They scored three tries on the back of error/penalty/try, error/penalty/try, error/penalty/try. When you make an error you want to be clinical in the next thing you do. And then we give a penalty away.
"The three times we did that, they scored a try off each of them, which is unacceptable as a team."
Cutters manager Neil Lovett yesterday said interchange forward Shannon Wakeman, who was injured in the 51st minute, was released from hospital on Saturday night cleared of serious neck damage.
Shortly after the Wakeman injury, halfback Josh Drinkwater damaged his right shoulder when he was held up over the Dogs' goal line and had to leave the field with what was believed to be a 'burner'.
"He's got a bit of a shoulder injury . . . he goes back to the NRL to do what's needed," Lovett said.
"They [medical staff] said it was in all likelihood a 'burner'. Nothing more serious than that thankfully."
Early on both packs estabished the foundations for set completions, with tactical kicks by Drinkwater and Dogs halfback Trent Hodkinson.
But as the game unfolded handling became less secure in the oppressive weather. The Dogs executed perfectly in the 13th minute for the opening try with Tim Lafai scoring.
Just prior to the first drinks break, Illawarra grabbed a 6-4 lead in the 19th minute when a kick by five-eighth John Kennedy bounced into the arms of centre Junior Vaivai and Adam Quinlan converted.
The Dogs regained the lead in the 28th minute when hooker Shane Pumipi slipped through from dummy-half and Hodkinson converted.
When second-rower Lachlan Burr scored in the 43rd minute and Hodkinson added the extras, Canterbury led by 10.
The Cutters were disrupted when they lost Wakeman and Drinkwater through injury before the Bulldogs stretched the lead to 22-6 in the 58th minute when Burr swivelled over and Hodkinson added the conversion.
Canterbury prop Junior Palau was placed on report in the 65th minute for an incident involving Cutters hooker Jake Hawkins and almost immediately smart passing resulted in a second try for Vaivai.
The Cutters struck again in the 73rd minute through Quinlan, which Vaivai converted. Penalty goals to Hodkinson in the 75th and 78th minutes sealed victory for the Bulldogs.