Elllenbrook Rabbitohs 32 – Kalamunda Bulldogs 26
By PETER ROWE
Ellenbrook coach Dan Manning put his side’s Fuel to Go & Play Premiership win over Kalamunda down to a great sliding defence and perseverance as they leapfrogged their opponents back into fourth spot on the ladder.
“Discipline and errors almost cost us but we stuck at it after the Dogs came back at us in the second half,” Manning said.
“It was competitive and tough and when we were down 26-16 I thought ‘Oh no, here we go again’, but we didn’t and fair play to Kalamunda who gave us a real fright.”
At halftime the Bunnies were leading 12-10 and were holding their own. Tries from fullback Rob Blake and Chase Rye, who had superb day with the boot, kicking five from five, gave them the edge.
Centre Regan Howley and hooker George MacDonald had kept the Dogs in the game and backrower Josh Ngapuhi, with a double, and winger Gerald Ma’ake had given what coach Duane Gwiazdzinski thought was a winning margin.
But it wasn’t to be. “We thought we had enough to win the game and we didn’t,” Gwiazdzinski said afterwards.
“We were 26-12 up and then we capitulated. We were good at times but not across the full 80 minutes.
“We just didn’t ice the game, which was disappointing.”
But Rye and Toby Carr had other ideas as the Rabbitohs fought back in the final 20 minutes of the game to score three tries, plus a Rye penalty, to take the points.
“We just switched back to Ellenbrook football and it worked for us,” Manning, who gave his man-of-the-match award to backrower Jacob Crossley, said.
Jahvarro Joyce and Rye were also up there, both having superb second halves.