El Magic's hat-trick sinks gloomy knights
DOWN AND OUT: It wasn't Andrew Johns' night as his side crumbled in the second half to a rampaging Bulldogs team. Photo: Simon Alekna.
By WILL SWANTON TELSTRA STADIUM
June 4, 2006 - 12:35AM
BULLDOGS 38 KNIGHTS 22
SONNY-BILL Williams was unbelievable. SBW: Something Bloody Wonderful. Hazem El Masri scored a hat-trick to pass Bulldogs legend Terry Lamb's club record of 123 tries. He even landed a goal while parked on his backside. When you're hot, you're hot. But while El Masri was being feted for making history, the over-riding feeling after full-time was: how good is Sonny-Bill?
He was playing against the Knights for the first time. He wasted no time introducing himself. He stumbled with his first hit-up and fell into a two-man tackle - but still had the balance to give a dream one-handed off-load - and kept sniffing around for possession.
Is he getting paid per touches of the ball? He'll break the Bulldogs' bank. He was heavily involved from the outset and a handful throughout. He is an extraordinary player.
El Masri snuck over in the corner in the 14th minute - his 122nd try - to give the hosts a 4-2 lead.
Williams had played his part twice, making a crunching tackle on Knights prop Craig Smith which jarred the ball loose and gave the Bulldogs possession 30 metres from the Knights line, then giving the final pass, another one-handed flick, to El Masri. The Bulldogs winger was just one try behind Lamb's record - and knew all about it.
The Knights struck back immediately when winger Brian Carney intercepted a pass from Daniel Holdsworth. Then proceedings got tough. Williams drilled Johns. Then came a procession of players losing the ball in one-on-one tackles. There are fewer strippers at Kings Cross. From what we've heard. It happened on four occasions in the first half - and twice in the lead-up to one try.
Williams wrestled the ball from big Knights second-rower Kirk Reynoldson. It was 6-4 to the Knights at this stage. Corey Hughes also stripped the ball off Reynoldson - but then almost immediately, Danny Buderus stripped it back off Tony Grimaldi. Reynoldson gave a superb pass to Clint Newton to score and the Knights, for the time being, had a comfortable buffer.
Another strip: this time, Holdsworth pinching possession from Reynoldson, running five metres to put the ball down under the posts. No try, though. The Knights had gained no advantage from a knock-on by Willie Mason. Hughes dived over from dummy half in the 31st minute and a helter-skelter contest was back to 12-10 to the Knights. By half-time, it was 16-all.
Williams is not your average centre. Standing out wide, he beat the rampaging Knights backs to a bomb from Johns. He executed a textbook tackle on Gidley. Then a couple of occurrences to tell the grandchildren about - you saw Johns knock-on. And then you saw him kick a grubber that went dead. Carrying the ball in his big right paw as he stormed down the right flank, Williams nearly sent El Masri over and into the history books.
El Masri got there soon enough, matching Lamb's benchmark. The Bulldogs army among the 12,658 chanted "Hazem, Hazem" while they awaited video confirmation of the try. When it was awarded, El Masri joined the applause, booted the goal, put one finger in the air and ran back into position. Lamb was at the ground.
Momentum was all with the Dogs. The ball was spun to Williams. It took three desperate Knights to stop him. Holdsworth scooted over and the Dogs were kicking. Johns had his hands on his hips as he trudged back under the posts. The points were coming thick and fast. El Masri slipped and fell as he attempted a conversion - but the ball still went over the black dot. The Dogs would not be denied. El Masri completed his hat-trick, his 124th career try, in the 67th minute and Lamb's days as the top try-scoring dog were over.
From: http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/e...-gloomy-knights/2006/06/04/1148956595149.html
