Round 1: Knights vs Raiders @ EAS Stadium, Newcastle

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Newcastle Knights coach Brian Smith has paid tribute to his side's astute kicking game in a strong 30-14 win over the Canberra Raiders at EnergyAustralia Stadium on Saturday night.

The Knights went behind early when Raiders hooker Lincoln Withers burrowed over from dummy-half in just the ninth minute.

But Newcastle worked its way back into the match via a good kicking game from halfback Jarrod Mullen and five-eighth Scott Dureau, who was a late inclusion in the starting line-up at the expense of Chris Bailey.

The Knights got momentum through solid field possession to run in two tries just before half-time and hold a handy 10-4 lead at the break.

Second-half tries to Danny Buderus, Danny Wicks and Kurt Gidley all came from kicks from the boot of Mullen with Smith spruiking the whole team's effort in the kick-chase department.

"I thought we gutsed it out early on and we probably didn't have enough kick finishes in the first half but in the second half it was judicious kicking, well thought out, well executed," Smith told a post-match press conference.

"I thought our kick-chase at stages tonight was as good as anything I could remember."

"The number of blokes that we had at the end of the first half - I think we had 12. Gids (Kurt Gidley) was probably the only bloke not on the kick-chase from a long one, but the eagerness to support the chaser on good ball kicks resulted directly in tries for us and added a lot of pressure on them."

Smith conceded the Knights got a lot of free ball from the Raiders coughing up possession but stressed that it was his side's heavy defence that forced the mistakes from it opposition.

The Knights boss indicated he was never in doubt that his side would win the match even when the Raiders closed to within four points late in the match and said the victory was a good sign for a club going through a rebuilding phase after the loss of prominent players such as Andrew Johns last year.

"It was good," Smith said of the win.

"It was exactly what we were looking for."

The only blot on the game for the Knights was a knee injury to international second-rower Steve Simpson, who hobbled off in the opening minutes of the match.

"It looks as if he has a medial ligament tear," said Smith.

"They (the medical staff) are not sure but they are thinking it is probably grade two, so he will be missing for a few weeks."
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source:sportal
 
Faaoso

1 Linebreak
14 Tackles
0 Missed
9 Hit-ups
2 Offloads
114 Metres gained

the big difference between the 2 sides were
Knights metres gained 1402

Canberra metres gained 930

and offloads
Newcastle 14
Canberra 7

Hit-ups
Newcastle 80
Canberaa 65

Knights now 2nd on the table so far



Ladder position 2nd
Points for 3rd
Points against 9th
Hit-ups 2nd
All run metres 1st
Tackles8th
Completions 1st
Errors 9th
 
~knights1~ said:
who do think are the worst opposing fans are

personally i reckon st george and bulldogs

saints fans are real smart a$$es ...grrrr
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I have not been to a dogs game strangely it just hasn't happened well the worst was the Rabbits fans that game last year they were coming up and yelling at our windscreen and I thought it was really poor form. I felt so bad for the raiders fans last night I was being really careful not to cheer in their faces.
 
Bulldogs hands down i remember 2004 when they beat us 50 to 6 in sydney in i was next door in the superdome and afterwards they were screaming insults at anyone who went past there complete ****-knuckles
 
I didn't really have an opinion of Houston when we signed him, but I heard he was going to be an awesome buy, and some of the Dragons supporters were fuming when we signed him.
 
I've had a huge opinion on him for quite some time now, even before we signed him.

I remember watching a match he was playing in sometime last year I think, he made about as many tackles as Hindmarsh would've but he was an attacking second rower making a couple breaks down the side of the field.
 
Jekk said:
I agree with.. umm..whoever it was that said Dureau was average, he seemed a bit nervous to get into the tackles too.
Wicks try was so great, we were up that end and he was just absolutely LOVING the crowd lol I am not sure I've seen anyone play to the crowd like that and it worked, he's my new best friend lol. Speaking of crowd, the hill was the most packed I've ever seen it! I was amazed!
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Dureau's defence is dodgy, remember against Manly he let in a try just coz he was too scared to attempt a tackle?
 
jamesgould said:
Dureau's defence is dodgy, remember against Manly he let in a try just coz he was too scared to attempt a tackle?
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Yeah thats right! I forgot about that. So does anyone reckon a ball would go over the fence at blue tongue?


So joking. ;) ;)
 
Jekk said:
Yeah thats right! I forgot about that. So does anyone reckon a ball would go over the fence at blue tongue?


So joking. ;) ;)
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Lol! I think the off-season brought out the worst in us. :p

Maybe when we play there next, we can ask Gidley or Mullen to see if they can do it. :p
 
On the Houston signing, I thought it was a decent signing. I don't think he's anything special, and last year with the Dragons I didn't think he offered all that much in attack honestly, but defensively, he was great. I didn't mind the signing as he's a very solid player and you know what you're gonna get from him. I also liked the signing because he's a guy that can play the full 80 minutes, and with the interchanges cut down to 10 this season, I think that's a huge bonus. I think he'll do well for us this season and will be consistently solid over the course of the year.
 
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