Matt Burton kicked a field goal in extra time for the second straight match as the Bulldogs defeated New Zealand 13-12 in a gruelling contest at Accor Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Taking a quick pass from Reed Mahoney, Burton was camped in an ideal spot in front of the posts just over 30 metres out and for the second week in a row stayed cool to seal another golden point victory for Canterbury.
It was a frantic end to regular time as both sides struggled with some truly bizarre fifth-tackle options, rejecting field goal opportunities as errors abounded to an almost comical extent with scores level and the contest on the line.
Burton missed an excellent chance for a field goal from just 15 metres out in the 77th minute at the same end of Accor Stadium he sealed last week’s triumph over Cronulla with a shot from much further out from goal.
In extra time Te Maire Martin could have iced the game with a shot from 30 metres but pulled his strike to the left of the posts before Burton had another strike that had the accuracy but dropped just under the crossbar. A Chanel Harris-Tavita effort was deflected wide.
The brave Warriors were down to 14 men and their backline was in disarray as New Zealand first lost fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad with the opening half ticking down before Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was ruled out with a category 1 concussion early in the second stanza.
A season that began with somewhat tempered expectations now has Bulldogs fans believing a first finals appearance since 2016 is on the cards and perhaps even a top-four finish is not out of the question after another important victory that was not without its warts.
“It’s not ideal (going to golden point again), but it’s better than the alternative,” Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo told reporters.
“Probably (feeling) a bit of relief, as well. When they came in, they were probably a little disappointed we didn’t really play how we wanted to today but the grit side of it’s there. I want them to be really proud of that and that’s the most important thing we’re after this year and that’s what we worked on really hard in pre-season.”
Burton again got the job done for his side but missed two earlier chances to win the game – including one from 15 metres out and dead centre that a player of the five-eighth’s ilk should be making ten times out of ten.
Despite the field goal miss Burton surely strengthened his case for a recall into Michael Maguire’s NSW Blues side for Origin three to be announced on Sunday but he faces stiff competition to replace Latrell Mitchell from the likes of Tom Trbojevic, Joseph Suaalii and Bradman Best.
“I think he was actually pretty disappointed at half-time about how he was going – he sort of didn’t feel like he was in the game and we wanted to get him more ball there,” Ciraldo said.
“So to brush that aside, reset for the second half and come up at the end to nail those moments (was encouraging). We’ve been preparing for those moments, the mental side of the game, and it’s good to see us getting some results there.”
The Warriors side battled admirably after losing Macelo Montoya, Watene-Zelezniak and Nicoll-Klokstad and would have left Olympic Park with the two competition points had Harris-Tavita or Martin capitalised on their field goal chances.
With the Bulldogs in good form and putting together a strong tilt for a top-four finish it was always going to be a tough trip to Sydney but victory was well within their grasp. The defeat leaves New Zealand languishing in 14th place on the NRL ladder with their finals flame flickering, if it hasn’t gone out after today’s loss.
Kurt Capewell is tackled by Stephen Crichton. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
“Gutted for the boys,” Warriors coach Andrew Webster said post-game.
“Put so much effort in – so much resiliency, so many injuries, people in different spots but we didn’t get what we wanted today. Just really proud of the effort but really disappointed we didn’t get what we wanted.”
Webster did not have an immediate injury update on his wounded charges at full-time.
“I don’t know where to start,” Webster said. “Everyone’s got knocks at the moment. They’re sore, (players) have got tears, there’s everything going on… we’ll reassess and we’ll work it out tomorrow. Just let them ice up for now and work it out.”
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, the home side would get on the scoreboard first. Matt Burton punched on a poor Te Maire Martin pass, ran 60 metres and passed to Bronson Xerri who went in for the first four-pointer of the afternoon.
A Bulldogs mistake from the very next play gave New Zealand the chance to hit back immediately and they capitalised as Watene-Zelezniak scored in the corner straight from the scrum.
Marcelo Montoya showed great strength to score in the opposite corner as the Warriors hit the lead for the first time, Adam Pompey adding the two points. Pompey added a penalty goal to stretch the advantage to 12-6 at half-time.
With New Zealand losing two of their stars it was always going to be an uphill battle and Canterbury took advantage, Toby Sexton kicking for Villiame Kikau who rose well and planted the ball down, giving Matt Burton an easy task to level the scores with a quarter of the contest to run.
Sexton, under pressure from Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, had a big chance to restore the Bulldogs’ advantage after some tidy work from Josh Curran but knocked on just metres from the try-line.
Tuivasa-Sheck dropped a trademark swirling bomb from Burton’s boot, getting the Canterbury five-eighth into prime field goal range but he could only hit the left upright from close range despite making a sweet connection.
Martin then missed his field goal shot from 30 metres before Burton had another chance that dropped just under the crossbar. A Harris-Tavita shot went wide as the first half of extra time expired.
Taking position in front of the posts and 30 metres out, Burton got his shot at field goal off quickly and sealed the Bulldogs’ second straight extra time victory at Accor Stadium.
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