{"id":138333,"date":"2021-10-03T10:43:57","date_gmt":"2021-10-03T10:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=138333"},"modified":"2021-10-03T17:59:57","modified_gmt":"2021-10-03T17:59:57","slug":"reynolds-blows-chance-to-be-rabbitohs-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=138333","title":{"rendered":"Reynolds blows chance to be Rabbitohs' hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Penrith Panthers<\/a> claimed grand final redemption with a 14-12 victory<\/a> at Suncorp Stadium as South Sydney Rabbitohs skipper Adam Reynolds' missed sideline conversion attempt proved decisive.<\/p>\n

Last year the Panthers were defeated by the Melbourne Storm in the grand final in heartbreaking fashion, but they would not be denied again in an equally enthralling contest.<\/p>\n

In a see-saw grand final played in Brisbane for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic taking hold in NSW, there was little to separate the two sides.<\/p>\n

When Brisbane Broncos-bound, homegrown South Sydney product Reynolds stepped up to convert Alex Johnston's 74th minute try, all eyes were on him to level the scores and keep everyone on the edge of their seats.<\/p>\n

However Reynolds pushed it just wide of the right upright, and with little time left on the clock, the halfback was forced to attempt a desperate 40-metre two-point field goal in the final minute. When that also missed, Penrith could breathe a sigh of relief, and celebrations soon began, having won their first premiership title since 2003.<\/a><\/p>\n

"I expected to nail them," a dejected Reynolds said post-game.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"I thought we hung in there all night. We obviously had a chance of getting there, just didn't come up with the result in the end.<\/p>\n

"We just kept fighting and fighting right until the end."<\/p>\n

RE-LIVE: 2021 NRL GRAND FINAL HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Reynolds' dramatic conversion and field goal miss was the crescendo to an absorbing 80 minutes of rugby league.<\/p>\n

There were some opening minute nerves from referee Gerard Sutton when he wrongfully ruled a knock-on against Jarome Luai, which Penrith's captain's challenge swiftly overruled.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Penrith capitalised on sustained pressure in the opening 10 minutes with rookie Souths fullback Blake Taaffe repeatedly tested under the Nathan Cleary high-ball. The Rabbitohs showed great resilience in defence to hold out the Panthers' relentless attack. Front-rower Mark Nicholls even wrestled an unlikely one-on-one strip to give his side back some rare possession.<\/p>\n

After 16 minutes, off the back of three line drop-outs on fifth-tackle plays, Penrith finally found a crack in the Rabbitohs defence when they chose to run the ball on the last. Luai attracted Souths defenders before a beauty of a pass to put Matt Burton through a massive gap to score the first try of the night.<\/p>\n

\"Panthers<\/p>\n

Penrith couldn't celebrate long though as Dally M Five Eighth of the Year Cody Walker struck right back with a sensational, bamboozling 30-metre run up the middle, shoving Cleary off his feet in the process.<\/p>\n

Penrith took an 8-6 lead into half-time courtesy of a sloppy infringement by Jai Arrow during a Panthers play-the-ball.<\/p>\n

\"Cody<\/p>\n

With just over 40 per cent of the possession in the first 40, the half-time break couldn't come soon enough for the Rabbitohs as they appeared completely exhausted fighting off a late Panthers surge.<\/p>\n

From the start of the second half South Sydney looked refreshed and immediately had Penrith on the back foot, off the back of some repeat sets of six.<\/p>\n

Under an injury cloud in the lead-up to the grand final, Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards gifted the Rabbitohs a penalty which Reynolds easily converted to level the scoreboard at 8-8.<\/p>\n

\"Huge<\/p>\n

Wayne Bennett's men hit a hurdle when Arrow was ruled out in the 47th minute having failed his HIA and then came what would be the game-winning moment for Penrith.<\/p>\n

Just as South Sydney were stealing all the momentum, towering Panthers winger Stephen Crichton pounced on an ambitious pass wide from Walker and ran away to score a crucial try.<\/p>\n

Following the intercept, Cleary shared a few choice words for Walker leading to a little scuffle between the two halves.<\/p>\n

\"Cleary<\/p>\n

Walker dusted himself off though and got the Rabbitohs back on track and minutes later helped put try-scoring machine Alex Johnston over in the corner.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the majority crowd of Souths supporters in Brisbane, Reynolds missed the sideline conversion and in the dying minutes was also unable to convert a desperate two-point field goal from outside 40 metres to level scores again, ultimately handing Penrith a memorable victory.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Penrith Panthers claimed grand final redemption with a 14-12 victory at Suncorp Stadium as South Sydney Rabbitohs skipper Adam Reynolds' missed sideline conversion attempt […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138338,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138333\/revisions\/138338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=138333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=138333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}