Forget Bazball.
When it comes to rapid-fire sports entertainment, Benjball is the new word on everyone’s lips.
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Well, at least on the lips of those living in Tiger Town. And who can blame them after Benji Marshall’s charges opened their season with an exhilarating 44-16 win over a shell shocked Cowboys.
Like Baz Ball, there was even a distinct British flavour, with new buy and English international Kai Pearce-Paul crossing for two tries in front of over 17,367 delirious fans at Leichhardt Oval.
As a player, Marshall relied on his handy flick pass to open up opposition defences. As a coach, he seems to prefer the offload, with his side throwing 15 in the opening 40
minutes alone as they raced to a 28-2 by the halftime break.
Jake Clifford and Scott Drinkwater caused some nervous moments for the home crowd when they set up three tries to make it 34-16 with 19 minutes remaining, but a 70-metre intercept try to winger Luke Laulilii ensured the Tigers would not repeat the last-minute collapse they experienced when these two teams met at the same venue last year.
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After conceding a Clifford penalty in the 7th minute, the Tigers were never headed, riding a wave of set restarts to completely overwhelm a Cowboys outfit that had won on three of their last four visits to the boutique ground.
Backrower Samuela Fainu got the ball rolling when he took advantage of Kai O’Donnell’s sin-binning to storm over from close range after 11 minutes, and from then on, the points just flowed. Adam Doueihi grabbed the second Tigers’ second burrowed through the meat of the Cowboys’ defence to score under the sticks (18th-minute), while Pearce Paul’s double and Laulilii’s first set up their imposing half-time lead.
The Cowboys started the second stanza strongly with Drinkwater setting up Braydon Burns’ 47th-minute touchdown, and while Jarome Luai grabbed another for the Tigers five minutes later, back-to-back tries from Jaxon Purdue and Tom Chester gave the visitors more than a sniff with a quarter of the game remaining.
Unfortunately for Drinkwater, he would prove the catalyst for Laulilii’s match-winner, throwing an errant pass that gave the Perth-bound youngster a saloon passage to the line.
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LUDICROUS LUAI
This was easily Luai’s best performance in the black, white and gold. The former Panthers star, who signed a $6 million contract with the Tigers, finished the afternoon with one try, three try assists, one line break and two-line break assists. His second-half try was also a piece of brilliance, with the 29-year-old scoring off a ricocheted grubber that he had intentionally piloted into the left upright.
MAY-JOR PAIN
The Tigers’ victory was soured by an injury to strike centre Taylan May, who came from the field after popping his right shoulder in the 15th minute.
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