I
had the pleasure of witnessing this game first hand, as a
spectator in the Sheridan Stand at the old SCG. tender age
of 16.
It was a brilliant game, it had everything. It would be interesting
to see the Old Rugby League Week front page again, as I remember
they had several of the Sharks on the front page with a heading
about something like the "Entertainers" have arrived.
I won't go into the details of the match ( I recommend that
you read the Memorable Matches entry, click
here)
What I will never ever forget about this game is the brilliant
try Ray Corcoran scored in the dying minute of the game. He
recieved a pass of Bishop and stepped around and through two
or three close defenders.
Ray
Corcoran
Ray was on the right wing, the western side of the SCG and
running directly to where I was sitting. I had a perfect view
of what was unfolding.
He had taken the pass near his own 25 yard line and was in
full flight just in Souths half. He had offloaded the first
line of defence and had only souths fullback Eric Simms in
front of him.
He left Eric clutching at fresh air and only had daylight
in front of him.
I thought, yes, under the sticks Ray, under the sticks......we
are going to beat Souths....
Unbelievably Ray continued on his path to the corner. Grant
was chasing him but he had no chance.
Everybody around me was yelling to and pointing to Ray to
go around and plant it under the black dot. All the Shark
players were pointing towards the SCG post. But no, what does
bloody Ray do, he swan dives in the corner. He covered 80
yards to score in the bloody corner.
Needles to say, the conversion was unsuccessful and Souths
got us 16 - 15.
Ray was a brilliant attacking player, he could not tackle
his mother, but Bishop would designate some forward to cover
for Ray in defence. He was too valuable to the team as a strike
weapon to be dropped because of his defence. I believe Ray
was the closest side stepper I had ever seen to the great
Changa Langlands. Ray was up there with Corowa etc etc.
FOOTNOTE. I had the pleasure of meeting with Tommy Bishop
at Emu Park in 1990. I mentioned this game to Tommy and asked
him what was going through his mind when Ray was heading to
the corner. Tommy said he couldn't believe it, but he was
so tempted to hand the ball to Ray and tell him to take the
bloody
conversion attempt himself.
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