Match Details
Match Date	23rd Apr, 2011
Opponent	South Sydney
Result	Win 36-24
Coach	Kevin Moore
Captain	Andrew Ryan
Venue	Homebush (ANZ Stadium)
Crowd	22,352
Referee	Ben Cummins Tony De Las Heras

Ben Barba has capped a memorable 24 hours in the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 36-24 victory over South Sydney, scoring two tries 14 hours after his partner gave birth to the couple's second child.

The young fullback left hospital at 6am this morning after the birth of baby Bronte a younger sister for Bodhi and turned in a player's player winning display against the Rabbitohs on just four hours sleep.

Barba was the star of an all-round complete performance from the Bulldogs, who crossed seven times in total to record their fifth win of 2011. He raced to the head of the NRL try scorers list, touching down for the seventh and eighth time this season and also for the 100th time in his all-grades career at the Bulldogs.

In a match full of headlines, the Bulldogs fought their way back from an early six-nil deficit and they did it with 16 men after interchange forward Michael Hodgson lasted a matter of minutes before succumbing to a fainting episode.

The prop was fully assessed after leaving the field and will undergo tests this week on a suspected inner-ear problem.

On the plus side for the Bulldogs New Zealand international Greg Eastwood made a successful comeback from injury, while on the down side Souths lost English spearhead Sam Burgess to what appeared to be a dislocated ankle midway through the second half.

With the Bulldogs leading by just two points at the time following a Souths fight back the injury would ultimately prove a turning point, Aidan Tolman scoring on the following set to re-establish a lead from which the home side was never headed.

But the star of the show was undoubtedly Barba, who scored in both halves and was ultimately unlucky not to pick up a second successive hat trick after having a 90 metre effort turned down for a knock on in front of the Bulldogs posts.

The Bulldogs gave up the early advantage after Souths put their kick off to start the match out on the full, with Dave Taylor bullocking his way over for the opening try of the game after just six minutes.

Chris Sandow's conversion gave the visitors an early six point buffer.

The Dogs took 12 minutes to get themselves into the contest, Trent Hodkinson doing it all himself before reaching out to plant the ball on the line for a two point deficit at 6-4.

Steve Turner proved the catalyst for Barba's first try, spotting a gap the fleet footed winger broke from dummy half before putting his fullback away for an unhindered run to the line.

Barba's joy was plain to see after the touchdown, the fullback sucking his thumb in honour of the birth of Baby Bronte.

The new arrival theme continued in a different sense soon after when Grant Millington crossed for his first try for the Club in just his second NRL appearance since joining in the off season.

Bryson Goodwin converted to make it 14-6 the Bulldogs way.

Then Hodkinson slipped a beautiful inside ball to put Barba away on the stroke of half time, and with one man to beat the fullback found Michael Ennis who scooted away to score for a 20-6 half time lead.

Barba continued his rich vein of form after the resumption when he swooped on a loose ball and raced 90 metres to score under the posts, only to be called back after the slightest of knock-ons was detected in the tackle.

From there was in effect a 12 point turnaround as Sandow capitalised on back to back sets to score and convert Souths second try, reducing what could have been a 26-6 lead instead to 20-12 with 25 left to play.

Momentum was firmly with the Rabbitohs and it showed on the hour when they went in again, Chris McQueen touching down off what looked like a forward pass to narrow the deficit to two points at 20-18.

With Burgess helped from the field with an ankle injury the Dogs got field position and they made it count, with a Barba break followed up one play later by Tolman's four pointer.

Goodwin's conversion extended the lead out to eight points once more at 26-18.

Further tries to Turner and Barba made it 36-18 and the result was far beyond doubt.

Souths made it a little more respectable on full time when Nathan Merritt scored but by that point the result was way out of reach as the Bulldogs went to five and two for the season.

Source: AAP

LINE UP