Match Details
Match Date	15th May, 2016
Opponent	Wests Tigers
Result	Win 36-4
Coach	Des Hasler
Captain	James Graham
Venue	Homebush (ANZ Stadium)
Crowd	20,936
Referee	Grant Atkins Alan Shortall

The look on Josh Reynolds’ face said it all, waving frantically at medical staff to rush to attend to his NSW State of Origin roommate and reaching urgently to try and remove his mouthguard.

Fortunately, the early prognosis on Robbie Farah was on Sunday night positive as Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor said the hooker had been in good spirits as he was taken to hospital for precautionary scans on his neck.

That was a huge relief to all including Reynolds, who admitted he had been terrified about the state of Farah after the frightening incident in which the hooker’s head collected his hip, leading to a stoppage of nearly 10 minutes while the NSW No.9 was treated on the field before being escorted from ANZ Stadium by a medicab.

Farah’s father, Peter, had rushed down from his seat in the stands to be by his son’s side in the bowels of the venue while he received further treatment there.

‘‘Truthfully, I was very scared. It’s not too often you are scared like that," Reynolds said.

‘‘I was standing over the top of him and his lip was twittering.’’ Farah’s head had collided awkwardly with the hip of Reynolds as he rushed at the Canterbury five-eighth, who was shaping to kick, midway through the first half. He then landed heavily on the back of his head on the ground.

Reynolds appeared to then trip and fall on Farah before immediately realising the seriousness of the situation. There had been some elements of the crowd claiming he had deliberately dropped on the Tigers veteran and they chanted ‘‘off, off, off’’, but replays and the Canterbury player’s reaction indicated it was nothing more than an accident.

‘‘The fans have no idea what is going on out here,’’ Reynolds said. ‘‘As if I would do that - he is my mate. It was very scary and I pray he is all right. I heard at half-time he was OK, so fingers crossed.’’

Reynolds managed to shake off the shock of the incident to play a key role in the Bulldogs’ 36-4 thumping of the Tigers.

‘‘A year ago I would have been out of the game 100 per cent. But I have been working on my mind stuff and I feel I was back in the game. Not fully, but I feel I was back,’’ he said.

‘‘One of his mates that I know, a mutual friend, said [at half-time] he was OK. I said to give him my best. Like I said it was a scary time. I didn’t really know what to do. You never want to see that for anyone, not even your mate. It was scary.’’

If Farah is cleared of any serious injury he and Reynolds could both be named in Laurie Daley’s NSW squad next Monday for the first match of the interstate series. They are known to be close, having been roommates in previous campaigns and during the past week the pair, along with Canterbury forward David Klemmer and Tigers captain Aaron Woods, had caught up for coffee in Belmore.

There was also concern from another representative teammate, Josh Morris, who scored one of seven Bulldogs tries on Sunday.

‘‘Robbie is a really good mate of mine,’’ Morris said. ‘‘He’s coming to my engagement party, he’s going to be at my wedding. He’ll be on my buck’s party. I really hope that he’s OK and I’ll make sure that I send him a text as soon as possible.’’

Taylor said he had been told by club doctor Peter Lorentzos that the Farah was ‘‘OK’’.

‘‘He had a bit of pain in his neck, which is why he’s gone to hospital but the doctor says it’s just precautionary,’’ Taylor said.

‘‘He was in good spirits when he left so we’re confident he’ll be fine. ‘‘It was pretty clear that it was serious and we’re all concerned about him but as I said it’s precautionary. We don’t know 100 per cent one way or the other but [the doctor] is confident he’ll be fine.’’

Woods agreed the sight of an unmoved Farah had been confronting but refused to blame it for the Tigers’ performance.

‘‘The poor bloke was pretty severely hurt.

‘‘I didn’t watch the replay, but I really felt sorry for Robbie when he was sitting on the ground,’’ Woods said. ‘‘But we’ve got to be better than that.’’

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

LINE UP