Match Details
Match Date	29th Apr, 2017
Opponent	Canberra
Result	Win 16-10
Coach	Des Hasler
Captain	James Graham
Venue	Homebush (ANZ Stadium)
Crowd	13,390
Referee	Henry Perenara Chris James

Departing Bulldog Josh Reynolds is facing a lengthy stint on the sidelines in his final season at Canterbury after suffering a potentially serious hamstring injury in Saturday’s gutsy win over Canberra.

The inspirational five-eighth, who will leave the club at the end of the season to join Wests Tigers, came from the field late in the first half clutching at the back of his right leg.

He joined captain James Graham on the sideline, who had been ruled out of the game after failing a head injury assessment after a concussion suffered in the 14th minute. Yet Canterbury rallied in a courageous second 40 minutes, overturning a six-point deficit to notch a fifth win of the season and leapfrog the Canberra Raiders into the top eight.

Coach Des Hasler will likely learn Reynolds’ fate on Sunday.

‘‘For Josh to leave the field it would’ve had to be pretty serious,’’ Hasler said. ‘‘That’ll be assessed by the docs though, it’ll be somewhere between a grade one and a grade three. Both sides were fairly wounded, it was a pretty tough game. Obviously we lost a couple early.

‘‘I was really proud of the way the boys stepped up, none more so than this man beside me [Aiden Tolman] who played 80 minutes. He was inspirational for the boys.’’

The win caps an emotional week for the club after learning Reynolds had opted to join the Tigers, squeezed out of Belmore to make room for Aaron Woods who will go the other way, and potentially Kieran Foran who has been linked with a move to be reunited with Hasler.

Tolman said losing Reynolds was a massive disappointment.

‘‘James Graham summed it up throughout the week – he’s [Reynolds] a passionate player, he’s an inspirational player,’’ Tolman said.

‘‘He’s Canterbury-Bankstown born and bred. It is going to be disappointing him leaving next year, what better way to send him out if we keep performing like that every week.

‘‘He’s going to be a big loss for us, but that’s 2018. All we can control now is moving forward in this season. What better way to perform than for him,’’ Tolman said.

Reynolds had started the game strongly, showing all of the competitiveness and determination Tigers fans can look forward to next season.

He spun the ball out left just five minutes in to help set up the first of Adam Elliott’s two tries, then made a big play in defence moments later, cutting down a rampaging Josh Papalii 10 metres out from the line.

Papalii had his own point to prove here. Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga this week cut him from his team to play New Zealand next Friday in Canberra, after Papalii pleaded guilty to a drink-driving charge.

Meninga would’ve been watching closely to see how well Shannon Boyd fared, Papalii’s replacement. But Boyd suffered a lower leg injury in the first half and could well be forced to join Papalii in the stands.

Source: The Sun Herald

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