He’s well known for his knack of scoring them, but Ben Barba’s ability to stop tries is proving just as pivotal to Canterbury’s climb up the NRL ladder.
The Bulldogs jumped into the top four courtesy of a 23-18 win over South Sydney on Saturday night, the victory ending the Rabbitohs’ four-game winning streak and giving Canterbury a boost heading into next week’s bye.
Barba’s ninth try from 13 games in 2012 capped a three-try burst in the space of eight minutes which turned the game late in the first half, but it was his defensive effort just before fulltime that proved the match-winner.
With the Bulldogs clinging to a one-point lead after Krisnan Inu’s field goal, Barba chased down a runaway Dylan Farrell, dragging the Rabbitoh’s legs into touch just moments before he got the ball down over the line.
“I was going to try and hold him up and put him into touch – I was appealing to the ref that I held him up, I didn’t see him go into touch,” Barba told AAP.
“I saw the boys jump up and thought I’d held him up but I had a look at the replay and saw that he’d gone into touch.
“I’m just happy I got there and I did that for the team and we got there for the win.”
Bulldogs coach Des Hasler lauded the play.
“It was special and that’s a big part of his game that he’s worked on and improved,” Hasler said.
“It was a real intelligent play from Benny, and one that we needed.”
Barba admitted that he had made defence a focus since Hasler’s arrival at the club ahead of this year’s campaign.
“It’s come to a point where Dessie’s said to me ‘saving tries is more important than scoring them’,” Barba said.
“I’ve really taken to that approach and try to stop more than I score. I’m just happy when it comes off.”
And so are the Bulldogs, who are sitting pretty at the halfway mark of the competition.
“We jumped a few teams (with the win),” Barba said.
“We said it was a four-point game with the bye next week and I’m just happy the boys stood up.”