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Ben Barba showed some vintage pace to score against the Dragons in Round 2.

The Bulldogs and Raiders displayed great character to get out of jail, the Broncos, Rabbitohs, Sharks and Storm all had comfortable wins, the Eelspset the reigning premiers in Kieran Foran's club debut, but it was a kid on debut who stole the headlines with a fairytale finish.

Nine players were charged by the NRL match review committee.

Here are the major talking points from Round 2 of the NRL Telstra Premiership.

 

 

It was all about Bulldogs youngster Kerrod Holland, a 23-year-old kid from Singleton, who kicked the match-winning conversion after the full-time siren on his NRL debut. It was the stuff dreams are made of. 

"It was always going over, I knew straight away" Holland said in a post-match interview.

"I knew we had it won, as soon as he [Moses Mbye] went over, all the confidence in the world."

The Panthers led for the entire contest with Peter Wallace playing well at dummy-half despite wearing the No.7 jumper, but the Bulldogs refused to give up and a starring performance from Moses Mbye and the ever-reliable James Graham kept them in the contest.

Canterbury snatched victory at the death to hand Penrith their second tight loss in a row to start the season. David Klemmer was charged for making contact with a referee and could miss two matches. 

 

 

The Broncos' defence continues to improve and they have now kept opposition teams to under 20 points in 10 straight games – a club record. 

The Warriors were competitive in the first half, but fell away badly in the second. Shaun Johnson's first run of the game didn't come until the 62nd minute, while Roger Tuivasa-Sheck continues to adapt to his new team.

Corey Oates had another standout performance on the wing for the Broncos while Anthony Milford continues to get better with every game.

Warriors forward Ben Matulino is facing up to four matches on the sideline for a shoulder charge.

 

 

Canberra's Round 1 match-winning forward Shaun Fensom was concussed in the first minute of the game and took no further part in the contest. The Roosters led by 10 points and the Raiders were reduced to 12 men when Joseph Leilua was sin-binned for throwing a punch, yet the Green Machine found a way to win.

A crucial 40/20 kick from English import Josh Hodgson with minutes remaining and a clutch field goal from Sam Williams - filling in for the injured Aidan Sezer - was the difference. 

"I've witnessed a lot of tough wins under challenging moments and adversity, but I haven't seen one tougher than that. We just had so much desire," Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said.

"At one stage they had 17 sets to our six, there is no way we should have won that game. We didn't win that game through ability we won it through our character and desire. Playing out there for 10 minutes with only 12 players on the field was unbelievable."

For the Roosters, Latrell Mitchell switched to fullback where he showed glimpses of the talent which have many pundits labelling him the 'next GI'.

Raiders centre Leilua is facing three matches on the sideline for a dangerous throw and a contrary conduct charge.

 

 

The Rabbitohs raced to a 20-point lead and it was a procession thereafter. Cody Walker and Luke Keary combined seamlessly with Adam Reynolds and John Sutton out for an extended period through injury.

The Rabbitohs were good and the Knights continually let themselves down with simple errors and penalties.

Bryson Goodwin had a day out and Sam Burgess had his best game to date with 149 metres, nine offloads and four tackle breaks. 

 

 

Nathan Peats was injured in the Eels upset victory over the reigning Premiers that doubled as Kieran Foran's first for the club since his high profile move from Manly.

Peats's dislocated elbow could have been a lot worse, but he'll still spend some time on the sidelines.

The Cowboys had a pretty ordinary night out, with simple errors and poor discipline costing them any real chance of victory. 

 

 

The Dragons' experiment with Josh Dugan in the centres again failed to click as the Sharks kept them to a solitary penalty goal - despite having a player spend 10 minutes in the sin bin.

Ben Barba showed glimpses of his best with a handy try, Chad Townsend had a massive performance, while Dugan left the field early with a hamstring injury. 

 

 

The big talking point from AAMI Park was the late scratching of Billy Slater through the same shoulder injury that kept him out a majority of the 2015 NRL season. It is a big concern for the Storm.

Gold Coast kept their more fancied rivals honest for most of the first-half, but two late tries opened the floodgates and the Storm won comfortably with Cam Smith, Blake Green and Cooper Cronk pulling the strings.

 

 

A hat-trick from James Tedesco helped the Wests Tigers to a highly entertaining victory over Manly at Leichhardt Oval to give the Tigers the perfect 2-0 start to the season. The Tigers have scored 70 points from their first two games of the season and are playing a very attractive brand of football. 

Tedesco must surely be well and truly in the sights of NSW coach Laurie Daley, having now scored five tries to start the 2016 NRL Telstra Premiership season. 

It was an improved showing from Manly with Martin Taupau having a massive game against his old club, but there are some worrying defensive lapses that will need to be addressed before they can get their season back on track. 

Curtis Sironen left the field before half-time with a hamstring injury.

 

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