South Sydney kept their top-eight hopes alive after a 42-28 win over Wests Tigers in a wild and windy affair at Industree Group Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The blustering conditions caused havoc for kickers all day in Gosford as supporters shivered through single-digit temperatures when accounting for wind chill on the Central Coast. Multiple lead changes kept things interesting for the neutral but Wests’ ill-discipline and poor defence again proved costly as the Bunnies rebounded from last round’s defeat to the Dolphins.
Wests’ effort was there to see but what must frustrate fans to no end is continued defensive lapses, conceding soft tries – with seven overall – and another sin-binning, Aidan Sezer the guilty party on this occasion.
Missing Latrell Mitchell’s talents with the boot, Rabbitohs coach Ben Hornby delegated conversion duties to St George Illawarra-bound Damien Cook with the South Sydney No.9 successful with six of seven conversion attempts and adding a penalty goal for an 88 per cent success rate in his 200th appearance for the club.
In the end the goal kicking may not have made the difference in this game but considering Taane Milne and Cody Walker’s troubles with the boot it gives Hornby a reliable option for the Bunnies’ finals charge.
Bunnies too good in wild Gosford shootout
Davvy Moale scored the first try of the afternoon, taking advantage of some soft Tigers defence close to the line to crash over. It was not a great sign for Marshall’s side after conceding over 50 points to the Sharks last Friday.
In his first conversion attempt stand-in goal kicker Damien Cook was unsuccessful with Latrell Mitchell’s season over and Cody Walker and Taane Milne struggling with their kicking in the defeat to the Dolphins.
Walker stretched the Bunnies’ lead after Milne’s grubber took a deflection and the Rabbitohs captain was quickest to react with Cook adding the two points with his first conversion.
The blustering wind was playing havoc with kicks and Adam Doueihi was another victim after sending the resulting kick-off over the dead-ball line, giving Souths another prime opportunity but they could not capitalise.
Wests hit back in the 16th minute through Lachie Galvin who finished off Tallyn Da Silva’s excellent burst from dummy-half.
Cody Walker is tackled. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
Da Silva then added a four-pointer of his own, capitalising on Jahream Bulla’s lightning quick play the ball to crash over from close range as Aidan Sezer converted to give the Tigers their first lead.
Alex Johnston was next to score, restoring Souths’ lead with an easy finish after Milne fooled the defence and lobbed an unconventional one-handed pass to his winger.
Milne and Johnston combined again following consecutive set restarts conceded by Wests with Cook converting to improve his success rate to 75 per cent with the boot.
Instead of just playing out the first half the Tigers chanced their arm, breaking the Rabbitohs line and Bulla finished it all off to cut the South Sydney lead to six points at half-time.
The momentum would continue into the second stanza with Charlie Staines’ acrobatic finish getting Wests within two points.
The rollercoaster rolled on as Sione Fainu pounced on a loose ball and bulldozed his way past the South Sydney defence in the 54th minute to restore the visitors’ lead once more.
The Rabbitohs capitalise off a costly error from the Tigers…
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Souths would soon be back in front however after a nightmare moment for Luke Laulilii. The youngster dropped Bulla’s pass cold and Cook pounced to set up Walker’s second and Souths’ fifth try of the day.
Peter Mamouzelos’ second career try would prove pivotal, the 23-year-old burrowing over through the front door to stretch the Bunnies’ lead again.
Sezer’s sin-binning with 12 minutes to go would prove the death knell for Wests with Jye Gray going over soon after to ensure the two competition points would go back to Redfern.
David Shilovskyhttps://https://ift.tt/c5QojK0 Rabbitohs keep finals flame flickering with wild and windy win over Wests
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