The Rabbitohs have got their finals aspirations back on track with a hard-fought 28-6 victory over the Warriors in the wet at Go Media Stadium, Auckland on Friday night.
A double to Alex Johnston and try to NRL debutant Tyrone Munro set up victory for the visitors, who held their nerve to overcome an early deficit and then go on to score 28 unanswered points.
It wasn’t necessarily desperate stages for the Bunnies, who were eighth coming into the match after dropping four of their past five games, but Jason Demetriou’s men had to show some grit after conceding over 30 points in each defeat.
Both sides completed at 100 per cent in the opening quarter of the game despite miserable conditions in New Zealand but it was the Rabbitohs who took control in the final 60 minutes.
The Warriors, on the back of a 6-0 penalty count in their favour early, crossed first on the left edge via Marcelo Montoya in the corner but couldn’t capitalise on further field position as the Rabbitohs got back into the game.
South Sydney got on the scoreboard shortly after in near identical fashion with Johnston finishing off a backline movement out wide.
The Rabbitohs took a 12-6 lead into the break after Damien Cook and Cameron Murray took advantage of Addin Fonua-Blake being sin-binned for a high tackle by combining close to the line.
Cook, who came off the bench in Auckland, sent his NSW teammate over next to the posts in the 38th minute for an unlikely lead given the weight of possession against the visitors in the opening half.
Johnston’s second try eight minutes into the final half stretched the lead out to 10 points before Munro finished off a Lachlan Ilias kick with 14 minutes left to seal victory.
The 18-year-old produced a try-assist to finish the match, sending fullback Blake Taaffe over the line with a kick downfield in an impressive piece of play.
It was a disappointing evening for the Warriors on home turf with Andrew Webster’s side struggling with their completion rates the longer the match went on after a positive start.
Fonua-Blake’s 10-minute spell in the bin proved costly with tries to the Rabbitohs on either side of half-time in the conditions making it too great a mountain to climb for Webster’s men.
Source:NRL.Com