NRL match preview: South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Canterbury Bulldogs

Date: Friday 18th March
Venue: ANZ Stadium
Kick-off:4pm

Teams

Rabbitohs: Greg Inglis, Nathan Merritt, Dylan Walker, Kirisome Auva’a, Bryson Goodwin, John Sutton (c), Adam Reynolds, Dave Tyrrell, Apisai Koroisau, Luke Burgess, Kyle Turner, Chris McQueen, Sam Burgess. Interchange: Cameron McInnes, Ben Lowe, Jason Clark, Joe Picker, Joel Reddy, Alex Johnston

Bulldogs: Sam Perrett, Corey Thompson, Josh Morris, Timoteo Lafai, Mitch Brown, Josh Reynolds, Trent Hodkinson, Aiden Tolman, Michael Ennis, James Graham, Josh Jackson, Tony Williams, Dale Finucane. Interchange: Greg Eastwood, Pat O’Hanlon, Tim Browne, David Klemmer, Moses Mbye

Preview

In what looks like a close contest on paper, two of the competition’s form teams of the last couple of seasons face off in what should be a good, Good Friday clash.

The Canterbury Bulldogs would have been tipped  by many as the form team of the competition before last round, however their last ditch effort too beat a struggling Warriors side at Eden Park may have a few questioning their ability to take out the title now.

Still, their form before that in thrashing the Storm and beating the Roosters has the Dogs barking.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs have had a somewhat subdued start to their season, and have been winning ugly the last two weeks, though their efforts to keep Penrith try less on the weekend in atrocious conditions are to be commended.

This game proves an even greater test for the South Sydney side following the suspension of George Burgess and Ben Te’o, with the sides depth in the middle sure to be tested by the monstrous Bulldogs pack who, despite losing Frank Pritchard for four months, will be hard to stop.

And with Adam Reynolds still yet to find his best form for the season, in contrast to a confident Josh Reynolds, a beaten forward pack should lead to a beaten backline and the an end to the Rabbitohs two match winning streak.

Prediction

eg. Bulldogs by 10