South Sydney continued their domination over arch rivals Sydney Roosters at Accor Stadium on Friday night.
MATCHDAY RESULTS
SCOREBOARD
Rabbitohs 28
Tries: Cameron Murray (8), Alex Johnston (20), Cody Walker (44), Keaon Koloamatangi (63), Latrell Mitchell (66)
Goals: Latrell Mitchell 4 (8, 21, 44, 63)
Roosters 16
Tries: James Tedesco (24), Joseph Manu (41), Daniel Tupou (71)
Goals: Sam Walker 2 (24, 71)
MATCH REPORT
Embed from Getty Images1st Half
South Sydney went into their clash with the Sydney Roosters looking for their first win of the season and fourth consecutive win over their traditional rivals.
It was a half dominated by the Rabbitohs which scooted out to a 12-0 lead, before James Tedesco closed the gap sixteen minutes before half-time to 12-6.
It wasn’t long into the contest before Joseph Manu and Latrell Mitchell came face-to-face with their first confrontation of the night being on the South Sydney fullback’s kick return.
South Sydney crossed within the first ten minutes when Cameron Murray strolled through a clumsy Victor Radley tackle to score.
The Roosters high turnover rate within the first twenty minutes came to a head with Manu’s twenty metre restart ending in disaster after he offloaded to James Tedesco who failed to find Billy Smith. Murray swooped on the ball and found Alex Johnston on his outside to extend the home sides lead.
Finally, the Roosters found their groove in attack which saw the New South Wales skipper cross after being involved in the lead-up along with Luke Keary and Manu.
While South Sydney dominated the opening forty minutes, the Roosters were putting up a good fight, far from out of the contest.
HALF-TIME: South Sydney Rabbitohs 12 Sydney Roosters 6
Embed from Getty Images2nd Half
Within a blink of the eye the Roosters capitalised on a mistake by Thomas Burgess from the opening hit-up.
From the next play Keary found Manu who stepped his way through the Rabbitohs defence to cross for the Roosters second try. Sam Walker failed to level scores after a horrible conversion attempt from near the posts.
It wasn’t too long until South Sydney took back control of the match and Cody Walker started to make an impact. Murray once again broke free of a Roosters tackle before finding Walker on the inside to score.
South Sydney was denied twice by the video ref through Mitchell where Johnston failed to get a boot to a loose possession before Keaon Koloamatangi dropped the ball over the line on the hour mark.
Koloamatangi wouldn’t be denied four minutes later after steaming onto Damien Cook’s dummy half pass, coming from an error by rookie Rooster Billy Smith. South Sydney was well on top at 24-10 with 15 minutes to play.
Their lead was extended after a final tackle turnover by the Roosters saw the Rabbitohs counterattack, with Johnston finding Mitchell on his inside who ran sixty metres to score.
With eight minutes to play the Roosters scored through Daniel Tupou after Paul Momirovski beat Campbell Graham to set-up the try.
The Rabbitohs win was the first for Jason Demetriou in his coaching career and a boost for the side ahead of their grand final replay with Penrith Panthers next weekend.
The Roosters have work to eliminate their error rate ahead of their trip to Townsville to face the Cowboys on Saturday week.
FULL-TIME: South Sydney Rabbitohs 28 Sydney Roosters 16
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 pts – Cameron Murray (Rabbitohs), 2 pts – Cody Walker (Rabbitohs), 1 pt – James Tedesco (Roosters)
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