South Sydney Rabbitohs have come from behind to crush the Parramatta Eels 42-24 at ANZ Stadium.
MATCH DETAILS
The Eels off the back of a complete 80-minute performance last round failed to produce the same against Souths. In the first half leading 14-6 until the last stages, the Eels were looking on top and producing an intensity not seen this year. Two late tries in the opening passage to South Sydney then go ahead 16-14, the Bunnies then came out and ran riot down Eels edges scoring four tries. Up by 24 points, the away side finished slow letting in two four-pointers but concealed another win to their streak winning 42-24.
FOUR POINTERS
SEVEN STRAIGHT
Looking out of sorts in their last round fixture without origin stars the Bunnies returned to their amazing form that has the rest of the competition on high alert. Down in the opening parts of the match the Souths team was able to absorb the Eels pressure over the advantage line to lead at the break. The kicking finesse of halfback Adam Reynolds and the crafty decision making of five-eighth Cody Walker terrorised the Eels to lead Rabbitohs to their 7th straight victory for the first time at the club since 1994.
PREMIERSHIP FAVOURITES
Rabbitohs posting 8 tries in their dominant outing flexed their current status as the Premiership favourites for 2018. On a massive streak with no signs of stopping the Bunnies are in a great shot of claiming the minor premiership while having the experience, youth and confidence to make a surprising claim at the title. South Sydney have weathered the earlier harder sides to now have a bye and three bottom 8 sides to play during the next month of footy.
ROBERT UPSETS MILESTONE NIGHT
In a night that was celebrating Michael Jennings 250th NRL game, It was his brother on the opposing side Robert Jennings who stole the show. A clinical display from the entire South Sydney outfit had the side sweeping and damaging Eels right edge all game, Robert on the wing against another siblingย George Jennings was able to collect 4 tries to his name. Perfect scrum set pieces and creating indecisionย had Eels in trouble for the majority of the match and Robert reaping the rewards. George was able to find the try line but unfortunately, Michael could not do so picking up his first loss in a milestone game.
EELS HOT AND COLD
Parramatta had great intent from the kickoff of this fixture, however, the intensity in the way they were playing caught up with the side having them falling away in the second half. Eels had won the physical battle carving the South Sydney middle with their prop forwards and lock Nathan Brown all with damaging runs allowing their halves to set up 3 tries in the opening 24 minutes. When matched in the fight the Eels became undone and conceded two well-manufactured tries off scrums and couldn’t find a way back from there.
THE RESULT
Eels 24
Tries:ย Hoffman (2), G.Jennings, French, Hayne
Goals:ย Gutherson 2/5
Rabbitohs 42
Tries:ย R.Jennings (4), Johnston (2), Hunt, T.Burgess
Goals:ย Reynolds 5/9
SQUADS
Eels:ย 1 Bevan French, 2 Josh Hoffman, 3 Michael Jennings, 4 Jarryd Hayne, 5 George Jennings, 6 Clint Gutherson (c), 7 Corey Norman, 8 Daniel Alvaro, 9 Cameron King, 15 Tim Mannah (c), 11 Manu Ma’u, 12 Brad Takairangi, 13 Nathan Brown
Interchange:ย 14 Reed Mahoney, 10 Peni Terepo, 16 David Gower, 17 Marata Niukore
Rabbitohs:ย 1 Alex Johnston, 19 Hymel Hunt, 3 Greg Inglis (c), 4 Dane Gagai, 5 Robert Jennings, 6 Cody Walker, 7 Adam Reynolds, 8 Thomas Burgess, 9 Damien Cook, 10 George Burgess, 11 John Sutton, 12 Angus Crichton, 13 Sam Burgess
Interchange:ย 14 Adam Doueihi, 15 Cameron Murray, 16 Jason Clark, 17 Tevita Tatola
