NRL 2021: Penrith Panthers win 25-12 over South Sydney Rabbitohs | Match Report
After succumbing to a Nathan Cleary masterclass, the situation has become even more dire for the Rabbitohs with a gun backrower now needing to beat a crusher charge.
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South Sydney back-rower Keaon Koloamatangi could be rubbed out of the rest of the regular season after being charged with a grade one crusher tackle.
The in-form Rabbitoh will miss two games with an early guilty plea or three if he fights the charge and losses. He will need to beat the crusher charge if he is to play again before the finals for his tackle on Penrith’s Brent Naden.
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Naden’s teammate Scott Sorenson will be free to play after being fined for a dangerous contact tackle on Cameron Murray.
Manly’s Tevita Funa’s return to the top grade has been soured with a grade one shoulder charge.
He will miss two games for the tackle on Elliott Whitehead.
Cleary magic delivers psychological blow to Bunnies
Nathan Cleary tormented an ill-disciplined Rabbitohs with a shower of towering torpedoes to give the Panthers a mental edge over their likely first-up semi-final opponents
Cleary’s kicking game and cool head was the difference in Penrith’s 25-12 win with Isaah Yeo leading a physical return of serve after the Rabbitohs dominated early.
The blockbuster clash proved beyond doubt that the Rabbitohs are a vastly improved side from the one the Panthers towelled up 56-12 in round 11, but if Souths are to be a finals force they must fix up their discipline. The penalty count was 11-2 in Penrith’s favour.
“We are the number one ranked team this year for least penalties against us so it is not something we do, but we did tonight,” Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett said.
“We had a bad night with it and have to live with it.
“There were lots of good things we did. It was a lot better than Dubbo, so we have come that far. There’s just a couple of things for us to fix up.”
Bennett said before the game that he didn’t have anything up his sleeve for the blockbuster clash. He didn’t need to, because the trump cards were already in his hand.
The four aces spine of Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, Adam Reynolds and Damien Cook all turned it on early to give the Rabbitohs a 12-0 lead.
Cook was dynamite through the middle, Walker set up Dane Gagai for the opening try, Mitchell got on the end of a corking Keaon Koloamatangi flick and Reynolds’ kicking game was imperious.
Souths then opened the door for Penrith with poor discipline and Paul Momirovski conjured up two stunning infield kicks for tries to Cleary and Stephen Crichton and reduce the margin to two points at the break.
CLEARY RULES
Cleary, who has not lost a game of football this year, turned the screws after halftime with his kicking game - in general play and with two penalty goals - and when Mansour dropped a towering Cleary bomb the Panthers nailed their chance with Naden going over. Cleary iced it with a cool field goal. Mitchell and Mansour will be having nightmares about Cleary’s high kicks, which they let bounce too often. When the game was there to be won it was Cleary and not Walker who stepped up.
“That is what [Nathan] does and why he is so important to the team,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said.
“We got a lot of results out of his kicks in that second half particularly. You always try and test the opposition back three and once [Mansour] looked a bit shaky we kept going there.”
PANTHERS PRIMED
Last year the Panthers got on a roll and won 17 games in a row but peaked one game too early. This season they plateaued after the Origin period when injuries also hit hard, but now they have recalibrated with Cleary back on deck and can launch a short and sharp assault on the premiership. With X-factor Tevita Pangai impressing on his debut and James Fisher-Harris to come back next week it is only up from here for Penrith.
“The main objective tonight was to continue on an upward trajectory and we definitely did that against a good team,” Cleary said.
“There is definitely improvement in us. From a character point of view, it was really good tonight.”
Cleary said Dylan Edwards, who failed an HIA in the first half, was “pretty good” after the game.
ADAM’S APPLE
South Sydney need to make the most of the Reynolds era. The little maestro had the ball on a string.
Reynolds cleared Brent Naden by one millimetre and landed it inside the sideline by the same margin with a majestic three iron of a 40/20 kick in the first half that led to a try.
“Probably the best 40/20 kick I have ever seen,” Michael Ennis said in Fox League commentary.
So long as Reynolds is guiding the ship the Rabbitohs faithful will believe a premiership is attainable this year.
WHY RABBITOHS ENDING A 847-DAY NIGHTMARE IS SO CRUCIAL
—Paul Crawley
It’s the psychological barrier that South Sydney needs to smash down in Friday night’s blockbuster against Penrith.
While everyone seems to be jumping on the Rabbitohs’ bandwagon on the back of their run of 10 straight wins, there is also a huge roadblock that they just can’t seem to get over.
It has now been 847 days since Souths last beat either of the teams most experts rate as the top contenders for this year’s NRL title, the Melbourne Storm or the Panthers.
But this is also why Fox League expert Braith Anasta reckons Friday night’s showdown against the Panthers is so vital to Souths’ premiership aspirations.
Especially with only three games of the regular season remaining, and the teams currently placed second and third on the ladder likely to again meet in week one of the finals.
“This game is huge and I am thinking this is Souths’ best chance to turn that record on its head,” Anasta said.
“I think Souths would have really prepped hard for this and I think Wayne (Bennett) has got them exactly where he wants them.”
But the recent run against both teams has been anything but memorable.
The Bunnies last win against the Panthers was in round seven in 2019, which was played on April 26.
Since then the Panthers have scored four straight wins, the most recent a humiliating 56-12 thumping in round 11 this year.
Meanwhile, the Storm’s winning run is even more imposing, going all the way back to round 21 in 2018.
And the Storm also smashed Souths 50-0 in their most recent encounter this year in round nine.
But while the rugby league history books show that no team has ever recovered from a 50 point loss to win the comp in the same season, Anasta believes the Rabbitohs have shown enough improvement to suggest they are ready to make a “statement”.
“You can’t just rock up to the finals and hope after having such a terrible record and not being able to do it for a long period of time that it will change,” Anasta continued.
“And if they don’t do it now when they are playing so well then they have got to start second guessing themselves heading into the finals, which they don’t want.”
Bennett certainly did his best to play down the importance of the game at his pre-match media conference, making light of questions relating to any psychological scars.
Asked if he thought his players were feeling the pressure, he responded lightheartedly: “Well, they all came to training this morning. They were happy to be there.”
And when told Ivan Cleary had suggested his team might hold back a few tricks in the likelihood they do play again in the finals, Bennett was adamant: “Look, Ivan coaches Penrith the way he wants to coach them and I coach the way I coach.
“So if that’s what he wants to do, if that’s what he is talking about doing, that’s fine. It’s not what we’re doing.
“We have been battling to get ourselves back on track after they beat us so comprehensively.
“So we haven’t thought so much about the trick shots or smart plays.
“We have just tried to get back to the basics and do them well. That’s what we are trying to do.”
But Anasta has no doubt Souths won’t want to let this opportunity slip.
“It happens throughout your career at different clubs where there is a side you love to play against and there is sides that you just don’t,” Anasta said.
“And sometimes you can’t put your finger on why.
“But psychologically and in terms of confidence it is massive.
“Because you try and go into the game trying to avoid that negativity but it is just there.
“If I remember correctly (the last time they played) Souths started horribly in that game and their starts have got heaps better.
“Up until that game they had struggled with their starts and especially against the good teams.
“And Wayne was big on that.
“The key to Souths really is the first 10 minutes of this game.
“It is just so important because they have missed the jump every time they have played these top teams and they just can’t catch up.
“I think we will know in the first 10 minutes how the game will go.”
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