Bunnies blow out off-season cobwebs as young guns prove their worth against PNG

South Sydney scored a convincing win over the visiting Papua New Guinea Kumuls at Redfern Oval on Saturday.

Rabbitohs v PNG

South Sydney blew out the off-season cobwebs on Saturday with a convincing win over the visiting Papua New Guinea Kumuls at Redfern Oval.

With star Rabbitohs Greg Inglis, Adam Reynolds and Nathan Peats in Brisbane on All Stars duty and a swag of players being rested – including freshly anointed skipper Michael Crocker – coach Michael Maguire opted to blood youth against the traditionally physical Papua New Guinea side.

Only six regular first graders took the field for the Bunnies, the remainder coming mostly from Souths’ under 20’s team. 

The off-season jitters were evident from both sides early, with Rabbitohs new recruit Bryson Goodwin sailing the kick off over the dead ball line on the full.  Papua New Guinea failed to capitalise from the ensuing penalty, dropping the ball on the first tackle.

Souths struck first in the ninth minute after young halfback Luke Keary threw a short pass to Ben Lowe near the line to open the scoring.

The Kumuls responded within five minutes with a try to halfback Isreal Eliab plucking a perfectly weighted kick from five eighth Dion Aiye to lock the scores at six a piece.

Eliab added to his tally just on quarter time when he intercepted a wayward pass from the Bunnies, running 70m to touch down under the posts for the Kumuls last points of the match.

Tries to Dave Tyrrell, Chris McQueen, Aaron Gray and Bennett Leslie shut the game out for the Rabbitohs before captain and local junior Jason Clark touched down for his second of the day to bring the scores to 38-12.

Strong showings from new recruits Thomas Burgess, and former Bulldog Bryson Goodwin will give coach Michael Maguire a wealth of talent to chose from before the Bunnies open their season on March 7th at Allianz Stadium against the Sydney Roosters.

Local club great Mario Fenech was succinct in his assessment: "This is the start of what will be a really exciting year for us."