South Sydney continue their premiership push with ninth straight win following 24-6 belting of Canterbury
SOUTH Sydney took a while to hit their straps but when the dust settled they were left with a 24-6 victory over the Bulldogs and a ninth straight win.
Rabbitohs
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rabbitohs. Followed categories will be added to My News.
HISTORY has shown us that when South Sydney win nine-straight games, they usually go on to win the premiership.
In fact, they’ve achieved the feat of nine on the trot seven times in their 110-year history and have gone on to be crowed premiers on six of those occasions.
The exemption being in 1989 when they won 12 straight, but lost to the eventual premiers, Canberra, in the preliminary final.
After beating Canterbury 24-6 in front of 14,278 people at ANZ Stadium, the current crop of Rabbitohs now sit at nine-straight victories and are genuine premiership threats.
RETURN: Pearce inspires Newcastle to victory
COMEBACK: Moylan taunts Penrith faithful
The 18-point triumph gives the Rabbitohs an outright lead at the top of the ladder, however St George Illawarra can rejoin them with a win against the Wests Tigers on Sunday.
Rabbitohs winger Robert Jennings bagged his third career hat-trick to jump Warrior David Fusitu’a as the NRL’s leading tryscorer. Jennings has now bagged 16 four-pointers from just 15 games.
His third try of the afternoon sealed the result for the Bunnies when he latched onto a Cody Walker pass to score in the corner.
The Rabbitohs have put themselves in the best position to claim their first title in four years, but coach Anthony Seibold isn’t getting too excited yet.
“I’m a pretty low-key sort of person so I’m not going to get too excited about it,” Seibold said after the win.
“I’m really pleased with the group — of course I am. It’s obviously very pleasing; I’m not going to lie about that. But we need to have a next job mentality. Winning a game in the NRL is really tough, but I’m really proud of the guys that have applied themselves so far.
“We understand the next challenge in the next challenge. As long as the guys in the group are consistent, that’s all I’m looking for as a coach. I expect the staff to be consistent, I expect the players to be consistent.”
All three State of Origin players — Damien Cook, Dane Gagai and Angus Crichton — backed up for the Rabbitohs. Cook continued his impressive run of form as he topped the tackle count with 45, as well as sparking his team in attack.
The NSW No. 9 was involved in a contender for team try of the year. The 70-metre effort started when Cook took off with pace from dummy-half before linking up with Crichton and Cody Walker, who gave it off to Adam Reynolds for a stunning four-pointer.
“I was really proud of all three of the boys backing up, but in particular ‘Cooky’,” Seibold said.
“I thought he was outstanding this afternoon. I was really pleased with how he applied himself today. He’s a competitor.”
The Bulldogs fought hard but didn’t have enough strike to match in with the Bunnies, as they slumped to their sixth loss from the past seven games.
They had a chance to close the gap to six points with 15 minutes remaining but the Bunker denied Aiden Tolman of his first try of the season, deeming the prop had knocked on before crossing.
“For the amount of effort the boys put in today, Souths took their opportunities and we missed out on ours. I thought that was the difference in the game,” Dean Pay said.
“That’s where we’re at; we can’t take a trick at the moment. I’m really proud of the boys with their efforts and how they keep turning up for one another.
“Our effort has been fantastic but we can’t nail our opportunities when they are arising.”
The afternoon belonged to the Rabbitohs though, as they did enough to remain at the top of the ladder.
SOUTH SYDNEY 24 (R Jennings 3 A Reynolds tries A Reynolds 4 goals) bt CANTERBURY 6 (R Smith try R Martin goal) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Peter Gough. Crowd: 14,278