South Sydney Rabbitohs continue good form to spoil Old Boys day for Newcastle Knights

NEWCASTLE have a proud tradition of winning in front of their Old Boys but it wasn’t to be this time around, with the Rabbitohs continuing their resurgent form.

Rabbitohs star Greg Inglis celebrates a try with Rabbitohs teammates.

AN Adam Reynolds kicking masterclass and Greg Inglis at his best proved too much for the Newcastle Knights at Hunter Stadium.

South Sydney’s late season revival continued with a commanding 34-12 win with Reynolds and Inglis having a big hand in the victory.

Winger Alex Johnson continued his remarkable scoring strike-rate against the Knights, scoring a double to make it eight tries in just four games against Newcastle.

The Knights had hoped to give retiring co-captain Jeremy Smith a win in his final game at home but while they showed plenty of resolve in defence at times, they just could not match Souths’ class across the paddock.

Jacob Saifiti looks dejected while the Rabbitohs celebrate a try.

The defeat was their 17th in succession.

The Bunnies didn’t have it all their own way in the opening 40 minutes but still led 16-0 at the break.

Reynolds was instrumental in all three first half tries with the first coming for Greg Inglis after nine minutes.

Adam Reynolds was instrumental for the Bunnies.

After forcing two goal line restarts from the Knights, the pressure eventually told with Inglis brilliantly getting the ball down just inside the deadball line after a Reynolds grubber was mishandled by Knights winger Corey Denniss.

Given it was Old Boys day, it wasn’t surprising the Knights showed plenty of early resolve defensively and had a couple of good chances themselves only to come up with errors at crucial stages.

After one of those mistakes close to the Souths tryline, the Bunnies counterattacked and with Reynolds and Inglis again involved, Alex Johnson crossed without a hand laid on him for a 10-0 lead after 29 minutes.

Thomas Burgess takes on the Knights defence.

Souths hooker Damien Cook butchered a try after dropping an Inglis pass with the line open soon after but the let-off for the Knights was short-lived.

Right on halftime, Reynolds brilliantly laid on his side’s third for Cody Walker with a perfectly-executed banana kick that completely fooled the Knights defence.

The Bunnies maintained the rage early in the second half when Aaron Gray brushed past a couple of defenders to score for a 22-0 lead.

But the Knights managed to stem the tide a little when debutant Dylan Phythian got the home side on the board when he forced his way over from close range for his first NRL try.

But Souths weren’t done with.

Big Sam Burgess put his side 28-6 up with a close-range effort before Reynolds laid on another for Johnson to score his second.

SOUTH SYDNEY 34 (A Johnston 2 S Burgess A Gray G Inglis C Walker tries A Reynolds 5 goals) NEWCASTLE 12 (J Mamo D Phythian tries T Hodkinson J Smith goals) at Hunter Stadium. Referee: Henry Perenara, Jon Stone. Crowd: 15,212

Originally published as South Sydney Rabbitohs continue good form to spoil Old Boys day for Newcastle Knights