NRL 2021: South Sydney beat Manly Sea Eagles 26-12, sin bins, scuffles and Hollywood dives

A last-minute scuffle that escalated to the brink of a brawl between Souths and Manly was placed on report in a crazy clash at Brookvale Oval.

Dane Gagai was involved in a last-minute scuffle with Kieran Foran. Picture: Getty Images. Picture: Getty Images

Adam Reynolds needed just 40 minutes to prove he deserves the long-term extension he so desperately craves after his trusty right boot guided the Rabbitohs to a 26-12 win over the Sea Eagles to heap more misery on Des Hasler’s side.

Reynolds missed most of the second half after he failed an HIA having been collected high by Sean Keppie in the first set of six after the break, but his performance before that showed just how important he is to the side.

Sydney had copped more than 80mm of rain by the time a ball was kicked at a sodden Lottoland, playing right into the hands of a man who prides himself on booting teams into submission.

He terrorised Sea Eagles fullback Dylan Walker with his arsenal of kicks and scored a try when he pounced on a deflected grubber in the first half to send a gentle reminder to the club’s powerbrokers to add another year to his deal.

Reynolds will have to pass protocols if he wants to face the Roosters on Friday, but Wayne Bennett is confident his chief playmaker will be right to play.

“He’s okay. He’ll play next week,” the master coach said.

“He played well, but he had a lot of mates who played well for us.

“He’s played over 200 games so he’s played in all kinds of conditions.”

The 3218 fans who turned up to see if their team could bounce back from last week’s woeful effort against the Roosters would have been encouraged by the effort, but they need more from their stars if they want to be competitive.

Cherry-Evans had a rare shocker as he kicked out on the full, threw a slew of sloppy passes and was pinned for trying to milk a penalty in the ruck.

“There were parts of the game where we competed well, but there are clutch moments where we’ve got to be better than what we currently are,” Des Hasler said.

“The two points were there and we didn’t go on for it.”

The Rabbitohs have a nervous wait ahead of next week’s blockbuster clash with the Roosters after Jaydn Su’A was sent to the sin bin with one second remaining after charging into a melee, with the entire incident placed on report.

Run Rabbit Run

Damien Cook was slammed for his Round 1 performance, when he had just two runs for 19 metres in the loss to Melbourne, but he was back to his brilliant best against the Sea Eagles.

Cook used his speed to slice through the defence from 30 metres out and looked to have scored a stunning solo try, only to be denied by Walker.

The representative star then darted over to seal the result with 16 minutes to go, not long after he chased down Jason Saab to save a try at the other end.

“I thought he was pretty good,” Wayne Bennett said after his dummy-half was criticised during the week.

“We don’t have a plan for him to run, it’s what opportunities are available to him. It’s about the moment and the opportunity, and that’s what he has to balance.

“He’s a wonderful competitor.”

Walker’s off

Tom Trbojevic can’t come back soon enough. His replacement, Dylan Walker, is a fine player, but he’s not a fullback. He was found out time and time again on Saturday in conditions that exposed even the slightest deficiencies.

He put down a bomb and was belted for his troubles, fumbled a ball when he went to dummy-half, and inexplicably let a Reynolds clearing kick go out for a 40/20, resulting in a South Sydney try with the final play of the first half.

Walker simply doesn’t have the weapons that Trbojevic possesses, and Manly fans will be praying that their talismanic No.1 is back on the paddock sooner rather than later.

“It was a tough day for any fullback. We’ve got to keep looking at that, but we also might need to reshuffle some players,” Hasler said.

Fingers crossed

Everyone was rooting for Andrew Davey when he made his debut at the ripe-old age of 28 last year. Now they have their fingers crossed after the Sea Eagles recruit was helped off by trainers with suspected ligament damage in his left knee.

There are fears Davey may have suffered a dreaded ACL injury after he was left writhing in pain following an awkward tackle by Cameron Murray in the fourth minute.