The Rabbitohs braved atrocious weather in round 15 to beat the Parramatta Eels 30-10 in an away match at ANZ Stadium for their 12th win of the season.
Despite missing Greg Inglis, Chris McQueen, Ben Te’o, Nathan Merritt and George Burgess, the Rabbitohs put on a controlled wet-weather performance to down the last placed Eels convincingly.
The Eels opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Ken Sio touched down in the corner. Sandow’s attempted conversion hit the upright, leaving the Eels early leader by 4-0.
The Rabbitohs went right back on the attack though, with Dylan Walker pouncing on an Adam Reynolds grubber kick in the in-goal in the 17th minute. Reynolds converted to lead 6-4.
Reynolds was denied a try of his own in the 25th minute after the Rabbitohs halfback sliced through the Parramatta defence from close range, only for the video referee to disallow the try thanks to an obstruction.
A strip on debutant Thomas Burgess close to the line gave the Rabbits a chance to post more points, and the men in red and green delivered, a well weighted kick into the in-goal from Justin Hunt giving Dylan Farrell a four-pointer. Reynolds converted from out wide to stretch the Rabbitohs lead to 12-4 going into the break.
The Rabbitohs came out of the blocks firing in the second half, with the boot of Reynolds again proving the vital cog in the red and green backline – Justin Hunt pouncing on another Reynolds grubber to extend the lead to 18-4.
With Souths looking to score just minutes later the Eels turned defence into attack when a wayward pass on the ten metre line allowed Ken Sio to pick up the ball and sprint 90 metres to touch down in the corner for his second. Sandow converted to bring the blue and gold’s within eight points.
Souths got another good opportunity close to the line after Eels fullback Jake Mullaney spilt a John Sutton bomb. It was Adam Reynolds who capitalised, shrugging off Reni Maitua and Joseph Paulo to touch down just next to the posts. Reynolds converted his own try to extend the score to 24-10 in the Rabbitohs’ favour.
The Rabbitohs capitalised on the momentum with Issac Luke running out of dummy half close to the line before passing on to John Sutton who slammed the ball down over the stripe to extend the red and green lead. Reynolds continued his good day with the boot, making it five from five to finish the game 20 minutes before full-time.
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