The South Sydney Rabbitohs Under 20s have gone down to the Wests Tigers by 46-0 at ANZ Stadium.
The Tigers burst out of the blocks from the kick-off by charging up over the 40 metre line on the very first tackle, and with a penalty to the visitors coming mere moments later, the stage was set for their first try – Luke Sharpe pouncing on a grubber in-goal to take an early lead. Thomas Bartley added the extras to make it 6-0.
Wests continued to throw interesting shapes at the Rabbitohs inside the first 10 minutes of play, with back-rower Jakob Jiles benefitting from hunting out wide to score, taking the score out to 10-0.
From the ensuing kick-off, the Tigers coughed up possession, gifting the ball to the men in Red and Green in good field position for the first time in the match. But while Souths asked plenty of questions of the Tigers defence, the visitors would ultimately survive the onslaught.
As the half-way point of the first half approached, the Tigers went in again down the left-hand-side with five-eighth Veiru Mapesone – Roman Ioelu converting to take the score out to 16-0.
Wests’ Esan Marsters was next to cross after the back-rower went from dummy-half close to the line and outmuscled the Rabbitohs defence to score the fourth try down the left flank. The unsuccessful conversion attempt left the score at 20-0 leading into the break.
It took just eight minutes for the Tigers to assert their authority in the second half, with hooker Jacob Liddle weaving through a staggered Rabbitohs defensive line to streak some 25 metres to score. Ioelu converted to take the score to 26-0.
The Tigers’ avalanche of points continued when with two quick tries. Marsters powered over for his second of the night, leaving Rabbitohs defenders clutching at thin air in his wake. Ioelu converted to take the score to 32-0 before Sharpe also grabbed his second millimetres inside the touch-line to take the score to 36-0.
Wests skipper Junior Tatola added his name to the score-sheet mere moments later to notch up the 40-point mark, before Mapesone added the extras to make it 42-0. Mapesone would then grab his second not long afterwards to make it 46-0 with ten minutes on the clock remaining.
Tigers 46 (Luke Sharpe 2, Esan Marsters 2, Veiru Mapesone 2, Jakob Jiles, Jacob Liddle, Junior Tatola, tries; Roman Ioelu 3, Thomas Bartley 1, Veiru Mapesone 1, goals)
Defeated
Rabbitohs 0
