Warriors Head Coach Andrew McFadden concedes that his team couldn’t match the physicality of a determined Rabbitohs outfit on Saturday night at Mt Smart Stadium.
The Rabbitohs put on a perfect first half in Auckland, scoring five tries and completing at 100%, which left the Warriors shell-shocked and unable to find a way back into the game even with a stronger second half performance.
“I think they clearly won the physical battle,” said McFadden.
“Their big forwards did a really good job and we were just a little bit off there. They got on the front foot and got some scoreboard pressure on us.
“Outside of that first ten minutes they just dominated field position. They played a pretty good game of footy.”
Warriors Lock Simon Mannering thought his team defended well but cited a lack of desperation in defusing Adam Reynolds kicking game as one of the bigger letdowns in his side’s performance.
“I thought we were defending their attack well and then some of their kicks were pretty sharp and we didn’t react quick enough on that,” said Mannering.
“Not just from our edges but us from the middle. We knew it was coming but like I said they just beat us in a lot of aspects of the game and that was one of them.”
Warriors Prop Ben Matulino agreed with coach McFadden that the physicality from the Rabbitohs was a big factor in the Rabbitohs first half dominance.
“They turned up and they rolled up – the physicality in the game,” said Matulino.
“We just couldn’t really stop them.”
