The South Sydney Rabbitohs Canterbury Cup side have gotten one hand on the Minor Premiership after a convincing 32-4 victory over the Newcastle Knights.
Winger Mawene Hiroti racked up 20 points in the victory, with two tries and six goals, with Ethan Lowe scoring a try in the dying minutes after his first Canterbury Cup appearance of the season.
Continuing their trend of scoring the first try of the match, the Red and Green came out firing with Hiroti scoring his first try of the day in the eighth minute. With his first conversion of the afternoon, the Rabbitohs took an early six-point lead.
In a back and forth contest, the Knights would continue to hold out the Rabbitohs’ attack, however Hiroti would continue his side’s lead with another four-pointer and conversion after a quarter of the match. This saw the Rabbitohs lead 12-nil after 23 minutes.
A Yileen Gordon sinbin with five minutes left in the first half would see the Rabbitohs under pressure with just twelve men, but the Cardinal and Myrtle would hold on to maintain a 12-nil lead at the break.
Ironically, it was immediately after the match returned to a thirteen-a-side contest when the Knights struck, with winger Kiah Cooper scoring and bringing his side into the contest.
But less than ten minutes later, five-eighth Connor Tracey would continue his run of tries as he swooped to score and extend the side’s lead to eighteen after 55 minutes gone.
Not to be outdone, Tracey’s halves partner Dean Hawkins nabbed himself a try with five minutes to go to seal the result, while Ethan Lowe also saw his name on the scoreboard with a try in the dying stages which saw the Rabbitohs mount a dominant victory.
The side will now face Wentworthville in the final match of the regular season at the Metricon High Performance Centre, with a victory all but sealing the Minor Premiership.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 32 (Mawene Hiroti 2, Connor Tracey, Dean Hawkins, Ethan Lowe tries; Mawene Hiroti 5 goals; Mawene Hiroti penalty goal)
def
Newcastle Knights 4 (Kiah Cooper try)
