South Sydney have ended Cronulla’s six-game winning streak, with the Sharks suffering an off night as the Rabbitohs ran out 22-14 winners on Friday night.
Souths, without State of Origin stars Greg Inglis, Dane Gagai, Damien Cook and Angus Crichton, made a statement on a cold night at ANZ Stadium. After downing competition leaders St George Illawarra in round 10, the Rabbitohs consolidated their place in the top four with a well-deserved victory.
Cronulla were without Queensland Origin representative Valentine Holmes and lost fullback Josh Dugan in the lead up. Having returned from a broken foot, Dugan was ruled out with a “stress reaction” in his lower leg.
Scans during the week revealed the extent of the injury, though Cronulla are hopeful Dugan will return against the Wests Tigers next week.
The sides traded penalty goals before South Sydney crossed for the opening try.
Cody Walker glided across field before finding John Sutton back on the inside, with the back-rower offloading to Thomas Burgess with the giant prop sliding over for his second try in as many weeks.
The Sharks then lost Wade Graham to a head injury assessment after falling awkwardly in a tackle. The back-rower, who only returned from a hamstring injury last week, had his head fall onto the knee of Sam Burgess in a sickening collision which forced him from the field.
Graham failed his HIA and was unable to return.
The Rabbitohs extended their lead with another Reynolds penalty goal with Cronulla unable to really threaten the Souths’ line.
Souths took a 10-2 lead to half-time and extended it shortly after the break.
A cross field kick from Reynolds saw Rabbitohs winger Campbell Graham jump over Sosaia Feki to catch and ground the ball on the fly.
Souths were almost in again shortly after, only for a desperate last-ditch tackle from Edrick Lee on his own line saving the Sharks.
Another Reynolds penalty goal extended Souths’ advantage to 16-2 before a bizarre passage of play ended with Rabbitohs winger Robert Jennings being sent to the sin bin.
A wayward Jayson Bukuya pass was intercepted to put Souths on the attack. But from the ensuing set, a Katoa intercept saw the young flyer race 50 metres before being tackled. Jennings was then sent to the sin bin after a second effort on Katoa when the tackled had already been completed.
But just moments later, Sharks five-eighth Matt Moylan was also sent to the sin bin for being offside after Cronulla had been warned for repeated infringements.
Souths looked to have sealed the two points 10 minutes from full-time. On the back of a break from Rabbitohs fullback Adam Doueihi, Thomas Burgess crashed over for his second try of the night.
But Newcastle-bound centre Jesse Ramien and Sione Katoa set up a grandstand finish, scoring twice in quick succession to reduce the deficit.
The first was a set play with Ramien charging back on the inside before Katoa scored his first NRL try with an acrobatic finish in the corner.
The Sharks continued to push in the final two minutes but were unable to narrow the gap further as the Rabbitohs held on for an eight-point victory.
Leader Scoreboard
South Sydney Rabbitohs 22 (Thomas Burgess two, Campbell Graham tries. Adam Reynolds five goals)
defeated
Cronulla Sharks 14 (Jesse Ramien, Sione Katoa tries. Chad Townsend three goals)
at ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park
Leader man of the match: Adam Reynolds (Rabbitohs)
Sharks’ next three: Tigers (home), Broncos (home), Warriors (away)
