Rebels go down fighting

The appointment of Matt Barr as Head Coach for the remainder of the 2022 season had worked a treat previously as Souths beat the Hunter Wildfires 31-24 at the Newcastle Sportsground in round 10 of the Shute Shield.

Matt Barr told Rugby News that the club is only a few wins out of the top eight.

"Its a close competition and there are a couple of upsets every week" he said

"So if we can get some stability within the playing group and build a bit of momentum,we are confident we can get into the final series"

"I'm really excited and looking forward to the challenge"

It was back to Port Hacking Day at Sylvania and Saturdays game started positively as the Waratahs Sama Mamolo went in under the posts after four minutes-but five minutes later Warringah were in.

Point-scoring machine Christian Kagiassis then went himself scurrying under the posts and converting to put the score at 17-7 and the Hackers fans started to get excited.

Then a Souths random attacking pass went astray which led to a chip and chase,then a grubber kick into the ingoal and Warringah were right back in the game.

A quick reply by Souths saw them hit the lead before half time but after an injury delay the opposition were in again for a half time 28-22 lead.

Defense wins games and too many missed tackles cost the Rebels who couldn't get on the scoreboard in the second half ,finally going down 35-22.

This week in round 12 the Rebels play the Western Sydney Two Blues at Forshaw and need the win if they have any aspiration to play finals football.

For the first time since 2013, the Charter Hall Shute Shield will return to an eight-team finals series, increasing the post-season credentials of clubs facing finals droughts.

The restructure results in a four-week finals series culminating on September 3, with a 3pm Grand Final to be held once again at Leichhardt Oval.