Souths destroy Tigers

Souths are almost into the finals

South Sydney have almost broken their 18 year finals football drought. And how. The Rabbitohs opened the floodgates at a packed Leichhardt Oval to humble the Wests Tigers 37-12.

Over 20,000 crammed in on a warm afternoon, watching Souths dominate the Tigers from the start. Joe Williams was inspirational, but the Rabbitohs half had plenty of big men in front of him to set the platform.

John Sutton opened the scoring in the fifteenth minute, with Jeremy Smith extending the lead six minutes later. Another try soon followed when Buddy Gordon went over, silencing the almost exclusively pro-Tigers crowd.

The home side suffered a massive blow when hooker Robbie Farah exited the game in the first half, because a pre-game painkiller on his troublesome hip went wrong. Souths fullback Nathan Merrett also left the game before half time.

The Tigers had a glimmer of hope just before the break, with Nigel Vagana inexplicably dropping the ball over the line. Benji Marshall scored in the dying seconds of the first half to reduce the deficit to 18-6.

However, the second half was simply a continuation of the first, with Souths forwards destroying the Tigers. Dean Widders crossed in the fiftieth minute, while Roy Asotasi strolled over for a deserved try two minutes later.

With Brisbane winning this afternoon, the Tigers will now need to beat Newcastle on Friday night and rely on Parramatta defeating the Broncos on Sunday, or Souths to lose to the Roosters heavily. Despite the win, Souths aren’t assured of a finals spot. Their heavy win gives them a significant advantage over the Tigers on for and against, but if the Rabbitohs lose to the Roosters and the Tigers beat Newcastle by a heavy enough margin, then Souths would require Brisbane to lose to the Eels

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