Friday has two NRL matches with the first game for Round 6 is between Penrith Panthers and South Sydney Rabbitohs with the opening kick to commence at 7:40pm. The game is to be played at Sportingbet Stadium with the favourite for the match being South Sydney Rabbitohs. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between Penrith Panthers and South Sydney Rabbitohs.
WHERE AND WHEN: Sportingbet Stadium, Fri 11 Apr, 7:40pm
In trying conditions last week, Panther kept their perfect home-ground record this season intact and registered their third win of the season when defeating the Raiders 12 – 6. Panthers debutante winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak opened the scoring for the match with a try in the sixteenth minute in a dour affair played out in constant rain, he also sealed the victory for the home-side with his second try and the Panthers third, in the 71st minute. Penrith’s halves pairing of Wallace and Soward and their respective kicking games, were vital for the Panthersr in the wet conditions.
Soward secured a 40/20, threw a beautiful pass cut-out pass for Mansour to score and continually applied pressure with his attacking kicks, whilst Wallace set up the match-winning try with a perfectly placed chip-kick.
In the end, Penrith played to conditions well and deserved their win.
After a poor loss to Parramatta the week before that saw several easy tries scored against from close range, the defensive component of their game last week was much stronger and will give them some confidence heading into this week against potentially, one of the strongest attacking teams in the competition.
With only one win and three consecutive and poor losses, South Sydney had to stand up and deliver heading into round 5 last week and they did.
They defeated the Dragons at the SCG by a comfortable 26 – 6 with their opponents’ try coming in the last seven minutes of the game.
It wasn’t the Rabbitohs strongest win, it still took them the best part of half an hour to open up the scoring but after the past three weeks, how they won wouldn’t be of concern and they’ll only be better again for it.
The return to five-eighth of John Sutton had a positive impact on the side who in previous weeks, had looked disjointed in their attack.
Since 2010, the two sides have met six times. The Rabbitohs hold a 4-2 record winning the three most recent by margins of 12 points or more.
Each of those games have all been high-scoring affairs with only one game totalling less then 50 points and the average being a whopping 59.8.
Penrith have only scored more than 18 points once this season, that was in the opening round against a depleted Newcastle side and they’ll need to increase their attack if they are to worry Souths who will be spurred on by last week’s victory.
Teams:
Penrith Panthers:
Matt Moylan, Dallin Watene Zelezniak, Dean Whare, Jamal Idris, Josh Mansour, Jamie Soward, Peter Wallace, Sam McKendry, Kevin Kingston, Tim Grant, Sika Manu, Elijah Taylor, Adam Docker. Interchange: James Segeyaro, Jeremy Latimore, Lewis Brown, Nigel Plum, Isaah Yeo
South Sydney Rabbitohs:
Greg Inglis, Nathan Merritt, Dylan Walker, Joel Reddy, Bryson Goodwin, John Sutton, Adam Reynolds, David Tyrrell, Apisai Koroisau, George Burgess, Kyle Turner, Ben Te’o, Sam Burgess. Interchange: Cameron McInnes, Chris McQueen, Jason Clark, Luke Burgess, Alex Johnston, Ben Lowe, Joe Picker
News:
Penrith’s Jamie Soward credits John Sutton’s return to five-eighth as the reason for South Sydney’s improved form and nominates the skipper as the key to the Rabbitohs’ attack.
Sutton, who made a club-record 212th appearance for Souths last Saturday against St George Illawarra, was restored to the halves from the back row by coach Michael Maguire following a run of three straight NRL losses.
The move paid dividends as the Rabbitohs eased to a 26-6 win at the SCG and former NSW five-eighth Soward was full of admiration for the performance of the man who’ll be his opposite number at Sportingbet Stadium on Friday night.
“John Sutton, for me, is one of the form players in the competition,” Soward told AAP.
“Even when he was playing at lock, he was still doing a great job for South Sydney and he’s going to be a big leader for them.
“I watched him on the weekend; when John plays at five-eighth, Adam Reynolds really settles into his halfback role.”
Penrith maintained their 100 per cent home record with a gritty defensive effort in the driving rain to hold out Canberra 12-6 last Saturday and bounce back from a big defeat at Parramatta the previous week.
Despite an excellent start that’s produced three wins from five games, Soward is expecting Souths – who are two from five – to provide the Panthers with their toughest test so far.
“Everyone is speaking about their forward pack so we’ve got our work cut out for us but we’re looking forward to it,” he said.
“It’s going to be a big challenge for us. We understand that.
“We’d love to see a massive crowd out here. We’d like to think three wins at home gets the Penrith community excited and ready to come out and hopefully get a good win.
“It’s important for us to keep winning at home.”
Soward and fellow new recruit Peter Wallace got only the second opportunity to link up together in the win over the Raiders.
The pair have battled with back and groin problems respectively and the former Brisbane halfback is confident they’re improving as a combination.
“We’re taking a lot of confidence out of the games we’ve played together,” Wallace said.
“It’s only going to get better and better the more time we spend on the field together.
“It’s definitely exciting. It’s exciting to be in a new team as well. There’s a lot of potential here.”
