Friday first NRL Round 7 match is between South Sydney Rabbitohs and Canterbury Bulldogs with the opening kick to commence at 16:00pm local time. The game is to be played at ANZ Stadium which see’s home team South Sydney Rabbitohs hold favouritism in the market. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between South Sydney Rabbitohs and Canterbury Bulldogs.

WHERE AND WHEN: ANZ Stadium, Friday 4pm (AEST)

Odds Comparison:

South Sydney Rabbitohs	1.84	1.85	1.88	1.85	1.84	1.80
Canterbury Bulldogs	2.02	2.00	1.96	2.00	2.02	2.00

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

Preview:

South Sydney recorded their third win of the season and their second in succession by defeating Penrith last week 18 – 2 in trying conditions at Sportingbet Stadium.

Prior to the match South Sydney Coach Michael Maguire stated that his side’s defensive effort recently hadn’t “been up to Souths standard” and that they had to “focus on the fundamentals of the game”, post match Maguire would’ve been happy on both fronts.

Penrith had the majority of possession and the benefit of an 8 – 5 penalty count in the first half but some outstanding goal line defence from the Rabbitohs, continually repelled the Panthers attack and limited them to the solitary penalty goal in the first 40 mins.

South Sydney returned in the second half with the opening try of the match to Kirisome Auva’a and as the weight of possession started to even itself out compared to the first half, the Rabbithos managed a further two tries to Nathan Merritt and Kyle Turner in the 54^th and 70^th minutes respectively, to close the match out 18 – 2.

It was important that Souths consolidated their win in Round 5 against St. George and they did so in a tough manner, but it’ll tougher again this week against the Bulldogs and without key forwards George Burgess and Ben Te’o who will miss the game through suspension.

For the second week in a row, the Bulldogs scraped home courtesy of a field goal when defeating the Warriors last week 21 – 20.

Facing a rejuvenated Warriors outfit the Bulldogs, who only scored three tries to their opponents four, got home on the boot of Trent Hodkinson who slotted a perfect 4/4 and the all important field goal in the final minute of the match.

It continues what has been an excellent season for Hodkinson who has amassed 59 points so far and has kicked twelve of his last thirteen shots at goal.

It was a typically tenacious effort by the Bulldogs who have the best defence in the league at present, only conceding 60 points in their six matches to date.

These two sides met twice last year with the Rabbitohs successful on both occasions by margins of 5 and 8 points and given the recent efforts of both sides, this should be another close and very physical game.

Points will be at a premium and with Hodkinson in super form with the boot, the Rabbitohs, who have conceded on average nine penalties in their last three games, will have to increase their discipline.

Teams:

South Sydney Rabbitohs:

1 Greg Inglis, 2 Nathan Merritt, 3 Dylan Walker, 4 Kirisome Auva’a, 5 Bryson Goodwin, 6 Josh Sutton, 7 Adam Reynolds, 8 Dave Tyrell, 9 Apisai Koroisau, 10 Luke Burgess, 11 Kyle Turner, 12 Chris McQueen, 13 Sam Burgess
Interchange: 14 Cameron McInnes, 15 Ben Lowe, 16 Jason Clark, 17 Joe Picker, 18 Joel Reddy, 19 Alex Johnston

Canterbury Bulldogs:

1 Sam Perrett, 2 Corey Thompson, Josh Morris, 4 Tim Lafai, 5 Mitch Brown, 6 Josh Reynolds, 7 Trent Hodkinson, 8 Aiden Tolman, 9 Michael Ennis, 10, James Graham, 11 Josh Jackson, 12 Tony Williams, 13 Dale Finucane
Interchange: 14 Greg Eastwood, 15 Pat O’Hanlon 16 Tim Browne 17 David Klemmer 18 Moses Mbye

News:

South Sydney appear to have locked in a replacement for rugby union-bound Sam Burgess, with Penrith prop Tim Grant to join the Rabbitohs next season.

The Panthers on Friday agreed to release Grant from the final two years of his contract to link up with the Redfern-based NRL club on a four-year deal from 2015.

He will, however, see out the remainder of the season with the Panthers.

The western Sydney outfit said Grant had approached club officials “several weeks ago” about a possible release, but eventually agreed to stay until the end of 2016.

“However, after a change of heart he again approached club bosses to ask for a release, which has today been formalised,” the Panthers said in a statement.

“The Panthers respect Tim’s decision and wish him all the best for his future.”

The 26-year-old has played 114 first-grade games for the Panthers since his debut in 2007, as well as two State of Origin appearances for NSW.

Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire said Grant would add plenty of firepower to his forward pack, which will be without Burgess next season after he signed a three-year deal with UK rugby outfit Bath.

“Tim has represented his state and played over 100 first grade games, so he will bring experience to our pack as well as strong defence and plenty of size,” Maguire said.

“He will add strength to our front row rotation, and we’re looking forward to him joining our squad next pre-season.”

Grant said he was excited about the move but admitted he still had some unfinished business at the foot of the mountains.

“I still have a job to do here at Penrith for the remainder of this season, and I’ll be doing everything I can to help the Panthers have a successful year in 2014,” he said.