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.
Special Offer: $650 South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Canterbury Bulldogs FREE BET
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 54th and 70th 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.
TIP: TRI BET – either side under 6.5
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.
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
