Straight Arrow of emotion shoots Souths to a home final
Scott Bailey |
South Sydney will ride a wave of Jai Arrow-fuelled emotion into a home final, after easily dispatching arch-rivals Sydney Roosters 50-20 at Allianz Stadium.
On a night when Latrell Mitchell sent a warning to the competition and David Fifita starred, the Rabbitohs hit their first half-century of the year against a Roosters side resting nine stars.
The result means Souths will almost certainly finish sixth and play Newcastle next weekend in an elimination final at either Allianz or Accor Stadium.
The Roosters are locked into fourth, and will travel to face whoever claims the minor premiership out of the Warriors or Penrith.
South Sydney’s history is littered with emotion, not least of which during the club’s NRL exile in 2000 and 2001, before their 2002 return.
But no season has carried this much feeling, from Alex Johnston breaking the try-scoring record and Nathan Merritt’s cancer battle, to Arrow’s motor neurone disease diagnosis.
Arrow has been central to the Rabbitohs’ story since his announcement in May, with fundraisers in June and July preceding two brief returns over the past week.
A sold-out crowd rose for Arrow on Friday as he brought up his 100th Rabbitohs game, before he walked off ahead of kick-off for a long embrace with Wayne Bennett.
Souths have won all four of the matches set up to honour Arrow this year, with that no doubt a driving factor for finals.
Friday night was also a near-perfect warm-up.
After playing 30 minutes last week in his first game since round 11, Mitchell showed signs of his damaging best at left centre for the Rabbitohs.
Three times he put Johnston into space, once resulting in a try for the winger as part of a classic left-edge Rabbitohs movement that also included Cody Walker.
Mitchell also scored late and put a monster hit on rookie half Toby Rodwell, while Walker bagged a try of his own in the second half.
Fifita was also at his powerful best, getting the Rabbitohs’ first from dummy-half and finishing the night with 11 tackle busts, while Campbell Graham bagged a double.
The only downside for the Rabbitohs was Euan Aitken ending the night in a sling with a shoulder injury, after waiting 201 games to play another final after last doing so in 2015.
The Roosters weren’t short on emotion either on Friday, with Spencer Leniu baiting Rabbitohs fans while coming off the field in the first half.
Leniu had just twice clashed with Keaon Koloamatangi in the space of a minute, giving away a penalty in possession after initially earning a set restart.
The Roosters prop was not brought back on by coach Trent Robinson, while Lachlan Hubner and De La Salle Va’a were sin-binned after another melee late.
Winger Daniel Tupou got through his return from a shoulder injury unscathed and scored an early try, while the Roosters youngsters turned it on briefly in the second half.
A Cody Ramsey flick pass helped send Rex Bassingthwaighte over for the first of his two tries, before Benaiah Ioelu and a rampaging Taylor Losalu put Egan Butcher over.
AAP