Souths notch up club record 38 points in first stanza Bunnies destroy Manly
FOUR tries in a 10-minute onslaught all but ended Manly’s finals hopes, with South Sydney scoring 38 opening-half points to record a record-breaking win against the Sea Eagles.
South Sydney finished 56-16 winners, but the damage was done in the first half where the Rabbitohs raced in 26 points in 10 minutes to put a dent into an injury-depleted Manly’s finals aspirations.
The Rabbitohs’ 38 firsthalf points haul was the biggest in the club’s 112-year history, and its biggest victory against Manly.
Alex Johnston and Campbell Graham scored two tries each, while Graham laid on two of Johnston’s four pointers. Rabbitohs skipper Adam Reynolds finished with an 18point haul kicking nine from nine.
The Sea Eagles’ points drought ended in 51st minute via Jack Gosiewski but the Rabbitohs still scored 18 second half points.
Manly now sits four points behind eighth-placed Cronulla and South Sydney is two points from the top four in arguably its best performance of the season. Steven Marsters only learnt he was going to make his debut when Dane Gagai strained a hamstring at the captain’s run on Friday.
Marsters didn’t have long to think about his first game and the 20-year didn’t have to wait long to score his first NRL try.
Marsters, who joined the club from the Dragons in the off-season, had too much pace for the Sea Eagles’ defence, getting outside his man to score nine minutes into the match.
Johnston scored in the next set following Marsters’ try and had his second just four minutes later. The second resulted in an eightpoint try after Manly fullback Tevita Funa whacked Johnston across the head when the Rabbitohs winger scored. Reynolds nailed the sideline conversion before easily slotting the attempt in front to give South Sydney a 20-0 lead after just 16 minutes.
Funa was sin-binned for the incident with Johnston coming from the field. The Sea Eagles conceded three tries in eight minutes, a sin bin and two set restarts without touching the ball.