Souths overcome controversy, pound Newcastle 46-20 in NRL

SYDNEY, Oct 4, (AP): South Sydney overcame a week marred by controversy to beat Newcastle 46-20 in an elimination final Sunday to keep their grand final hopes alive in Australia’s National Rugby League.

Both the club and assistant coach and former England rugby international Sam Burgess are the subject of separate police and NRL investigations into drug, misconduct and domestic violence allegations. South will now face Parramatta in one of next weekend’s league semifinals.

Souths trailed Newcastle 14-0 early in Sunday’s match before scoring 46 unanswered points.

Meanwhile, the Penrith Panthers are one win away from their first National Rugby League grand final in 17 years after three first-half tries from Nathan Cleary gave them a 29-28 win over the two-time defending champions Sydney Roosters.

Cleary scored 21 points, including a clutch 78th-minute field goal that proved the difference. The win advances the Panthers, who finished in first place during the regular season, to a semifinal in two weeks.

Under the NRL’s second-chance playoff format for the top four teams, the fourth-place Roosters will play the Canberra Raiders in a 2019 grand final rematch in the second round. The Raiders beat the Cronulla Sharks 3220 in their elimination final on Saturday.

Second-place Melbourne overcame an early 12-0 deficit to also advance directly to the semifinals with a 36-24 win over the third-place Parramatta

short stretch at 9% placed 2.5 kilometers from the finish.

An early breakaway of five riders gained an advantage of nearly five minutes on the main pack, with breakaway rider Thomas De Gendt winning all three of the intermediate sprints.

Ganna’s and Thomas’ INEOS Grenadiers team led the chase and caught the breakaway with just under 10 kilometers to go.

Aleksandr Vlasov of the Astana team withdrew midway through the stage due to stomach sickness. Vlasov had been seen as a possible overall contender behind Astana captain Jakob Fuglsang, who struggled in the opening time trial.

It’s been a rough start for Astana, which also had Miguel Angel Lopez crash out during the time trial.

The race should heat up Monday when Stage 3 takes the peloton up the Mount Etna volcano after a 150-kilometer route from Enna.