The much fancied South Sydney Rabbitohs outfit was held out by a gutsy New Zealand Warriors side 26-24 at Mt Smart Stadium Auckland today – as the NZ side keeps their ladder position solid.
Like the Dragons, the Warriors are in a personnel crisis. No Steve Price, Manu Vatuvei and with Sam Rapira gone, plus Maloney in doubt – depth is skinny in the Warriors squad.
What would have impressed coach Ivan Cleary was the urgency in the NZ outfit today. They hit the go button early and showed plenty of desire against a Souths side that had a the chance to potential slot into the Top 4 on the NRL ladder if they scored some points.
Backing up a solid start, the New Zealand Warriors defended stoutly in the final 30 minutes to cling to their shallow lead.
The Kiwis did have their chances to put nails in the Bunnies coffin – but they couldn’t get the right bounce. To their credit, they tackled consistently well to keep the visitors at bay.
It seemed both coaches agreed it was a deserved Warriors win – despite a seemingly stuttery season, littered with injury – the Warriors remain in equal 5th spot and will have a possible advantage during the upcoming Origin period with sides losing key players.
Souths themselves have consistency problems – John Lang lamenting poor defence and loss of focus at crucial times in this clash.
The Bunnies will be keen to get Asotasi back on deck, and try to improve their kicking game which wasn’t at its best today.
Souths big win over the Tigers last week was probably over-estimated, as the Wests side was simply so poor. The Bunnies may have been guily of getting ahead of themselves – however their for and against was helped big time and this should come into play given how close the NRL table remains.