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Fri July 10 2009, 7:30PM AEST GMT+10Fri: South Sydney Rabbitohs 36 d. Penrith Panthers 12 at
ANZ Stadium (Sydney), Homebush Bay, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 9,017
Sat July 11 2009, 7:30PM AEST GMT+10Sat: Newcastle Knights 23 d. Canberra Raiders 4 at
Energy Australia Stadium, New Lambton, Newcastle (NSW)Crowd: 15,355
Sun July 12 2009, 4:00PM NZST GMT+12Sun: New Zealand Warriors 14 l. Bulldogs 18 at
Mt Smart Stadium, Penrose, Auckland (NZ)Crowd: 11,802
Sun July 12 2009, 3:00PM AEST GMT+10Sun: St George Illawarra Dragons 48 d. Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 18 at
WIN Stadium, Wollongong (NSW)Crowd: 16,792
Mon July 13 2009, 7:00PM AEST GMT+10Mon: Gold Coast Titans 18 d. Parramatta Eels 12 at
Skilled Park, Robina, Gold Coast (QLD)Crowd: 14,009
Brisbane Broncos bye North Queensland Cowboys bye Sydney Roosters bye Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks bye Melbourne Storm bye Wests Tigers bye
Sat July 11, 2009
Source: www.abc.net.auThe Rabbitohs rebounded from last week's humiliation to defeat the Penrith Panthers 36-12 at Sydney's Olympic stadium on Friday evening.
The scars of its 54-20 loss to the Tigers spurred on Souths, with its defence showing a massive improvement as it refused to give Penrith an inch for much of the night.
Rabbitohs prop Roy Asotasi told ABC Grandstand his side was desperate to improve after five straight defeats.
"We were disappointed on what we produced last week and we really wanted to prove to ourselves that we were a better team than what we dished out last Saturday against the Tigers," he said.
"What let us down last week was our defence - they were coming at us through the middle and we really wanted to fix that area.
"Defence wins games and tonight we did really good in the first half and then second half we let in two tries, so we've constantly got to keep improving."
Souths coach Jason Taylor said his players had changed their attitude after last week's debacle.
"We were mentally weak up until tonight. the last five games we've been mentally weak," Taylor said.
He revealed he had given major consideration to the direction his coaching career was heading in after his side's recent lean trot.
"Come Sunday morning last week, I knew that my career as a coach was staring me in the face," he said.
"Not as far as being concerned about losing my job, but just where I was going, the direction in which my coaching career was heading, and I saw it was clear that I had to step up and get more out of the guys."
John Sutton scored two tries while Chris Sandow had a good kicking night as the Rabbitohs never looked like giving up their 20-0 half-time lead.
The score ballooned further when Shannan McPherson, tackled by three Penrith players, off-loaded well to Nathan Merritt who hit the afterburners to score an emphatic try.
The Panthers finally got themselves on the scoreboard with two tries - Paul Aiton dived over after 52 minutes before the video referee judged Geoff Daniela to have cheekily touched down after a try-line scramble.
But Sutton calmed Rabbitohs nerves when he picked the ball up to dive over for his second of the night.
The match was marked by the kicking contest between Sandow and Luke Walsh, but the Penrith half-back struggled to find his range with the boot.
Sandow's kicking paid off for South Sydney however, as his bomb found Fetuli Talanoa on the left flank late on, who reverse-fed Colin Best to score a well-worked try.
First half shut-outJust three minutes into the game, the Rabbitohs were up the field in a flash before Eddy Pettybourne burst through to put the home side one try up.
At the other end, the Bunnies constantly thwarted Walsh's bombs on the try-line as Penrith failed to make inroads.
The Rabbitohs' concentration paid dividends when Jamie Simpson intercepted a wayward pass on his own try-line to run 95 metres to score his side's second try five minutes from the break.
The floodgates were well and truly open when Sutton dummied 10 metres out to cross the line moments later.
Rabbitohs::36 (J Sutton 2, E Pettybourne, J Simpson, N Merritt, C Best tries, C Sandow 6 goals)
Panthers: 12 (P Aiton, G Daniela tries, L Walsh 2 goals)
Source:
ABC NewsAudio: Roy Asotasi ABC InterviewAudio: Matthew Elliott ABC InterviewScoreboardThu July 9, 2009
Source: RleagueBetting.comFriday Night Football sees Souths start as surprising favourites against a depleted Panthers outfit.
Pinnacle Sports are top odds of just $1.60 for a Rabbitohs victory, while there looks to be much better value in
Centrebet's quote of $2.53 for the Panthers. There's a lot of variety to be found in the
Handicap Betting market with
Centrebet offering "pick your own line". Consider taking the Panthers with 6.5 start paying $1.73 at Centrebet, or the Panthers with 4.5 start paying $1.93 at
Sports Alive.
With Souths tendency to start conservatively and finish with a flurry, it's always worth considering the odds in the
Half Time/Normal Time Double betting market. You can get odds of $7.50 from
Sportingbet that Penrith will lead at Half Time but Souths win the match inside 80 minutes. Also,
Bet365 are paying $1.72 that more points will be scored in the 2nd Half than in the 1st Half.
In the
Margin Betting market, consider Souths 1-12 paying $3.10, or Penrith 1-12 paying $4.05, with
Sportingbet top odds in both instances.
Sportingbet are also the best price for favourite Fetuli Talanoa to be
1st Try Scorer, their $12 quote providing 22% better odds than the $9 available elsewhere. Nathan Merrit's quote of $13 from
Sportsbet also looks to be good value.
If you think this opportunity for Souths might catapult them into Top 8 contention, you can get odds of $11 for them to make the 8, whilst the top quote on offer for the Panthers looks good value at $2.10. You can get top odds from
Sportingbet.
Click Here to Compare NRL Odds on Rabbitohs vs Panthers
Round 18
South Sydney Rabbitohs 36 d. Penrith Panthers 12
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