An array of NRL talent has helped the Western Suburbs Magpies claim a 30-18 victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Metricon High Performance Centre on Sunday.
The Magpies were boosted by the late inclusion of Elijah Taylor and also boasted the likes of Mahe Fonua who caused plenty of havoc for the Rabbitohs as they fell to their fourth consecutive defeat.
Under the watchful eye of super coach Wayne Bennett for the clash, Shane Millard’s side had a blistering start with an early try to Jack Johns in just the fourth minute.
Soon following, Wests winger Harrison O’Toole scrapped over the line in the 11th minute, starting their try-streak for the first half.
A fiery Elijah Taylor passing out the back to halfback Kauri Aupouri-Puketapu capitalised on poor defence by Souths right edge for another try seven minutes later.
Second rower Luke Garner soon followed the list of point-scorers and gave his side an early 12-point lead.
Since Johns had scored, Souths hardly saw the ball until mindless mistakes and penalties by the opposition gifted the red and green two sets in their own 40, allowing big five-eighth Bayley Sironen to use his size and run over the defender to score with five minutes remaining, putting the scores at 18-12 to close the first half.
Fonua made his presence felt early in the second-half nailing another try for the Wests before Souths bit back when Leigh Higgins scored eight minutes later.
Joseph Ratuvakacereivalu charged over the try-line at the 60th minute and set a 10-point lead for his side in the last quarter of the game.
Taylor had an injury concern with just 15 minutes remaining, Souths had an opportunity to charge back at the now weaker side, however, a penalty allowed Aupouri-Puketapu to successfully convert his fifth out of six goals for the day and put them in front and gift them an eventual 30-18 win.
https://www.nswrl.com.au/news/2019/05/25/canterbury-cup-nsw-rd-11-scores-news-reports-highlights/
