South Sydney: "best win since
2002"

The South Sydney Rabbitohs have staged a stunning upset defeating premiers Penrith Panthers by 30-6 at Aussie Stadium today.

The victory was described in the dressing room as their best win since Souths were re-admitted into the NRL in 2002.

The Rabbitohs controlled possession and field position with tries to Mark Minichiello and Lee Hookey in the opening 25 minutes.

At half time, Souths held a handy 14-0 lead.

Souths continued on in the second half scoring in the 47th minute and at 20-0, the match appeared to be out of reach for the Panthers.

Penrith finally got on the board following a grubber kick and a Rabbitohs' error. But the Panthers were never in the match with Souths posting a resounding victory.

RABBITOHS 30 Tries: Minichiello, Hookey, Wood, Harrison, Craigie Goals: Williams 5/6 defeated PANTHERS 6 Tries: Lewis Goals: Roberts 1/1

Aussie Stadium Referee: Tony Archer Video Referee: Phil Cooley Touch Judges: Steve Nash, David Abood

By the clock: 0 min: Kick off.

6th min: TRY - Rabbitohs. Try to the second rower Mark Minichiello. Joe Williams converts. Rabbitohs 6-0

NEWS - Rabbitohs playing very good football completing their sets well. The Panthers letting silly errors affect their game. Still 6-0 to the Rabbitohs

25th min: TRY - Rabbitohs. A try to centre Lee Hookey in the 25th minute. Williams converts another. Rabbitohs 12-0

35th min: PENALTY GOAL - Williams for Rabbitohs. Rabbitohs 14-0

HALFTIME - Solid 1st half by the Rabbitohs controlling possession and field position.

HALFTIME STATS: Penalties: Rabbitohs 6 - Panthers 2 Possession: Rabbitohs 55 - Panthers 45 Tackles: Rabbitohs 147 - Panthers 175 Missed tackles: Rabbitohs 6 - Panthers 8 Completions: Rabbitohs 22/26 - Panthers 10/20 Line Breaks: Rabbitohs 1 - Panthers 0 Offloads: Rabbitohs 6 - Panthers 5 Errors: Rabbitohs 5 - Panthers 10

Second half underway...

45 min: NEWS - South Sydney still in control. Possession: Rabbitohs 55%

47 min: TRY - Rabbitohs. Garth Wood the try scorer as Souths look specials to cause an upset. Conversion OK. Rabbitohs 20-0

53 min: TRY - Rabbitohs. Souths' skipper Ashley Harrison scores and it's turning into a carve-up. Conversion Williams unsuccessful. Rabbitohs 24-0

57 min: TRY - Panthers. Luke Lewis scores after a grubber kick and the Panthers are on the board. Conversion OK from Amos Roberts. Rabbitohs 24-6.

64 min: NEWS - Possession favours Rabbitohs 57%.

69 min: NEWS - The Panthers have now done over 300 tackles as the Rabbitohs are still dominating possession.

72 min: TRY - Rabbitohs. Owen Craigie under the posts following a quick show of hands up the middle. Craigie offering a somersault and a backflip for the crowd. Conversion Joe Williams and old Rabbits everywhere are smiling. Rabbitohs 30-6

77 min: NEWS - The clock is winding down. Possession favours Souths 58%.

FULL TIME: A boilover with the lowly placed South Sydney Rabbitohs defeating defending premiers, the Penrith Panthers 30-6.

Souths were superb with David Thompson the pick of the pack. Luke Stuart and Willie Manu also providing plenty of effort in the engine room. Half back Joe Williams was outstanding while fullback Garth Wood was never far away.

For Penrith, they were pretty dreadful and this has to be their worst loss of 2004 as they often threw away possession... and it's not going to get any easier.

Full time stats: Completions: Rabbitohs 35/47 - Panthers 22/40 Tackles: Panthers 341 - 263 Mistackles: Panthers 26-17 Errors: Panthers 23-15 Penalties: Rabbitohs 6-4 Hit ups: Rabbitohs 201-135 Score: Rabbitohs 30-6

----------------------------------------- Leagueunlimited.com players of the match: 3 - J Williams (Rabbitohs) 2 - D Thompson (Rabbitohs) 1 - G Wood (Rabbitohs) -----------------------------------------