The South Sydney Rabbitohs have booked their spot in the finals with a less than impressive 20-10 victory in a match where the Cowboys found themselves on the wrong side of a bunker controversy.
Souths started the scoring after just seven minutes when Latrell Mitchell slotted a penalty goal to give the Rabbitohs a 2-0 lead. The Cowboys though were able to open the try scoring when Murray Taulagi was put through into space after a misread in defence from the Rabbitohs opened things up.
The Rabbitohs were able to hit back not long after as the presence of Latrell Mitchell put the Cowboys in two minds as Cam Murray found Keaon Koloamatangi on a strong angled run to go through a gap in the Cowboys defence to score.
Extending their lead just after the half-hour mark, the Rabbitohs play right had been far from crisp but down their left they got it picture perfect as they shifted the ball left finding Alex Johnston on the outside to score. The conversion was perfect from Latrell Mitchell and the Bunnies took a 14-6 lead into the break.
Neither side looked remotely close to scoring a try for most of the second half despite the Rabbitohs setting up camp in the Cowboys half for the most part. The Cowboys found themselves on the wrong side of the bunker when Taane Milne was ruled to have not played at a ball when it looked as if he was playing it when looking up on it and as a result lost their challenge.
It didn't hurt the Cowboys though because they were able to score soon after when some quick thinking from Chad Townsend put Kyle Feldt into space on the outside on last tackle before a double kick from Feldt put him through to chase through his own kick. Valentine Holmes missed the conversion to keep the margin at 4.
The Cowboys found themselves on the wrong side of the bunker again, when Coen Hess was sent to the sin bin for contact with the head of Campbell Graham, the ruling looked controversial given it was a head clash and no doubt will reignite some debate.
Things got worse for the Cowboys when Kyle Feldt found himself joining Hess in the bin for a professional foul when he took Alex Johnston out on a kick chase in a try scoring opportunity. Souths took advantage of the extra men when Tom Burgess sealed the win scoring under the posts to seal the victory.
Next weekend, Souths will head to the New Allianz Stadium to take on the Roosters in what will be a fiery clash meanwhile the Cowboys will be hoping for luck to go their way to regain second spot when they take on the minor premiers, the Panthers next Saturday night.