Bunnies Bashed as Tigers Roar

The Wests Tigers have scored a comfortable 25-16 win in a physical affair against the South Sydney Rabbitohs in front of 20,061 at ANZ Stadium.

The Rabbitohs got off to the best start possible with Ben Lowe taking adavantage of a massive gap that opened up in the Tigers defence and they took an early lead.

Things then got very bad for the Bunnies, when Pat Richards put a trademark spiral kickoff in and Greg Inglis slid in to take it before being accidentally hit high by Tim Simona. Greg Inglis was knocked out cold and played no further part in the match whilst Tim Simona was placed on report.

From there it was the Tigers who had all the momentum with tries going to Bodene Thompson who was went through after a beautiful pass from Luke Brooks whilst Tim Simona picked up a double, firstly off a Braith Anasta bomb and then an easy try in the corner. The Tigers were also on the end of a couple of first half no try decisions, Keith Galloway was ruled to have lost the ball short of the line, whilst Pat Richards was ruled to have gone into touch then hit high although replays suggest it could have been a penalty try.

The second half was not much better for the Rabbitohs, with the Tigers putting on another try just two minutes through Pat Richards.

The Tigers were able to keep all their momentum with all the running and were assisted by the Rabbitohs constant drop ball.

Tigers young gun halfback Luke Brooks showed why he is a star of the future when he combined with another future superstar James Tedesco to score for the Tigers once again.

That was the end of the tries for the Tigers although Braith Anasta did kick a field goal to extend the lead out to 19.

The Rabbitohs did manage to put some respectability into the scoreboard with a late double to Joel Reddy to bring the score back to 25-16.

Both sides will have some major concerns with at least 5 players going on report and several more incidents that will be scrutinised by the NRL's match review panel, which could see some suspensions for both sides. Injuries could also be a concern for the Rabbitohs with Greg Inglis being knocked out early then late in the match Isaac Luke came off with a serious shoulder injury.

Next weekend, the Tigers have to make the trip across the Tasman to take on the Warriors whilst the Rabbitohs stay at ANZ, although the home team this time taking on the Canberra Raiders.

WESTS TIGERS (25)
Tries: Bodene Thompson, Pat Richards, Tim Simona (2), James Tedesco
Field Goals: Braith Anasta (1/1)
Conversions: Pat Richards (2/4), Braith Anasta (0/1)
Penalty Goals:

SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS (16)
Tries: Ben Lowe, Joel Reddy (2)
Field Goals:
Conversions: Adam Reynolds (2/3)
Penalty Goals:

Both sides are one-and-one after two rounds - the Tigers received and gave a walloping... while Souths soundly beat the premiers then lost to the runners up.
TEAM NEWS | Wests Tigers as per program. South Sydney lose Dylan Walker (5/8th) and Chris McQueen (second row). John Sutton moves from lock to five-eighth, Joe Picker comes off the bench to fill the vacant lock position. Ben Lowe replaces McQueen in the second row. Kyle Turner and Nathaniel Neale occupy the two remaining bench spots.

South Sydney heading onto their home ground but as the away team tonight

Tigers out on the field at ANZ Stadium - they will have first possession

Matt Cecchin blows time on and Bryson Goodwin kicks off

1: First set completed for the Tigers and its a disappointing end with Luke Brooks kicking the ball dead

2: PENALTY SOUTHS - Wests Tigers penalised for being inside the 10m, Souths start the set on the Tigers 30m

4: TRY SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Scored by Ben Lowe. Kick to come.
Ben Lowe takes advantage of the Tigers defence opening up kuje Sydney Heads and Ben Lowe goes straight through

5: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Conversion attempt by Adam Reynolds successful.
Adam Reynolds has no problems converting to extend the Rabbitohs lead

5: Huge collision between Tim Simona and Greg Inglis, Inglis is down and hasn't moved

5: Concussion rule to come into play here - Greg Inglis still down being assessed by trainers

5: PENALTY SOUTHS - Video Referees have ruled that contact was high and Tim Simona is on report, looked pretty harsh considering

7: PENALTY TIGERS - Souths penalised for being not square at marker, Penalty count now 2-1 in favour of Souths

9: VIDEO REFEREE: Checking for a Keith Galloway try, Matt Cecchin gives us the 'T' but need final tick of approval from Video Refs

9: UNFORCED ERROR WESTS TIGERS
Keith Galloway makes an unforced error.
Even though Matt Cecchin gave us the 'T' - the replays show that Keith Galloway dropped the ball short of the line

10: The match has just escalated following an awkward tackle from Aaron Woods

10: PENALTY TIGERS - Sam Burgess penalised for a overreacting to the Aaron Woods tackle, that was deemed legal by match officials

11: Braith Anasta puts an awkward kick in but the Tigers get six more tackles

12: UNFORCED ERROR SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Ben Lowe makes an unforced error.
Ben Lowe is ruled to have dropped the ball because of a loose carry, despite it being knocked out

12: PENALTY TIGERS - Robbie Farah has the ball raked out, Tigers on the attack inside Souths 10m zone

13: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Bodene Thompson. Kick to come.
Beautiful pass from Luke Brooks puts Bodene Thompson through a gap and he scores the Tigers opener

15: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards unsuccessful.
Pat Richards hits the upright and ball bounces away, so Souths still lead

16: PENALTY TIGERS - George Burgess penalised for not effecting a tackle on the kicker

19: UNFORCED ERROR SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Luke Burgess makes an unforced error.
Luke Burgess drops the ball and the Tigers will gain possession 30m out from their own line

21: Braith Anasta puts in a shocker on the last and its taken easily ingoal by Joel Reddy

21: Nathan Merritt throws an offload back after making a break and it ends up back with the Tigers

23: PENALTY SOUTHS: Tigers penalised for being inside the 10, Penalty count now 4-3 in favour of Wests Tigers

24: Souths go on the attack on the last but Ben Lowe is caught 5m out from the Tigers line, changeover

26: Souths put a kick in that goes way too long and Tigers get the 20m restart

28: Tigers working the ball away from deep in their own end

29: VIDEO REFEREE: Checking a possible Tim Simona try, checking the contest from a Braith Anasta bomb, Matt Cecchin gives us the 'T'

30: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Tim Simona. Kick to come.
Tim Simona gets the green lights, assuming that its based on the fact there is no conclusive evidence to overturn the original decision

31: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Pat Richards has no problems converting from the sideline to give the Tigers the lead

33: UNFORCED ERROR SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
John Sutton makes an unforced error.
Lote Tuqiri drops the Luke Brooks bomb backwards and then John Sutton knocks it on picking it up

33: VIDEO REFEREE: Checking a Pat Richards try, checking sideline and contact on Pat Richards, on advice of touch judge we have NO TRY

34: NO TRY but a penalty to the Tigers after video referees ruled Pat Richards was hit high AFTER going into touch

34: VIDEO REFEREE: Checking sideline and grounding for a possible Tim Simona try - Matt Cecchin says TRY

35: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Tim Simona. Kick to come.
Tim Simona has a double after the Video Referees take just ONE replay to sign off on that one

35: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Braith Anasta unsuccessful.
With Pat Richards off the field Braith Anasta takes the attempt and misses from out wide

37: Tigers go 90m in their set after points, enthusiasm plus from the Tigers at the moment

40: HALF TIME at ANZ Stadium - the Tigers lead 14-6

40: Play back underway with first possession with Souths

41: PENALTY SOUTHS - James Gavet on Report for kneeing

41: Things going badly for Souths when they don't find touch

43: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Pat Richards. Kick to come.
Tigers taking advantage of Ben Lowe having to play in the centres with Pat Richards scoring out wide

44: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards unsuccessful.
Well if we were in the AFL Pat Richards would be getting a point - but in our great game nothing for hitting the post

47: UNFORCED ERROR SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
George Burgess makes an unforced error.
Things not going right for Souths, George Burgess can't clean up an offload

48: As we get a usual channel 9 cross promotion, Tigers have a scrum feed 20m out from their own line

49: VIDEO REFEREE: Checking an Adam Reynolds try, checking whether a ball was knocked out by Adam Reynolds, Matt Cecchin says NO TRY

48: Tim Simona down after contact being made to his head from a loose Sam Burgess boot

49: Now George Burgess could be in trouble, has hit one of the Tigers very high

49: George Burgess on report now - hope the Match review panel don't have any plans for this weekend

50: Luke Brooks is forced to take a second kick but goes way too deep, Souths get the 0 tackle and the 20m restart

52: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by James Tedesco. Kick to come.
Luke Brooks and James Tedesco combine for a magic try, Brooks puts a banana grubber in and Tedesco picks it up and scores

53: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Pat Richards puts the conversion through the posts and extends the lead for the Tigers

55: Time out as Isaac Luke is down injured

56: PENALTY SOUTHS - Tigers penalised for being inside the 10m, Penalty count now 7-6

56: PENALTY: Tigers penalised for a strip that replays show wasn't a strip after all

58: UNFORCED ERROR SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Ben Lowe makes an unforced error.
Ben Lowe fails to catch the pass and that means another Souths error

61: PENALTY TIGERS - Another high tackle, this time from Ben Te'o, on James Tedesco

62: SUCCESSFUL FIELD GOAL WESTS TIGERS
Field goal attempt by Braith Anasta successful.
Well ok then, Braith Anasta extends the lead out to 19, still 18 minutes to go

63: Tim Simona NOT returning for the rest of the match

64: Souths get another penalty - lets see if they can do something with this one

64: Liam Fulton coming off the field under the concussion rule

65: Another error from South gives the Tigers a scrum 20m out from their own line

65: Its flaring up again out wide after Luke Brooks was hit after he was kicked

65: Nothing comes of it, just a bit of mild push and shove

67: Well that just sums up the name for the Bunnies, Joe Picker has two open men to his outside and holds the ball and then drops the ball going himself

67: VIDEO REFEREE: Going upstairs again, Matt Cecchin says no try, checking whether Luke Brooks has stripped the ball from Nathan Merritt, Matt Cecchin says NO TRY

67: NO TRY the decision, Luke Brooks stripped it and went forward

68: Well well well, what a surprise ANOTHER drop ball from the Bunnies

68: Its on again, another high tackle could be the cause

68: James Tedesco the recipient of another high tackle and Bryson Goodwin is on Report

68: Matt Cecchin has issued Souths with a general warning that the next high tackle will go

70: Yet another report This time its Aaron Woods who's on report

70: Aaron Woods is the fourth or fifth player to go on report tonight

71: Another error from the Bunnies, its their 15th

71: SIN BIN
Luke Burgess is sent to the sin bin.
Luke Burgess is off to the sin bin following ANOTHER high tackle from the Rabbitohs

72: Another penalty against the Rabbitohs, Tigers attacking again

73: Sauaso Sue shows amazing strength to get over the line but is held up

73: VIDEO REFEREE: Going upstairs... again, checking an Aaron Woods try, Matt Cecchin says NO TRY

73: NO TRY the ruling

74: Martin Taupau tries to get up and play it too quickly and Matt Cecchin calls a knock on

76: 40/20 SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Adam Reynolds kicks a 40/20.
Well a silver lining, Adam Reynolds has notched up a 40/20

77: TRY SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Scored by Joel Reddy. Kick to come.
Joel Reddy scores over in the corner, some good play from Souths to create the overlap

78: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Conversion attempt by Adam Reynolds unsuccessful.
Adam Reynolds pushes the conversion out wide

78: Isaac Luke down with a nasty looking shoulder injury

78: Since kick off, 2 hours have elapsed, showing the physical nature of this match so far

80: 40/20 SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Adam Reynolds kicks a 40/20.
Adam Reynolds kicks his second 40/20

80: SIN BIN
Luke Brooks is sent to the sin bin.
Luke Brooks is off to the sin bin for a professional foul

80: TRY SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Scored by Joel Reddy. Kick to come.
Joel Reddy gets a double on the stroke of fulltime

80: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Conversion attempt by Adam Reynolds successful.
Adam Reynolds converts it from outwide to put some respectability into the game

80: Full Time at ANZ Stadium and the Tigers have scored an easy 25-16 win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs