South Sydney thump Manly, book grand final spot

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are through to NRL Grand Final after thumping the Sea Eagles 36-16 at Suncorp Stadium.

Heading into tonight’s preliminary final, pre-game drama rocked both sides with the Sea Eagles stuck in traffic, which prompted a 15-minute delay to kick-off as a police escort was called in to assist Manly’s trip.

But for the Rabbitohs, the later start clearly didn’t phase them.

An unanswered four-try opening half from the Rabbitohs, which included a double to star playmaker Cody Walker, handed the Redfern-based side with a giant lead at the main break and from there they barely broke a sweat.

Manly challenged in the first half, but two disallowed tries proved crucial.

Winger Reuben Garrick was denied a try due to obstruction in the lead-up, while superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic missed out on a certain try after losing possession of the ball just moments before grounding it.

In all, 58 per cent of the possession, along with a 77 per cent completion rate for South Sydney was the difference on the stat sheet as Manly notched 17 errors and coughed up four penalties to one.

“Errors, so many errors tonight,” Manly great Paul Vautin said in commentary for Nine.

Tries to Garrick and Trbojevic in the final 10 minutes of the match cut into the deficit, but by then the game was well out of reach.

Rugby league great Brad Fittler lauded South Sydney’s ability to remain calm when early in the first half a few moments didn’t go their way.

“They (South Sydney) were very calm, very confident,” Fittler said.

“Even when a couple of balls went to ground, they didn’t lose their rhythm.

“They gave away one penalty and a couple of six-agains in the first half and Manly just couldn’t go with them because they spent so much time on their try line.

“They put them to the sword and Manly got worse and worse throughout the night.”

South Sydney will play the winner out of Melbourne vs Penrith, who face-off tomorrow night.