South Sydney vs Brisbane highlights: NRL live scores, blog

Match Results:

South Sydney Rabbitohs 12
Brisbane Broncos 47

An Anthony Milford and Ben Hunt inspired Brisbane Broncos have absolutely dismantled the hapless South Sydney Rabbitohs at Allianz Stadium this evening winning by 35 points in a game they never looked like losing.

The Broncos scored some absolutely brilliant tries this evening as their attack looked completely revamped and many of those tries, particularly those that involved Milford were long range ones that absolutely carved up the Rabbitohs defensive line.

Anthony Milford may have been the man to steal the limelight this evening but he was backed up brilliantly by a number of team mates including Ben Hunt, Sam Thaiday, Corey Oates, Andrew McCullogh, Matt Gillett and Corey Parker. However, there wasn’t a bad Broncos player on the field tonight.

For the Rabbitohs, Dylan Walker was by far their best on ground, however it was never going to change the result and even his performance dropped off in the second half. Too much dropped ball in the second half marred their chances of coming back, which at times looked threatening.

The scoring started early with Jordan Kahu scoring in the 7th minute off an offload from Sam Thaiday to Anthony Milford who set Kahu up for his first in the corner.

The next one was Corey Oates after the Rabbitohs had a crack at scoring. A kick came across the field and Johnston looked destined to score but dropped it where Corey Oates was waiting and he ran 100 metres to score, dragging Walker with him for the last 30 metres as he made multiple attempts to tackle the Broncos winger.

Ben Hunt then scored off the next kick off in the 15th minute as the Broncos ran 100 metres to score again. Milford was put through the line and ran 70 metres before the speed of the play saw the Rabbitohs have no chance of getting back making things easy for Hunt to score.

Kahu had his second in the 25th minute with a perfectly executed, but poorly defended set play.

Chris Grevsmuhl was able to hit back for Souths near the end of the first half

The Broncos then, were absolutely dominating at half time, up by 16 points.

Coming out in the second half and it was clear that the Rabbitohs had to start strongly and score first, however a dropped ball by Thomas Burgess in the first set of six completely reversed any chances they had and the Broncos were all over them from then on. The Rabbitohs had some threatening moment but apart from a single try never mounted a comeback against the Broncos defence.

Ben Hunt opened the scoring in the second half with a try in the 46th minute with a rather strange try. Off a grubber Glenn Stewart came up with the ball and then had it stripped one on one for Hunt to score.

The Rabbitohs were the next to score giving themselves a glimmer of hope as Isaac Luke scored darting out of dummy half with ease off some fast play the balls.

Anthony Milford then put the game beyond doubt with a try in the 63rd minute and his first for the night. It was a soft try that summed up the Rabbitohs night as Ben Hunt put a grubber in and Milford scored without a Rabbitohs player anywhere near him.

Just three minutes later, Ben Hunt scored with ease as Justin Hodges burst out of dummy half from behind half way and after looking right passed left to Hunt leading to him scoring with ease.

Milford then scored his second try for the evening as Hunt made a break and set him up.

For some reason, possibly practice Milford kicked a field goal in the 78th minute to make the result look as weird as you are ever going to see. An odd number that is almost 50.

The Broncos in the end far too good tonight and the Rabbitohs risk dropping out of the top four depending on other results this weekend. The Broncos meanwhile move into first place for at least 24 hours depending on how the Sydney Roosters go tomorrow against the Sea Eagles.

Match Preview:

Thursday night football in Round 25 sees the South Sydney Rabbitohs host the Brisbane Broncos at Allianz Stadium, with both teams in the top four but needing a confidence-restoring win. Join The Roar for live coverage from 7:30pm (AEST).

Both sides have struggled in recent times to pick up the wins.

The hosts had a demoralising loss to the Bulldogs last weekend, that also saw Queensland and Australia fullback Greg Inglis injured. With Souths dishing up some very average performances of late, the loss of Inglis looks set to make things worse.

The Broncos, coming off the back of a couple of losses, took on the Sydney Roosters away from home last week in what was shaping as a statement game. However, despite defending well, the performance they dished up wasn’t good enough, and they went down.

The losses before the game against the Roosters were against the Canterbury Bulldogs and Manly Sea Eagles, making you question exactly where the team is. A positive win against the St George Illawarra Dragons in the middle helped, but it is imperative the Broncos put up a good fight against the Rabbitohs.

In team news for the Rabbitohs, Alex Johnston moves from the wing to fullback to cover the injured Inglis, with Joel Reddy coming onto the wing. Issac Luke is back from suspension in a straight swap with Cameron McInnes at hooker.

Luke Keary is the other player to return from suspension, meaning John Sutton will go from the halves back to the second row, with Kyle Turner shifting to lock and Chris Grevsmuhl on the bench for Paul Carter. Chris McQueen misses the side while Glenn Stewart and Jason Clark shift between the back row and the bench.

The Broncos are unchanged.

The Rabbitohs have become more and more reliant on Inglis of late, meaning Johnston will have to be brilliant if the Rabbitohs are to walk away with a win.

The Broncos need to spend less time in their own 20-metre zone. Recent games have seen opposing teams camped on Brisbane’s try line and while these teams have struggled to score points, the Broncos can’t score points and win games from this position either.

Prediction
The loss of Greg Inglis will be too much for the Rabbitohs to overcome.

Broncos by 4.

Join The Roar for live coverage of this clash from 7:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to comment if you’re following along.