The Canberra Raiders have picked up a crucial 14-point victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Saturday night to keep their slender finals hopes alive.
Final score
South Sydney Rabbitohs 18
Canberra Raiders 32
The South Sydney Rabbitohs host the Canberra Raiders this Saturday afternoon, with the latter looking to find a way in the top 8 come the end of the season. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 5:30pm AEST.
The Rabbitohs have been poor this season. Lurking in 14th place and with very little time left to drastically improve their position on the NRL ladder, Souths need to provide their loyal supporters with something to cheer about as they host Canberra this weekend.
The Sydney based outfit have been far below expectations, with their form reflecting that with three loses from their past five games.
An injury to Greg Inglis has certainly hurt the Rabbitohs, but this shouldn’t affect a club like Souths who a few years ago won the NRL Grand Final.
However, the Rabbitohs can enter this match knowing they can beat a Canberra outfit that has also failed to meet expectations so far this season.
The Raiders have struggled all year, and enter this match with one win from their last five games. Additionally, away fixtures have always been their largest weakness and Souths can consider themselves a chance against a poor Raiders outfit this coming Saturday.
Canberra will also be missing the likes of Jordan Rapana and Iosia Soliola, whose shot on Billy Slater had earned him a stint of the sidelines for a few weeks to come.
Prediction
Both sides have struggled so far this season, but Canberra need this win more than Souths to keep their finals chances alive, even if remotely.
Canberra by 10
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 5:30pm AEST.
steveng
Roar Rookie
As a Souths fan, this is my final comment for 2017 'HOPELESS' and they are going from bad to worst. They better get their stuff together for 2018 as things look pretty bad as they are.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Big Dave Taylor was again outstanding for the Raiders last night. Can't believe the club hasn't tried to match the offer from the Toronto Wolfpack. Come on Ricky and Donnie - get the job done and get Dave re-signed. Canberra needs Dave Taylor.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Not sure that the Raiders were favoured to win this game - about 60% of Roarers went for the Bunnies. Saw some encouraging signs of the 2016 version of the Raiders last night. Souths were awful in the first half but the Raiders were good enough to take advantage. Paulo was great up front, both halves were both solid if unspectacular and kept taking the right options - Sezer's cut out pass to Oldfield was a peach - and Tapine looked really good on an edge. I really liked the use of Baptiste starting - helped the Raiders get to a good first half lead - and Hodgson played one of his best games for the season at dummy half in the second half. Croker's defence was outstanding all night and he seemed to be running more freely. Cotric played his usual stellar game - mistake free with a couple of busting runs. BJ played his best game for some time with not one brain fade that I can recall - his IQ seemed to double overnight. The only real concern was a couple of poor reads by Jack Wighton that contributed to two tries. He simply has to get these out of his game if he is to remain at fullback. If the Raiders can somehow conjure up a win against the Sharks next week they could get on a roll and have a potential 4 point game against the Panthers a fortnight after that.
Jon
Roar Rookie
Good to see the Raiders win a game that everyone said they should win. They had a number of very good performers out there tonight, though there was still some of their usual rubbish. BJ, Tapine and Sezer had one of their better games. Taylor again was pretty good, though probably got a bit too excited with the offloads. Still need to be tighter with their discipline though if they want to get close to beating the Sharks next week. Souths did make it easy on them though as they were poor for large portions of that match. Plus they could count themselves a bit unlucky as during one of the better patches the refs missed a penalty and that turned into them losing a player for 10. They were within 8 at that point and who knows how things might have gone if the high shot had been penalised instead of let go. It wasn't a great match, but that matters a bit less when you get the 2 points.
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
FULL TIME: SOUTH SYDNEY 18-32 CANBERRA The Raiders dominate to keep heir finals hopes alive Post match analysis to come shortly
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
80TH MIN: Conversion Successful 18-32 the final score here
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
80TH MIN: TRY SOUTHS Alex Johnston scores in the dying seconds!! 16-32 kick to come
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
76TH MIN: Canberra survive and clear the ball Throughly deserved victory for the Raiders here this evening
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
74TH MIN: Penalty for Souths Can they earn a consolation try here
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
72ND MIN: Another mistake by Souths...
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
70TH MIN: Scrum Rabbits Game looks dead and buried now as the Rabbits
Scott Pryde
Expert
I'm still fuming.
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
68TH MIN: 32-12 Canberra They are still in contention for the top 8
LMM
Guest
How is that a penalty? Hodgson took 2 steps sideways before he passed
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
TRY RAIDERS AN AMAZING BALL to Michael Oldfield as he scores in the corner 12-30 Kick to come Game over
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
66TH MIN: Penalty Raiders If they score here it's most certainly over
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
64TH MIN: Another mistake by Souths They look deflated and dismal
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
63RD MIN: Both teams easing up now, Souths need to show some urgency in their attack
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
You may be right
Samuel Ashton
Roar Guru
61ST MIN: Rabbits look out of it here Raiders should be home Big Dave Taylor having a great impact here