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South Sydney have taken a big win on the road over the New Zealand Warriors, victorious by 20 points in Auckland.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
New Zealand Warriors 10
South Sydney Rabbitohs 30
The New Zealand Warriors take on the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Mt Smart Stadium, in Auckland. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 5:30pm (AEST).
If someone had told you pre-season that these teams would be sitting third and fourth on the ladder leading into Round 12, you would have been forgiven for checking them into the loony bin.
Both sides were expected to slide in 2018, with the Warriors widely predicted to pick up the spoon. Yet here they are, two surprise packets of this season.
Other than a couple of blow-out losses to the Storm and Roosters, the Warriors’ form has been good, winning eight and losing three. They comfortably dealt with Parramatta last weekend, and will be looking forward to running out in front of a big home crowd tonight.
In terms of team changes, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck comes back in at fullback, after missing last round due to the birth of his child. Peta Hiku moves to centre and Gerald Beale moves out of the 17. There has been some talk about Shaun Johnson playing, but it looks like he will take another weekend to recover ahead of their bye.
The Rabbitohs were fortunate to get the win over the Cowboys last weekend, however they showed great poise in that last set to get to North Queensland’s 20-metre zone and draw the penalty. You get the feeling that last year’s team wouldn’t have managed that.
Souths’ challenge this week is how they manage the travel between Townsville and Auckland.
In team changes, Greg Inglis replaces the injured Alex Johnston at fullback, Adam Doueihi comes into the centres, and Mark Nicholls makes the bench. Sam Burgess has been named to play after failing to complete last weekend’s match.
History-wise, these two played in the first round, at Optus Stadium, with the Warriors emerging victorious. Prior to that, South Sydney had enjoyed a string of comfortable wins.
Prediction
Travel fatigue may impact the Rabbitohs, which may be enough to tip the result in the Warriors’ favour.
Warriors by 4
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