Souths ease pressure on Demetriou with tense win over Bulldogs

SOUTHS WIN. The Bunnies are on the board. It was not pretty, but at least they have two points. It is amazing what one win can do to a team’s confidence. Should they defeat the New Zealand Warriors and Cronulla at home over the next fortnight, their campaign will officially be back on track. It is also a welcome relief for coach Jason Demetriou who knew it was only a matter of time before the wheel turned.

DOGS ATTACK. Canterbury had plenty of ball but struggled to come away with points. It was always the big question coming into this one against Souths. There two tries in the first half were through some brilliance from Viliame Kikau and Blake Taaffe. They had plenty of position and possession in the second half, but never really looked like scoring.

FOXX GROUNDED. Josh Addo-Carr was a late addition to the Dogs’ side after overcoming a shoulder injury, but only lasted until half-time when knocked out cold attempting to score a try. It has bee a rough old year to date for ‘The Foxx’ who will now be forced to miss the clash against the Sydney Roosters as part of the game’s 11-day stand-down rule.

South Sydney have their first win of the year, holding off Canterbury to triumph 20-16.

Connor Tracey bagged a second inside the last minute, and the Dogs missed the conversion.

The Dogs had plenty of good field position and possession, but could not score. It was a case of poor attack rather than rock-solid defence.

Half-time was the worst thing to happen to them. They were all over the Bunnies.

Souths have their first win of the year.

Nooooo. Blake Taaffe has had a decent afternoon, but he just spilled the ball on the first tackle.

Jacob Host, playing in his 100th NRL game, and Tallis Duncan forced the error.

The Bunnies have the chance to shut this game out with a penalty goal. Connor Tracey touched the ball before it went 10m from the dropout.

The Bunnies have survived. Canterbury spilled the ball. The pressure is off. But the troops are starting to go down.

Shaq Mitchell has failed his HIA, while Alex Johnston has come from the field with a leg injury. Michael Chee Kam has gone to the centres with Wighton pushed to left wing.

Viliame Kikau thought he had a try, but Gerard Sutton spotted Jaeman Salmon obstruct Dean Hawkins in the lead-up.

The bunker quickly agreed. That was a straight-forward obstruction.

We’ve got 18 minutes remaining, the Dogs trail by six and are on the attack.

Souths’ Shaq Mitchell is off for a HIA.

It’s all happening.

Jacob Preston is undergoing a HIA after displaying category-two symptoms.

The last thing Canterbury need is to potentially lose a second player to a HIA following Josh Addo-Carr’s half-time collision.

Addo-Carr is smiling and appears in good spirits on the sideline, even though his afternoon is over.

Make that a double for Jack Wighton.

Alex Johnston skipped down the left touchline and threw it back inside for his centre to score and put the Bunnies back in front.

Half-time was probably the worst thing to happen to the Dogs.

Souths lead 16-12.