Latrell Mitchell celebrated his 150th game in style scoring his first hat-trick for the Rabbitohs as the Bunnies started the Easter long weekend with a 50-16 win against the Bulldogs.
The win meant the Rabbitohs kept their stellar Good Friday form intact, with the Bulldogs unable to beat them on the public holiday since 2017.
However, the match started well for the Dogs who scored the first try with a lovely play from the scrum, sending the ball out wide to the right where Jake Averillo ran almost the length of the field, bringing the ball down under the posts to open the scoring.
However, things turned sour for the Dogs soon after, when Josh Addo-Carr left the field in just the 10th minute, clutching at his leg after getting caught awkwardly on the turf.
Addo-Carr forced from the field
While fans held grave fears initially of a possible ACL injury, it was later reported he had suffered a syndesmosis injury.
His departure opened up the attacking options for the Rabbitohs who then made a concerted attack on the Bulldogs’ left edge where Addo-Carr would normally defend and ran in four first half tries, including two back-to-back to Mitchell.
The Dogs struggled to regain their early composure and went into the break trailing 26-6.
In the second half, the Dogs composed themselves early to stem the bleeding and were even the first to score after the break.
They thought they had a try when Matt Burton ran through a gap to set up his outside men, but the Bunker found that Josh Reynolds had stopped in the line and prevented Davy Moale from making a tackle.
Burton scores from Mahoney kick
There was no question about their next attempt however and were on the scoreboard after Reed Mahoney put a kick through the line for a chasing Burton who found Mitchell out of position to score the try.
However, they were their own worst enemies again, giving up the ball to release pressure with another error.
The Rabbitohs made them pay, scoring five second half tries to bring up their half century, with both Mitchell and Campbell Graham posting hat-tricks.
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Match Snapshot
- Latrell Mitchell scored his first hat-trick for the Rabbitohs to celebrate his 150th match.
- Mitchell scored 26 points in the match, three points off the club record of 29 in a game.
- Centre Campbell Graham also scored a hat-trick, posting his first try in the 68th minute and his last in the 78th minute.
- Reed Mahoney kicked another 40/20 in this match, to bring his season tally to three to top the competition.
- Josh Addo-Carr left the field in the 10th minute with a syndesmosis injury.
- Jacob Preston was put on report for a hip drop tackle on Izaac Tu’itupou Thompson, who left the field with a leg injury.
- The Bulldogs have still not defeated the Rabbitohs on Good Friday since 2017.
- The Rabbitohs have now won 10 of their past 12 games against the Bulldogs.
- Prior to this match, the Bulldogs had won four of their past five games at Accor Stadium.
- The Rabbitohs 50-16 win was the second time the club have posted 50 points against the Bulldogs. The last time was in 1953.
Play of the Game
It was Latrell Mitchell's first of three tries, doing what fullbacks to best, backing up in support and running away to score.
Latrell scores in 150th game
What They Said
Bulldogs: Round 6
"I thought we started really strong. A couple of things went against us and three tries in 10 minutes before half-time and we just couldn't turn it around. It's about not doing the basics well in that period. I was happy with how we started the second half and then that [Jacob Preston] sin-bin we just didn't handle it. We could've clawed it back if we practiced what we train but it was disappointing." - Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo.
Rabbitohs: Round 6
"I am really happy with how we handled that first 15, I know we came up with a length-of-the-field try, we were a little bit jittery in our good ball and we were under the pump a little bit, but was really pleased how we weathered that and got in a rhythm. I knew if we could get one, we could get two. We need to get [Latrell Mitchell] the ball in the right field position ... tonight he was Latrell Mitchell and that's what we want for him every week." - Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou
What's Next
Next week, the Rabbitohs travel to Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night to take on the Dolphins to take on the new club of their former coach Wayne Bennett.
The Bulldogs will play the Eels on Sunday afternoon at CommBank Stadium.