Jai Arrow makes his 100th Rabbitohs appearance, South Sydney beat Roosters 50-22 to secure home NRL final
Tears flowed as Jai Arrow made his 100th Rabbitohs appearance, with his Souths teammates helping crush the reserve team of their arch rivals, the Roosters.
asserted
teammates → make → rivals
Arrow choked back tears when he was hugged by Wayne Bennett as the forward was given a hero's reception at a sold out Sydney Football Stadium.
asserted
forward → choke → Stadium
The 31-year-old father of one was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) this year and, until two weeks ago, was stranded on 98 NRL games for the Bunnies.
asserted
father → diagnose → Bunnies
At Bennett's initiative, the NRL allowed Souths an extra interchange against the Gold Coast last week for game number 99 and again on Friday against the Roosters.
asserted
NRL → allow → Roosters
"It was pretty emotional," Cam Murray told Channel 9.
asserted
Murray → tell → Channel
"I'm just so happy that everyone was able to get around him and he's been able to feel all the love.
"
asserted
he → get → love
I know he really appreciates it and we love to see it.
asserted
we → know → it
"We all love him and happy he was able to notch up 100 games."
asserted
he → love → games
Arrow led his teammates out to the sound of the Gerry and the Pacemakers rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone, with 14th Immortal and dual-club legend Ron Coote ringing the Rabbitohs' bell.
asserted
Immortal → lead → bell
The former Queensland State of Origin forward was given a guard of honour by more than 100 Souths old boys, including members of the 2021 grand final squad Arrow was a member of and his family, who all sobbed along with him and plenty of others in the stands.
asserted
who → give → stands
"It was emotional," Roosters captain Connor Watson said in his post-match press conference.
asserted
Watson → say → conference
In the subsequent match, the Rabbitohs ran in 10 tries to pummel the Roosters 50-20, who had rested 10 of their star players with a top four spot secure.
asserted
spot → run → players
But in completing the win, Souths have themselves earned a home finals spot, and will face Newcastle at either the Olympic Stadium or Sydney Football Stadium next week.
asserted
Souths → complete → Stadium
Campbell Graham scored twice for the Rabbitohs, who had nine different try scorers on the night, including Alex Johnston, who crossed for the 30th time this season.
asserted
who → score → time
Latrell Mitchell was one of them, scoring on his return to the starting line up while mixing his sublime skill with fearsome physicality, most notably when he flattened Toby Rodwell in the closing stages, standing over the stricken half like Mohammed Ali over Sonny Liston in their 1965 rematch.
asserted
he → score → rematch
If Mitchell's performance was heartening — a poor 5/10 kicking rate aside — Roosters firebrand Spencer Leniu will have raised concerns from coach Trent Robinson in the first half.
Leniu squared up to Keaon Koloamatangi after the Rabbitohs prop smashed him in a tackle twice in the same set, the second time tossing the ball away and giving away a penalty.
asserted
prop → raise → penalty
Titans fume over questionable calls
asserted
Titans → fume → calls
Earlier, the Dolphins hung on to beat the Titans 24-20 on the Gold Coast.
asserted
Dolphins → hang → Coast
It was the Dolphins' seventh-consecutive win, but almost didn't happen as the Titans fought back late on and were unfortunate not to come away with the win.
asserted
Titans → happen → win
The Titans were left fuming when, while leading 14-0, they had Keano Kini sin-binned in the 23rd minute for a very soft push on Dolphins winger Tevita Naufahu.
asserted
Kini → leave → Naufahu
Josh Hannay was fuming after that call, and a trio of others in the closing minutes, went against his side.
asserted
trio → fume → side
"I thought it was incredibly harsh and not long after that they get a try from a knock-on," Hannay said.
asserted
Hannay → think → on
"You talk about momentum swings — they don't get much bigger than that.
asserted
they → talk → that
Moe [Moeaki Fotuaika] got smacked in the face at the end and ends up in the bin for retaliating.
asserted
Moe → smack → bin
"[Jamayne Isaako] throws a leg out to trip [AJ Brimson] in the act of a potential try-scoring play and it is just a penalty.
asserted
it → throw → play
"You stack all those things up and you lose by four points, you have got to be proud of your team's effort."
asserted
you → stack → effort
With AAP
Look back on how all the action unfolded in our live blog.
asserted
action → look → blog
Submit a comment or question
Live updates
Live updates: Souths vs Roosters
New: Filters
Choose what information you see below by using filters
Time to say goodnight
Well, it's been a big day.
Jai Arrow has played 100 NRL games for South Sydney.
asserted
Arrow → submit → Sydney
As so many people have said, some things are bigger than rugby league.
asserted
things → say → league
We'll be back tomorrow, I hope you'll join us then.
asserted
you → hope → us
Jai Arrow moment 'very touching': Watson
Connor Watson is speaking about what it felt like to be out there today during the Jai Arrow moment pre-game.
asserted
it → speak → game
"It was emotional," Watson says.
"
asserted
Watson → say → ?
I think we had an error off the kick off?" he says.
asserted
he → think → kick
"I thought our effort was outstanding, I thought the boys worked really hard, they didn't stop, but we had errors at a lot of different times."
He says that he knows people will disagree with his decision to play the kids, but he knows that he got a lot out of it.
"
asserted
he → think → it
I love the fact that they got to experience that.
asserted
they → love → that
There's a lot of future out there," he says.
asserted
he → be → future
"I thought the experience that they got was great."
asserted
they → think → that
He says that Spencer Leniu possibly "went over" the line at times, but he doesn't want to curb his natural "spirit".
uncertain
he → say → spirit
"He's got enough experience that he should have regulated it," he says.
asserted
he → get → it
"He creates an atmosphere when he's in that mode, aside from [the penalty] I would have liked it to be beneficial to us.
asserted
it → create → us
…and 63 more, not listed.
The Aporia