Drought Broken as Bunnies March on to Premiership victory

A 43 year premiership drought is over with the South Sydney Rabbitohs scoring a 30-6 grand final win over the Canterbury Bulldogs in front of 83,833 fans at ANZ Stadium.

It was a tough opening 40 minutes, proven by the fact that Sam Burgess suffered a broken cheek in the opening tackle of the match.

Despite dominating the possession and field position the Rabbitohs could only get over the tryline once and that was through Alex Johnston who scored in the corner after a good set up from Luke Keary.

The only other points in the first half came when Adam Reynolds who missed the opening conversion took the easy two points on offer following a penalty to take it to 6-0.

Despite the Rabbitohs dominating again in the second half, it was the Bulldogs who took the opening points of the half when Tony Williams pounced on the kick to score and after Trent Hodkinson converted the scores were level.

From that moment on, the Rabbitohs kicked on with their momentum with tries coming to George Burgess who forced his way over after a barnstorming run, that was followed by a penalty goal to Adam Reynolds although heed needed two attempts to get it.

Despite the Bulldogs fighting back, the Rabbitohs were up for the challenge and in the last seven minutes they raced away for 3 quick tries to Kirisome Auva'a, Adam Reynolds and in the final stages Greg Inglis got the goanna out to score.

Overall, the premiership caps off a great season for the Rabbitohs who despite a slow start were one of the most consistent teams of the season, meanwhile for the Bulldogs the result was a disappointment but it capped off a good season and last few weeks for the side from Belmore and will look to grow on it in 2014.

SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS (30)
Tries: Alex Johnston, Adam Reynolds, George Burgess, Kirisome Auva'a, Greg Inglis
Field Goals:
Conversions: Adam Reynolds (3/4), Sam Burgess (0/1)
Penalty Goals: Adam Reynolds (2/3)

CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS (6)
Tries: Tony Williams
Field Goals:
Conversions: Trent Hodkinson (1/1)
Penalty Goals:

LATE MAIL: Canterbury-Bankstown - Moses Mbye replaces Michael Ennis at hooker. No other changes to their named team

LATE MAIL: South Sydney - Apisai Koroisau takes the place of Issac Luke who is out through suspension.

Just a few minutes before we go into the big cake pan with ingredients 43 years in the making, cake is made but the icing still to come, will the underdogs and semi-regulars perfect a well used recipe or will it be grandma's old fashion recipe of success for the Red and Green Icing - here will go, either way we are in for a tasty battle

Nothing like a bit of Bahamian hold music whilst we wait for the Bulldogs to come out on the field

So despite a scheduled 7:15 start time, were just moments from kicking off in the NRL GF

PLAY UNDERWAY - Shayne Hayne calls time on and Souths take the first use of the ball

1: First tackle and already damage done between James Graham and Sam Burgess - Sam Burgess looks to have a cheek injury

2: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Josh Jackson makes an unforced error.
Josh Jackson loses the ball early in the set and Souths are on the attack 20m out

3: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Tony Williams makes an unforced error.
Just three tackles for the Bulldogs and 2 errors, scrum for Souths on the 10m line

4: Outstanding defence twice saves the day for the Bulldogs and they work it away from their own goalline

6: VIDEO REFEREE: Lote Tuqiri claiming the opening try - checking how Sam Perrett lost control of the ball after it came free, Shayne Hayne gives us a T

6: NO TRY - PENALTY BULLDOGS - Adam Reynolds penalised for a high tackle on Sam Perrett, Bulldogs get to go over halfway

7: Josh Reynolds chips a kick into the corner and Alex Johnston takes the ball confidently on a difficult bounce

8: Josh Reynolds finds touch 10m out over in the north-eastern corner

10: Dylan Walker goes to his knees but is let to run again, Souths go towards the 30m line before kicking down to the 10m line on the last

11: Bulldogs playing a conservative game in the opening 10 minutes, defence from both sides has been strong

12: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Josh Morris makes an unforced error.
Josh Morris gets his hand to the ball down the Rabbitohs end of the field

13: Sam Burgess sporting a bloody mouth and a suspected broken cheek

13: Time off with Josh Jackson down and not in a good way

13: Josh Jackson gets hit across the face but no penalty forthcoming

14: Well out of nowhere James Graham puts the last tackle kick in from just outside his own 40m and finds touch 22m out

15: So a Burgii comes from the field but its not Sam, its Thomas who comes off

16: UNFORCED ERROR SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Dylan Walker makes an unforced error.
Souths go close again with the kicking game, but Dylan Walker knocks on close to the line

16: PENALTY BULLDOGS: George Burgess penalised for a high tackle on Moses Mbye, Penalty Count now 2-0 in favour the Bulldogs

17: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Tony Williams makes an unforced error.
Tony Williams must be on the Bulldogs express train still, looked to be a passenger on that play and lost the ball

19: PENALTY SOUTHS: Bulldogs penalised for being too slow away from the ruck

20: TRY SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Scored by Alex Johnston. Kick to come.
Luke Keary balances himself to go openside before going to the blindside and creating a 3 on 1 and the pass sends Alex Johnston over to score in the South-Eastern corner

22: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Conversion attempt by Adam Reynolds unsuccessful.
Adam Reynolds hits the conversion well but it goes across the face of the uprights so no change

22: Arms go up from Souths pleading for a penalty but its not coming

23: The Burgess brothers are not having a good night, Sam Burgess fractures his cheekbone and George Burgess suffers a head knock

26: Haven't seen much of GI tonight but there he was and out of nowhere goes up the field

27: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Penalty goal attempt by Adam Reynolds successful.
Adam Reynolds takes the easy 2 points on offer and pushes the score out to 6-0

29: Bulldogs under all sorts of pressure, only getting to the 30m line in their set of six

30: 40/20 CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Josh Reynolds kicks a 40/20.
Nobody was awake to it other than Josh Reynolds, but he gets the 40/20 and the Bulldogs go on the attack

31: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Josh Morris makes an unforced error.
Josh Morris goes for the line but can't catch the pass and loses it short of the line

33: George Burgess coming back up the tunnel and looks in better condition than when he went down the tunnel

33: Josh Reynolds kicks from just outside his 40, but sends it straight to Alex Johnston

35: Out of nowhere there is some push and shove and Luke Keary claims a headbutt but Shayne Hayne dismisses the allegations

36: Josh Morris goes to the air and catches the ball and looks to have been tackled in the air

36: PENALTY BULLDOGS: Jason Clark is penalised for taking Josh Morris in the air

38: UNFORCED ERROR CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Corey Thompson makes an unforced error.
Corey Thompson nearly gets a lucky bounce but can't quite claim it and the handover goes to the Bunnies

39: Greg Inglis goes high and Sam Perrett takes the catch at the back

39: Inside the final 90 secs and Souths on the attack with one final set of six

39: UNFORCED ERROR SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
George Burgess makes an unforced error.
George Burgess loses the ball in the final seconds of the half

40: Here come the Bunnies back onto ANZ Stadium, Cake is baked, just the icing now to be served

40: PLAY UNDERWAY in the second half - Bulldogs get the first usage of the ball

42: Souths going straight on the attack after a poor opening set from the Bulldogs

43: Josh Morris is trapped in the ingoal off the Adam Reynolds kick and pressure continues to mount

45: UNFORCED ERROR SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Sam Burgess makes an unforced error.
A poor play lets the pressure of the Dogs with Sam Burgess losing the ball 10m out from the Bulldogs line

48: James Graham back on the field as the Bulldogs scrambling defence saves the day once again

49: Bulldogs on the attack after Dylan Walker loses the ball on his own 10m line

50: VIDEO REFEREE: Possible Bulldogs TRY, Shayne Hayne says TRY, checking the onside

51: TRY CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Scored by Tony Williams. Kick to come.
After having to defend their line to no end, the Bulldogs score through Tony Williams

51: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
Conversion attempt by Trent Hodkinson successful.
Trent Hodkinson levels the scores with the conversion

53: PENALTY BULLDOGS: Luke Keary gets called out three times by Shayne Hayne, yet still makes the tackle and is duly penalised

54: Josh Reynolds puts a decent kick in that gets an even better pick up from Sam Burgess

58: TRY SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Scored by George Burgess. Kick to come.
How do you stop that? George Burgess powers his way over the line to put he Bunnies back in front

60: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Conversion attempt by Adam Reynolds successful.
Adam Reynolds converts from in front

62: Well you can't do that young James - James Graham leads with the shoulder is and is duly penalised in accordance with the rules

63: UNSUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Penalty goal attempt by Adam Reynolds unsuccessful.
Adam Reynolds takes the 2 but misses it to the left, luckily it goes dead and the 20m restart is coming

64: PENALTY SOUTHS: Aidan Tolman penalised for having a hand on the ball, Rabbitohs going the 2 again

64: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Penalty goal attempt by Adam Reynolds successful.
This time the penalty goal works and the margin goes out to 8

66: PENALTY BULLDOGS: Dave Tyrell penalised for laying in the ruck too long

67: Yet again a high tackle is not penalised after review from the Video Referees

68: Dave Tyrell has been sent into Ryde, thats how hard he's been hit by James Graham

68: James Graham getting a stern talking to from Shayne Hayne whilst David Tyrell is down on the ground

69: PENALTY BULLDOGS: George Burgess penalised for a Shoulder charge and is on report

69: That would be Tom Burgess not George

71: Repeat set for the Bulldogs - Lote Tuiqiri loses the ball trying to catch the ball

72: Another goal-line dropout coming up for the Bulldogs, they really need a try off this set to give themselves a chance

73: TRY SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Scored by Kirisome Auva'a. Kick to come.
A lucky bounce for the Auva'a sees him score deep in the corner of the field, Reynolds needs to convert to definitely put it out of reach

74: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Conversion attempt by Adam Reynolds successful.
Adam Reynolds converts the goal from out wide to send the margin out to 14

77: TRY SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Scored by Adam Reynolds. Kick to come.
Well the icing is well and truly on the cake and its red and green - Adam Reynolds gets the luck of the rebound and he scores

79: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Conversion attempt by Adam Reynolds successful.
Adam Reynolds converts his own try

80: TRY SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Scored by Greg Inglis. Kick to come.
Well the Goanna is out on ANZ Stadium and the Video Refs award the try

80: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Conversion attempt by Sam Burgess unsuccessful.
Sam Burgess misses the conversion