Rabbitohs 38
Warriors 28
The rigours of a tough month of bruising defensive football appeared to finally catch up with the Warriors as the more desperate Rabbitohs rolled them in Sydney yesterday.
The Warriors were flat at the start and flattened at the death as the Rabbitohs ran in five second-half tries to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit.
"The spark just wasn't there," admitted captain Simon Mannering.
Even so, a late fightback meant the Warriors were still in the match in the closing minutes. Trailing by four points with three minutes left on the clock, a penalty gave them a fresh set at the Rabbitohs' line. But the chance went begging when Micheal Luck threw a deliberate forward pass and the Rabbitohs marched down the field to kill the game off with a try to reserve centre Jamie Simpson.
"That roll they got on in the second half, they just grew an extra leg and really gave it to us," Mannering said. "It was disappointing to give yourself a chance and throw it away in the second half. We played bad but we still had a chance to win it, which makes it even more disappointing."
The defeat dropped the Warriors to sixth, while the Rabbitohs moved, temporarily at least, into the top eight.
The Warriors were off the pace from the outset. Prop Jesse Royal fumbled the ball on the second tackle, Luck gave away two penalties and forward Eddy Pettybourne ran hard and straight to pierce the line and score.
But while the staunch defence that held Penrith and Melbourne at bay was absent, the Warriors at least possessed an attacking spark.
Lance Hohaia was a menace out of dummy half, capitalising on lax Bunnies marker defence.
After a slick attacking set James Maloney delivered a pinpoint kick that Manu Vatuvei knocked back for Lewis Brown to scrape up and score.
Vatuvei then went from provider to finisher, thundering over Nathan Merritt as the Warriors took the lead for the first time.
A rash of Rabbitohs possession ended with Merritt getting one back on the hulking Vatuvei, the winger crossing in the corner to finish a swift passing move. Defensive frailties out wide would return to haunt the Warriors, but first the tit-for-tat scoring continued when Ian Henderson sent prop Jeremy Latimore over with a pass that incensed the home crowd.
An errant Sam Burgess pass that was picked off by Maloney handed the Warriors a 10-point buffer on the stroke of halftime but it never looked enough when the Bunnies found their groove shortly after the restart.
The game changed when centre Jerome Ropati was penalised for running into Hohaia with the Warriors looking dangerous. Instead Fetuli Talanoa rounded the flat-footed Kevin Locke to score at the other end. Three more tries followed in quick succession, with the Warriors powerless to stop the bleeding.
"When we kept control of the football we looked pretty good but, unfortunately, I had a feeling throughout the game that we were never really in that much control of the ball," coach Ivan Cleary said. "At the end of the day we got what we deserved.
"We just weren't quite there. We've had a good strong period of probably six games. Today we were a little bit off. There were a couple of blokes in particular who were well below what they needed to be and that is probably enough."
Locke had a particularly tough day, shrugged off by Colin Best as the Rabbitohs ran 80 metres for the go-ahead try.
"Souths have a lot of strike in their team, especially on the edges, and if you invite the opportunities you take the risk of them making you pay," Cleary said. "That is pretty much what happened ...We opened the door and we paid the price."
Their first loss in six matches may have also brought bad news on the injury front. Locke hobbled off with a hamstring injury then Jerome Ropati appeared to tweak a groin.
With Brent Tate copping a poke in the eye that required further inspection, it was a tough day on the club's outside back resources as well as the scoreboard.
Joel Moon looms as a likely replacement, while Patrick Ah Van also returned to action with the Auckland Vulcans after a succession of injuries.
* Shaun Johnson's 78th-minute field goal gave the Junior Warriors a fifth straight win and moved them within one point of the competition lead after they beat leading side South Sydney 19-18 in the curtain-raiser.
