Newtown continued a dream start to their Knock-On Effect NSW Cup premiership defence with a crushing 40-10 win over South Sydney in an NRL curtain-raiser at Sharks Stadium on Saturday.
After conceding the first try, the Jets went on to cross the line eight times in a clinical performance headlined by doubles to winger Eli Clark and centre Michael Gabrael. Fullback Mawene Hiroti also played a leading hand and scored a try.
Match: Jets v Rabbitohs
Round 3 -
home Team
Jets
2nd Position
away Team
Rabbitohs
10th Position
Venue: Sharks Stadium, Sydney
The victory takes Newtown's record to 3-0, having also beaten Penrith and Newcastle.
The Rabbitohs struck against the grain in the seventh minute when winger Max Lehman plucked an intercept and ran close to the length of the field, evading a desperate cover tackle from Hiroti to score in the corner.
The Jets quickly landed a double blow down the left edge, however, with young gun Gabrael bagging his first NSW Cup try before Clark acrobatically finished off some slick ball movement to make it 8-4 after 16 minutes.
Newtown lock Hohepa Puru soon extended the margin, putting himself in position to ground a clever grubber from hooker Jayden Berrell under the posts.
Closing out a one-sided half, the speedy Gabrael grabbed his second as he ran into a hole on a simple short-side raid to stretch the lead to 20-4.
The procession continued after the break when Hiroti and Gabrael combined to send former Bulldogs outside back Clark over again.
Daniel O'Donnell gave the South Sydney faithful reason to cheer when he burrowed over from dummy-half in the 50th minute before an arm-wrestle ensued, with no action on the scoreboard for the next 15 minutes.
The Jets then touched down for the sixth time in spectacular fashion, centre Chris Vea'ila delivering an outrageous flick pass to create space for a brilliant Kristian Dixon finish. Vea'ila soon had a try of his own, sliding into the right-hand corner, before Hiroti completed the rout with a deserved four-pointer in the 78th minute.
Newtown will host the Bulldogs at Henson Park at 3pm next Saturday.
