Sharks vs Rabbitohs

Welcome to news.com.au's live blog of the NRL semi-final between the Cronulla Sharks and South Sydney Rabbitohs from Allianz Stadium.

Souths also lost Tom Burgess through suspension this week after his hit on James Tedesco. “He’ll be right to go tomorrow night.” It makes it 30-12 and making it harder and harder for the Sharks to mount a comeback. The Rabbitohs have injury troubles of their own as Campbell Graham will return for the match but need a pain-killing injection to get on the field. It's 12-0 and the Sharks are looking down the barrel of a straight sets loss to be bundled out of the finals – unless they can turn it around. Taane Milne crossed in the corner after quick hands gave Latrell early ball and he threw a pin-point perfect cut-out ball to put Milne in in the corner. A cross-field kick from Nicho Hynes was knocked back into the hands of Nikora, who crossed in the corner to open the account for Cronulla. It's taken just two minutes for the Sharks to get on the board with Briton Nikora scoring straight after the break. After scoring first in the second half, before the Rabbitohs immediately responded to make it 24-6, the Sharks needed to score. A bomb was knocked back by Ronaldo Mulitalo, caught by Briton Nikora and spectacularly passed behind his back for Ramien to go and score in the corner. The first half was an absolute nightmare for the Sharks as the Rabbitohs controlled the play from beginning to end. Both teams were in instant classics last week and it shapes up as another belter as the teams play off for the right to play the Penrith Panthers for a spot in the NRL grand final.

NRL FINALS LIVE: Souths stun Sharks to hold 18-0 lead at halftime.

A high tackle penalty gifted Souths field position and hooker Damien Cook fired a pass to Mark Nicholls who ran over the top of Toby Rudolf to score. There won’t be the same emotion driving Saturday’s semi-final with the Sharks as there was when they took on old enemies the Roosters, but a spot in a preliminary final is on the line. Superstar Souths trio Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker and Cameron Murray proved to be the difference in a high pressure game that challenged the former two to keep their cool. “Mark Nicholls crashes into Toby Rudolf and wins the battle, straight over the top of the No.8 and that is a concern for Cronulla,” Greg Alexander said on Fox League. The Sharks missed out on a week off after losing to the Cowboys by two points in a thrilling 93-minute battle on home soil. A slick backline move from Souths ended with Latrell Mitchell throwing a cut-out pass for Taane Milne to score in the corner. A high tackle penalty gifted Souths field position and hooker Damien Cook fired a pass to Nicholls who ran over the top of Toby Rudolf to score. “Just look at the hands here, (Lachlan) Illias, beautiful, a tip on to Latrell, across the face of Campbell Graham and Taane Milne into the corner.” Murray took on Dale Finucane from a standing start and fended off his opposite number to score next to the posts. But Souths soon had their second try thanks to a beautiful backline move ending with Taane Milne crossing in the corner. A Cameron Murray solo effort on the stroke of halftime ensured the Rabbitohs will take some serious beating in the second half. Souths were attacking Cronulla’s line with 30 seconds left in the half but there was nothing happening when the ball was thrown to skipper Cameron Murray.

A preliminary final against the minor premiers awaits the winner of tonight's clash, which kicks off at 8pm.

The Rabbitohs will need to be better than they were tonight, but they’re in with a real shake. The Rabbitohs and Panthers collide next week. Well folks, that’s all for week two of the NRL finals series.

Just six days after a brutal clash with the Roosters in Finals Week 1, South Sydney were a step above their opponents at Allianz Stadium, showing both ...

"We know how tough a job we have got ahead of us now and I was pleased as a coach to see how they were flipping their minds straight to the task that is coming up next week. I am really proud of their effort, I thought defensively we were outstanding again tonight and that will be important next week. It was a great show of strength and desire from Murray, against a quality defender in Dale Finucane. You know who you are, you know how you want to play, for semi-finals our defence just wasn't good enough so I won't be finishing this year feeling happy. We have been shuffling the decks over the last eight weeks, with guys in and guys out - and no consistency with training - but there's no excuse at this time. - Following a period where the game went end to end, the Sharks were the next to break 10 minutes from half-time, with the Rabbitohs moving the ball quickly to the right for Taane Milne to score.

Souths enforcer 'in trouble' for 'chicken wing' as Tallis calls out Mulitalo for 'milking'

I don’t think he will get suspended. “You could see what he was trying to do. “I think he’s in trouble. There is no doubt there is a milk. “I think he will get a fine to be fair,” Parker said. “That is completely irrelevant. “I think he will get suspended,” Ennis said. “Do you think it is bad enough to get suspended?” Tallis said. “I don’t think it was that bad,” Tallis said. “I think that is a chicken wing.” “No it is not,” Tallis said. “I disagree,” Ennis said.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are through to the preliminary finals yet again where they will meet the Penrith Panthers following a big win in their semi-final ...

[Jai Arrow](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/jai-arrow/) also appeared to come off the field with a leg injury in the closing minutes of the game. Bunker intervention would see the try overruled for the kick chase being offside however. But it would be just minutes later that the Rabbitohs hit back. The first half continued with a game struggling to break out into any sort of reasonable rhythm. [Cameron Murray](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/cameron-murray/) sent [Cody Walker](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/cody-walker/) over for a try which took the lead back out to 18. [Cronulla Sharks](https://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/teams/cronulla-sharks/) 12 (Tries: [Briton Nikora](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/briton-nikora/), [Ronaldo Mulitalo](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/ronaldo-mulitalo/), Goals: [Nicho Hynes](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/nicho-hynes/) 2/2) defeated by [South Sydney Rabbitohs](https://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/teams/south-sydney-rabbitohs/) 36 (Tries: [Mark Nicholls](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/mark-nicholls/), [Taane Milne](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/taane-milne/) [2], [Cameron Murray](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/cameron-murray/), [Lachlan Ilias](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/lachlan-ilias/), [Cody Walker](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/cody-walker/), Goals: [Latrell Mitchell](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/latrell-mitchell/) 6/6, Penalty goal: [Latrell Mitchell](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/latrell-mitchell/) 1/1) [Briton Nikora](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/briton-nikora/) behind the back pass to [Jesse Ramien](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/jesse-ramien/) who would score in the corner. [Latrell Mitchell](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/latrell-mitchell/) ball to [Taane Milne](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/taane-milne/) would see him throw it back inside to [Lachlan Ilias](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/lachlan-ilias/) who crashed over for a try which, with a conversion sending the lead back out to 18 points with just over 30 minutes to play. [Taane Milne](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/taane-milne/) crashed over for a try. [Taane Milne](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/taane-milne/) and [Cameron Murray](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/cameron-murray/) put the Rabbitohs up 18 points to 0 at halftime. [Mark Nicholls](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/mark-nicholls/) crashing over off a short ball from [Damien Cook](https://www.zerotackle.com/players/damien-cook/) through the middle third. [South Sydney Rabbitohs](https://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/teams/south-sydney-rabbitohs/) are through to the preliminary finals yet again where they will meet the [Penrith Panthers](https://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/teams/penrith-panthers/) following a big win in their semi-final over the [Cronulla Sharks](https://www.zerotackle.com/nrl/teams/cronulla-sharks/) on Saturday night.