Round 3 2013 PANTHERS V RABBITOHS

[TITAN PETE]

PANTHERS V RABBITOHS

24TH MARCH, 3:00PM, CENTREBET STADIUM | #NRLPENSOU


Panthers
Coming soon

Coach: Ivan Cleary

Rabbitohs
Coming soon

Coach: Michael Maguire

[DIEHARD]

[TITAN PETE]

Halftime 34-16 Souths , 50 points in the 1st half unbelievable

[TITAN PETE]

Souths' Maguire wants improved defence

RSS
By Russell Jackson AAP Sun, Mar 24, 2013 - 6:23 PM


South Sydney coach Michael Maguire is more interested in his side improving their defence than whether troubled Canterbury fullback Ben Barba makes his NRL return against them on Good Friday.

Having survived a scare against Penrith at Centrebet Stadium on Sunday, the Rabbitohs next meet last year's runners-up and the team that knocked them out of the finals with Barba rumoured to be making his comeback after dealing with personal issues.

"I'm not focusing on that. We'll look at our game and how we can improve," said Maguire when asked if he thought Barba would play against the Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium.

Souths maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a 44-32 victory over a gallant Penrith who clawed their way back from an 18-point halftime deficit in Sydney's west, where temperatures hit the mid-30s.

Maguire paid respect to the Panthers after the 14-try thriller where his side let in six four-pointers.

"Credit to Penrith, they kept fighting," he said.

"Under the circumstances of the day with the heat and things like that they probably handled it a bit better than us at times.

"Our execution and our completions of sets put us into a lot of pressure positions but I was glad we fought to the end."

The Rabbitohs coach was quick to point out his area of concern.

"As a group there's plenty for us to work on defensively," he said.

"We'll look through it this week and look at how we can improve our defence."

Penrith got within two points of the Rabbitohs with just under 10 minutes remaining.

But the visitors kicked clear with two late tries including the final four-pointer of the day to winger Nathan Merritt who scored his second hat-trick of the season.

The Panthers gave the crowd of 12,940 plenty to cheer about after the halftime break with three unanswered tries to winger David Simmons, who scored a double, replacement hooker James Segeyaro and centre Wes Naiqama.

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary was proud of his side's effort in the second half but disappointed overall and said they need to believe in themselves more.

"I was very pleased with the 35-minute period in the second half but on the flipside of that it was the absolute opposite," Cleary said.

"We can do it, we just have to believe in ourselves. If we back ourselves ... then we're a chance."

[Smakked]

With Maguire as a coach i am starting to see the rabbits at the GF , he is a hard task master.

[C-Whiz]

With Maguire as a coach i am starting to see the rabbits at the GF , he is a hard task master.

Yeah, they were/are my tip too, but they will need to do better than yesterday.