Some South Sydney recruits pushed their claims for first grade spots in Saturday night’s thumping 52-10 trial win over a gutsy Riverina at Albury Sportsground.
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Crafty playmaker Billy Brittain and powerhouse front-rower Tom Amone starred in the 10 tries to two demolition in front of a bumper crowd around 5000.
“A couple of our guys stood out for me, Billy Brittain, our hooker who played a bit of half, (while) Tommy Amone is a kid that’s just come from Manly, the prop, did a really good job,” assistant coach Shane Millard said.
Brittain moved to halfback when the impressive Connor Tracey limped off with a thigh complaint, while classy fullback Corey Allan, another debutant from Brisbane, had his left ankle iced.
“Corey looked like he might have rolled his ankle, but no major injuries mate,” Millard said.
With the temperature in the low 30s, the match was played in 20-minute quarters and while Souths didn’t field their superstars Greg Inglis and Sam Burgess, it was one of the few regular first graders in barnstorming prop Junior Tatola who barged across early.
It quickly became obvious the gritty Riverina players couldn’t match the pace or power as the visitors carried the ball for 60-plus metres on every set, while the home team struggled to make 30.
The outsiders barely had the ball in the Rabbitohs’ half in the second term and trailed 32-0.
Riverina bombed a chance when a clever Nathan Rose kick bounced ideally for fullback Daniel Foley, but he couldn’t grasp it, and then the exhausted underdogs sent the ball out over the dead-ball line from a kick-off and failed to find touch from a penalty, handing possession back.
After heading to the final change 46 points down, Riverina could have conceded close to 70, but it rallied as Jack Lyons weaved through from 10m.
Jack Johns scored to hit the half-century, but then Riverina scored the try of the match when Tyron Gorman kicked from a scrum around the halfway mark and Foley won the race to the ball, delighting the fans.
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