The Newtown Jets edged closer to a place in the 2024 semi-finals after defeating South Sydney 38-16 in the 22nd round fixture played at Henson Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Jets are now in fourth place after the weekend’s round of matches but they have the New Zealand Warriors, Penrith and St George-Illawarra close behind them on the competition table.
There were a number of changes to Newtown’s playing line-up against South Sydney. Liam Ison and Jayden Berrell both played for the Jets on Saturday after having made their NRL debuts with the Cronulla Sharks on the previous weekend. The young Sharks front-rower Lachlan Jake Crouch made his NSW Cup competition match debut on Saturday after having played with the Jets in a trial match back in February. The big front-rower Salesi Ataata was also back with Newtown for Saturday’s assignment. The multi-skilled Jayden Berrell played at five-eighth with Siteni Taukamo moving back to the wing.
The Rabbitohs belied their position on the competition table with two early tries, taking advantage of some bewildered Newtown Jets defence as they ran up a 10-0 lead in as many minutes. In fact Newtown did not get down to South Sydney’s end of the field until the Rabbitohs made a handling error in the 19th minute inside their own twenty metre zone.
The Jets quickly took advantage of this favourable field position as Niwhai Puru and Liam Ison put on a rapid left side manoeuvre, with a well-judged cut-out pass from Ison sending Siteni Taukamo over in the south-east corner. Puru continued his good goal-kicking form and converted from the sideline for Newtown to trail by 10-6.
Souths continued to threaten the Jets and were held up by desperate defence close to the Newtown tryline on at least three more occasions. The Jets had made their defensive task harder by conceding several penalties, including being marched back an extra ten metres for back-chatting the referee’s decision.
