South Sydney piled on seven tries in its dominant with over Manly, but one in particular rubbed salt in to the Sea Eagles’ wounds.
South Sydney defeated Manly 36-16 in dominant fashion in their preliminary final on Friday night to progress through to the grand final.
The Rabbitohs were in control from the start of the game and piled on seven tries to three, with two of Manly’s consolation tries scored after the 70th minute.
Watch every 2021 NRL Telstra Finals Series match before Grand Final. Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial >
Jaxson Paulo, Cody Walker and Alex Johnston each scored a double, but it was Paulo’s second try that showed just how easily the Bunnies were scoring.
Midway through the second half, halfback Adam Reynolds put up a towering bomb, which Paulo caught out of mid-air while he was facing backwards.
After outdoing Manly’s defenders, the plucky winger had so much momentum he then ran the last 10 metres to the tryline backwards, before finally turning around and placing the ball down.
The lack of pressure placed on Paulo by the Sea Eagles allowed him to easily move backwards in a moonwalk-style trot Michael Jackson would have been proud of.
“Reynolds puts it up, so is Paulo, he’ll moonwalk his way in!” Fox League commentator Warren Smith exclaimed.
“A catch off the bomb, he strides in backwards and they’re headed to the grand final.”
“Jaxson Paulo, what a job he did,” Penrith legend Greg Alexander added.
“There was a lot of him that wanted to turn around and run forwards but then he realised he was travelling all right going backwards so he kept it going.
“Jaxson Paulo positions himself beautifully, he’s going backwards at a rate of knots and thought, ‘Well I’m going to get to the tryline going this way’.”
Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett looked concerned in the coach’s box when he saw Paulo running backwards towards the tryline, but he needn’t have worried as his charge safely secured the four-pointer.
South Sydney will now face the winner of the other preliminary final between Melbourne and Penrith in the NRL grand final next weekend.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
