Walker on, Klemmer off as Rabbitohs down Knights

A Cody Walker masterclass led the Rabbitohs to a 40-28 win over the Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday night as David Klemmer was sent off in a fiery finish to the free-flowing contest.

With Damien Cook and Cameron Murray on Origin duty, Walker took charge with two tries, two try assists and 95 run metres as the Bunnies chalked up their ninth win of the season to climb to fifth on the ladder.

Already missing their Blues brothers, the Rabbitohs lost Mark Nicholls and Alex Johnston to injury in the lead-up to the game, and then had Lachlan Ilias go off after a head clash with team-mate Tevita Tatola in the opening minute of the match.

Despite the early setback the Rabbitohs opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Cody Walker scooped up a loose pass, crashed into team-mate Thomas Burgess and crashed over. The try was sent to the bunker to check for obstruction by Burgess but the green lights were shown and Souths led 6-0.

The home side hit back in the 15th minute when a long Tyson Frizell break was followed up by a crisp right side raid which Dom Young finished off.

A rare try to prop David Klemmer in the 19th minute helped the Knights extend the lead before Bradman Best celebrated his return from an elbow injury with a four-pointer courtesy of a sensational try assist by Edrick Lee, who flew high to bring down a bomb and then delivered a flashy flick pass to his centre.

The Bunnies' left side clicked into gear in the 31st minute when Walker and Latrell Mitchell combined to put Richie Kennar over to cut Newcastle's lead to 16-12.

Just three minutes later Kennar had a double courtesy of a deft left foot kick by Walker and Mitchell's sideline conversion gave the visitors the lead.

With half-time approaching and the Knights attacking, Walker came up with a massive play when he intercepted a Mat Croker pass and sprinted 85 metres to score his second of the night. 

A mistake early in the second half by the Knights handed the Rabbitohs field position and they capitalised when Walker put the ball on a platter for Kennar to complete the first hat-trick of his career. 

Come the 53rd minute and Tatola joined the tryscoring action with the sixth try of his 108-game career after Tex Hoy had failed to ground a Walker grubber and the prop pounced.

A superb long ball from Adam Clune put Lee over in the 59th minute as the Knights pulled back to 34-22 but when the Rabbitohs chanced their hand on the fifth tackle and put Jaxson Paulo over in the right hand corner the margin was back out to 16.

Mitch Barnett pulled one back for the Knights with 11 minutes to play to make it 38-28 and a short dropout gone wrong by Souths in the 75th minute gave Newcastle a shot but desperation defence by Davvy Moale denied Best from close range.

In a fiery end to the match Klemmer and Keaon Koloamatangi squared off before the Knights prop was marched in the next set for contact to the head of Daniel Suluka-Fifita on the ground. Mitchell slotted the penalty goal for 40-28.

Match Snapshot

• Souths halfback Lachlan Ilias was forced off for a HIA in the first minute and did not return.
• Latrell Mitchell was placed on report in the 18th minute for a high tackle on Knights winger Dom Young, who was sent for a HIA after the incident.
• David Klemmer's try in the 19th minute was just the fifth of his NRL career and his first since round 25, 2017 for Canterbury against Gold Coast.
• Souths prop Thomas Burgess went on report in the 28th minute for a high shot on Daniel Saifiti.
• The Rabbitohs have won 12 of their past 14 games against the Knights.