South Sydney showed its great start to the NRL season was no flash in the pan with a come-from-behind 22-16 victory over the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium yesterday.
The Rabbitohs fought back from a 16-12 half-time deficit to score all the second-half points and further cement their status as the surprise package of the season.
New Zealand-born wing Fetuli Talanoa stole the show for the Rabbitohs, playing a key role in his side getting a penalty try in the first half and a length of the field run for four points in the second.
A crowd of 19,386 came to see if the Warriors could bounce back from last week's loss to Brisbane and also to honour the memory of young second-rower Sonny Fai, who died at an Auckland surf beach in January.
The Jason Taylor-coached Rabbitohs were outstanding on defence, rarely losing their shape and for the most part were able to cover the Warriors' attacks.
Taylor was proud of the way his players showed composure to come back and win.
''I'm very pleased with the effort that the boys are putting in for the 80 minutes in each game we've played so far this year,'' he said.
''Today we had to make a 1000 tackles and the way we went about that and just stuck at it was very impressive.''
Warriors coach Ivan Clearly said his team's failure to convert its second-half pressure into any points had proven costly.
''We certainly had enough ball, I can't complain with our accuracy and the amount of sets we completed,'' Cleary said.
''Full marks to Souths for their defence, they came up with some big defence on their line to get them home.''
Warriors halfback Stacey Jones may not have the legs he once had, but his awareness is as sharp as ever, gathering up a loose ball and setting up Aidan Kirk for a try in the corner to open the scoring.
A few minutes later the Warriors went further in front with Micheal Luck receiving an offload from Ian Henderson to score.
Luke Capewell, in the team to replace injured fullback Rhys Wesser, broke the Warriors' defence to give the Rabbitohs their first points.
The score was locked up 13 minutes before the break when the Warriors conceded a penalty try after Kirk illegally prevented Talanoa from touching down a loose ball.
Just before the break Jones turned provider for the second time, slipping a pass inside to Wade McKinnon to restore the Warrior's lead.
It took 29 minutes of the second half for the scoreboard to tick over again as Talanoa leaped highest to retrieve a high kick from Jones and raced 90m for the try before Chris Sandow's conversion put Souths in front.
Eight minutes from time Merritt capped off the win powering over for the final try.
One piece of bad news for the Rabbitohs however was an injury to Shaun Corrigan, who went to hospital during the game with a suspected fracture to his fibula. AAP
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