Wests Tigers battle bravely in Rabbitohs defeat

Wests Tigers have gone down to the South Sydney Rabbitohs 12-4 in their final game of the 2020 Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership regular season today at TG Milner Field.

Potentially able to secure a top three finish with victory, the loss leaves Wests Tigers in fourth position ahead of the finals which commence next weekend.

Under pressure early in the contest with Kiwi international Raecene McGregor off following a heavy shot, Wests Tigers fell behind after eight minutes when Rabbitohs outside back Janaya Bent proved too strong from close range.

Neil Stanley's side were made to defend their own line for the majority of the opening stanza as they withstood a mountain of pressure from South Sydney, and were eventually rewarded for their toil just before the half-time break.

A sharp shift to the left saw Botille Vette-Welsh create an overlap, with Christine Kani the beneficiary as she touched down untouched on the wing.

Emily Curtain narrowly missed her sideline conversion, leaving the Rabbitohs in front by just two points at the break.

With McGregor unable to continue despite battling bravely against injury, Wests Tigers showed their resolve to start the better of the two sides in the second half and were only denied the opening points of the half by some stirring Souths defence.

Made to defend their own line again as an error from Vette-Welsh gave the visitors the ascendency again, it was a case of further grit from Wests Tigers as numerous players battled through injury to keep the margin at just two.

As time worked against them, another Wests Tigers error would gift South Sydney a chance to put the game to bed, and Arabella McKenzie would do just that with a strong and damaging run to plant it down out wide.

South Sydney Rabbitohs 12 (Bent, McKenzie tries; McKenzie 2/2 goals) def. Wests Tigers 4 (Kani tries; E. Curtain 0/1 goals) at TG Milner Field