After South Sydney triumphed 28-10 over Brisbane, it could be argued that the absence of Broncos trainer Allan Langer may have had a greater impact.
Bennett and Langer, who can usually be seen on field wearing the orange shirt for Brisbane, won four grand finals together at the Broncos but both were stood down from Friday night’s match after breaches of the NRL’s COVID-19 bio-security rules.
Reynolds converted and landed a penalty goal three minutes later to give Souths an 8-0 lead but the Broncos responded almost immediately when Darius Boyd sent Herbie Farnworth racing into space with a quick catch and pass movement.
However, two tries within a four-minute period before halftime appeared to kill off any hope of Brisbane repeating their 22-18 triumph against the Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium in round two before the NRL season was suspended.
Souths next try was just as remarkable – or embarrassing from a Brisbane point of view – as prop Mark Nichols took a hit up from a tap by hooker Damien Cook 10 metres out from the Broncos line and charged through the entire opposition front-row of Matt Lodge, Payne Haas and Jake Turpin.
Trailing 20-6 at halftime, many feared another second half capitulation from Brisbane but the visitors were the first to score when star second-rower David Fifita pushed off an attempted tackle by Rabbitohs five-eighth Cody Walker to score in the 45th minute.
Reynolds extended Souths lead to 22-10 with a 50th minute penalty goal but the Rabbitohs didn’t score a second half try until prop Tom Burgess forced his way over 13 minutes from full-time.
