Semi Final, 2020: Souths 38 Parramatta 24

NRL.com

Eels v Rabbitohs: Ferguson doubts grow; Cook allays concerns

On the field, things could not be looking much better for South Sydney heading into Saturday's elimination final against Parramatta.

They scored 106 points in recent wins over the Roosters and Newcastle and the likes of Cody Walker, Damien Cook and Adam Reynolds are at the top of their games.

Now they face a Parramatta side that pushed Melbourne for the opening hour of their qualifying final against the Storm.

The Eels are staring down the barrel of a straight-sets exit from the finals unless they can rediscover the form that served them so well in the opening two months following the resumption of the season.

The rundown

Team news

Eels: Parramatta coach Brad Arthur said a final decision on Blake Ferguson would be made after a training run on Friday.

Speaking on Friday morning, Arthur said the team would be placed before the individual.

"He’ll have a run today and we’ll make a decision after training. Ferg wants to play but we’ll take that decision out of his hands," he said.

"We need 17 fit players against a very good Rabbitohs team. I just want to give Ferg every opportunity but we need 17 fit players. We’ve got a few options.

"He did a little bit of running on Tuesday. It wasn’t much but. He hasn’t trained yet."

George Jennings has come in on the other wing for Maika Sivo (knee). Ray Stone is the new bench player replacing suspended forward Marata Niukore.

The likes of Brad Takairangi or Haze Dunster could be in the frame for a call-up if Ferguson is ruled out. The Eels have won nine from 12 at Bankwest Stadium in 2020.

Rabbitohs: Wayne Bennett has named the same 17 that defeated Newcastle last week. Jaydn Su'A is listed to start and Liam Knight is on the bench but the pair may swap as they did against the Knights.

Hooker Damien Cook looked to be struggling with a leg injury in the second half against Newcastle. However, he scorched 80 metres to score a late try to ease concerns and later said he'd only clashed knees with Kalyn Ponga, describing the injury as annoying more than anything else.

Key match-up

Adam Reynolds v Mitchell Moses. For the Eels to win, Moses is going to have to match it with Reynolds. Moses has all the skills in his kit bag, now he needs to produce it on the big stage.

As for Reynolds, he and Walker are forming a deadly combination that will have Brad Arthur pondering how best to nullify them.

Stat attack

It's a saying as old as time, but you can't win matches if you don't have the ball. The Eels had just 43 per cent of possession in their loss to the Storm. The completed their sets at an acceptable 79 per cent, but all that time spent defending hurt them in the second half. They won't want a repeat of that this week.

NRL.com

Rabbitohs produce stunning second half to send Eels packing

South Sydney will march on to their third grand final qualifier in as many seasons after a stunning 30-point fightback ended Parramatta's horror week with more finals heartbreak.

By all rights, not least their pre-game lead-in, the Eels were dead in the water.

A simply electrifying first-half flurry by Clint Gutherson and co proved otherwise, with three tries in five minutes as "The King" reigned supreme making for a shock 18-8 Eels lead.

The Bankwest crowd was duly in raptures, only for Damien Cook to answer in kind and run riot himself.

Cook had a hand in three tries as the Rabbitohs rattled up 30 points in 40 minutes after the break, ruthlessly exploiting critical errors from first Mitch Moses and then Gutherson himself.

With South Sydney storming back to a 20-18 lead after halftime, Moses lined up a penalty goal from point blank range with 19 minutes to go.

Instead of levelling proceedings, Moses' shot cruelly struck the upright, ricocheting straight to Jaxson Paulo for a 60-metre run downfield.

By the set's end Gutherson, until this point a moral for man-of-the-match honours, was fumbling a Cook grubber straight to Bailey Sironen.

Parramatta's week started with first Maika Sivo being lost to injury, then Blake Ferguson being scratched as well.

For Michael Jennings to be rubbed out 12 hours before kick-off by a failed drug test, and then the Eels to fight back in spectacular fashion, said plenty about the resolve in Brad Arthur's maturing squad.

The Rabbitohs' own rise spoke just as much about their form with ball in hand, which has delivered 35 points a game for the past 10 weeks.

A showdown with minor premiers Penrith next Saturday night is their reward, Wayne Bennett once more delivering them to within 80 minutes of another grand final.

For the first 20 minutes that looked a formality as Souths made all the running and led 8-0.

Junior Paulo changed that in an instant as Parramatta pushed one, then two, then three picture-perfect offloads.

The first had Phil Gould dubbing Junior Paulo's effort Arthur Beetson-esque in commentary, the 123-kilo big man laying on Gutherson's first try with defenders hanging from his every limb.

Within two minutes Lane produced a fair imitation for Gutherson to streak into the backfield.

"The King" trumped both with his effort on the fly, matched by George Jennings as he collected it around his ankles and crossed for the Eels to lead.

When Gutherson dummied and darted over for his second, Parramatta suddenly held a 10-point advantage and the 14,510-strong crowd in raptures.

But with halftime the Bunnies took a breath, and then Cook took charge.

Springing to life as the game opened up, Cook did the same to Parramatta's marker defence with a simple ball for Liam Knight to go over.

Adam Reynolds then produced a pretty offload of his own to bust the Eels' left edge, Cameron Murray looming in support for South Sydney to hit the front.

Showing the finals nous still lacking from the Eels, Souths went for the throat and found fortune in the errors from Moses and Gutherson.

Long-range tries to Jaxson Paulo and Cook again made sure of the result, a late salvo from Jennings just not enough to save Parramatta from more post-season pain.