Dolphins dominate Rabbitohs to move into top eight

Latrell Mitchell’s hopes of inspiring a State of Origin boilover have received a dagger blow, with the New South Wales strike weapon leaving the field in pain late in the Rabbitohs’ 32-10 Magic Round defeat to the Dolphins.

The South Sydney fullback, returning from a week’s absence to recover from a back injury, had been well contained throughout the night by rival centre Jack Bostock, and was eventually seen wincing as he limped to the sidelines.

Mitchell had been billed as a certain inclusion Laurie Daley’s game one squad, to be announced on Monday, but the Blues coach will now be left to question whether the superstar can perform at full fitness in the series launch on May 27.

He did not take the goal-kicking duties at Suncorp Stadium, and while he laid on two linebreak assists and a try assist, he was limited to just 65 running metres and two tackle busts from eight carries before exiting.

Read the full report from Nick Wright

Thanks for being with us tonight. Check out both our reports from tonight’s games, here and here, and stay tuned throughout the weekend for the rest of our coverage of Magic Round from Brisbane, plus the State of Origin teams as they are put together at the end of the weekend.

Latrell Mitchell’s hopes of inspiring a State of Origin boilover have received a dagger blow, with the New South Wales strike weapon leaving the field in pain late in the Rabbitohs’ 32-10 Magic Round defeat to the Dolphins.

The South Sydney fullback, returning from a week’s absence to recover from a back injury, had been well contained throughout the night by rival centre Jack Bostock, and was eventually seen wincing as he limped to the sidelines.

Mitchell had been billed as a certain inclusion Laurie Daley’s game one squad, to be announced on Monday, but the Blues coach will now be left to question whether the superstar can perform at full fitness in the series launch on May 27.

He did not take the goal-kicking duties at Suncorp Stadium, and while he laid on two linebreak assists and a try assist, he was limited to just 65 running metres and two tackle busts from eight carries before exiting.

Read the full report from Nick Wright

“Sweet Caroline” is playing over the speakers at Suncorp Stadium as the Dolphins defuse a short kick-off and start to play out the final set of this contest, earning their fifth win of the season to move into the top eight – at least for now.

Souths remain in the top four but slump to their fourth loss from 10 games, Cameron Murray giving away a penalty for an early tackle in the final seconds for Jamayne Isaako to add another couple of points to the Dolphins’ tally.

Full-time: Dolphins 32, Rabbitohs 10

The Dolphins work it left, and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow jogs to the line, cuts inside, spots a gap, and takes off. The Dolphins fullback never looks like he runs at full speed but when he goes up the gears he inevitably leaves the defenders in his wake and that’s what he does now, breezing past Jye Gray to score the Dolphins’ final try of the night. A nice little warm-up try for Origin for the Maroons speedster.

Dolphins 30, Rabbitohs 10 with a minute left

Jeremy Marshall-King is penalised and put on report for a dangerous tackle and Souths go on the attack again, and though Jye Gray throws a bad pass it’s knocked on by Dolphins fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

Latrell Mitchell switches from the left flank to the right for this scrum play, and the ball gets to him but he loses his footing. No matter, a couple of tackles later halfback Ashton Ward runs inside Kurt Donoghoe then offloads to Euan Aitken for the try.

Can they make this interesting from here?

Dolphins 24, Rabbitohs 10 with 12 minutes left

The Rabbitohs strike back, the way they have hundreds of times over the past few years: with Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell linking up to send their winger over untouched down the left. Tonight it’s not the record-breaking Alex Johnston but Bayleigh Bentley-Hape, who gets the job done in the corner.

Bentley-Hape has the tough conversion attempt as well, and he hits it well but drifts narrowly right of the posts.

There’s still some time left, but Souths will need to be very good to win it from here.

Dolphins 24, Rabbitohs 4 with 16 minutes left