The trip to Bunbury had been resurrected just the once this year. The Fourths were determined to make up for the dreadful defeat they have suffered at the hands of Bunbury, at Success, earlier in the year. Regardless of this sleight against these high-flyers, they still travelled to Bunbury with the bare bones of a squad they had enjoyed in previous weeks.

Bunbury kicked off in torrential rain and Souths were quickly on the attack. Defying the conditions, Souths weren’t afraid to ship the ball through the hands and good work attacking around the rucks found them in the opposition 22 on a regular basis. The first foray ended in a score. A ruck was formed to left of centre and good awareness from Carmichael and Ronan Kent saw Chris Chapman lumber over in the corner. From kick-off, Souths went on attack again and their usual scrum dominance kicked-in. 8 metres out the pack rumbled forward and Waitoa finished off the push over. 10-0 with barely 10 on the clock. The Bunbury pack responded and made things tough, providing good ball for their lively 12. Souths eventually wrestled back control. Very neat hands from Luwah Tofa put Grant McKenzie into space but with plenty of ground to cover. Rolling back the years though, his 40 metre gallop to the line was a true sight to behold. A late conversion from Carmichael saw the boys from success canter in 17-0 at half time.

A couple of nasty injuries saw Coach Chapman need to do an urgent re-jig in the second half. The weather brightened as the wind dropped from South’s sails as numerous changes from the substantial Bunbury bench made their mark. Great hustle and guile from the Peter Jackson and Tim Coffey kept Bunbury mostly at bay but a number of well judged kicks kept Souths on the backfoot for until into the last quarter. The dominance of player of the day Luwah Tofa proved just too much as he demolished the Bunbury backline with either ball in hand or incisive passing. Teri Lamatoa was the first beneficiary as he raced away for this his first of the season. The human magnet Luwah then took control further drawing in three defenders before putting in Lamatoa in again. The distance proved the problem though as the Bunbury cover scrambled away, forcing the off-load which was judged to be forward. With bonus point secured, more points would surely come from this dominance and it was fitting that Carmichaels wizardry put in Waitoa again to seal win. Jason Naboo took and slotted the final conversion to make it 31-0. Sunshine greeted the hard fought win that kept this talented outfit four points clear at the top of 4th grade Gold.