The Newcastle Knights lost 52-6 to the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
With chief playmaker Jarrod Mullen withdrawing late and Akuila Uate sidelined with a knee injury, Chanel and Sione Mata'utia came into the side to play on opposite wings.
James McManus and Danny Levi were also forced from the field during the game, but the Knights were well-beaten by a rampant Rabbitohs side.
The Knights got off to the best possible start after Alex Johnston spilled a Tyrone Roberts high-ball on his ten metre line in the 3rd minute.
Kade Snowden was the ultimate beneficiary, showing surprising guile for a man of his size to slip through the line untouched and score. Roberts added the extras from straight in front to give the red and blues a 6-0 lead, but celebrations were short lived.
Three minutes later Johnston made up for his earlier error by making a break down the right edge to give Dylan Walker a simple try. Adam Reynolds missed the conversion, but to make matters worse for the Knights McManus was forced off the field soon after. In the reschuffle, Beau Scott shifted to left centre.
It didn't take long for the Rabbitohs to score again, Johnston exploiting a left edge missing McManus to shrug his way through a tackle.
The home side weren't done yet though, Greg Inglis finishing off a move initiated by John Sutton and Luke Keary to score beneath the posts.
Bryson Goodwin was the next Rabbitoh to score after Sione Mata'utia dropped a bomb on his ten metre line, pushing the score to 20-6 with 35 minutes played.
Inglis grabbed his second two minutes later following a 30 metre break, and six minutes after that Walker followed suit despite some close attention from Beau Scott.
To round it off Inglis grabbed his third of the night seconds before halftime. Following a first 40 to forget for the Knights, the score was 36-6.
Three repeat sets to the Rabbitohs early in the second half saw them score again, Tom Burgess receiving a ball from dummy-half to crash over the line.
The Knights held on in defence for the next 25 minutes, until Johnston completed his brace when he beat Chanel Mata'utia to a high ball in the right corner.
With seven minutes to play the Rabbitohs went down the right flank again and centre Walker was duly rewarded with a try. Reynolds converted to push the final score to 52-6.
SUMMARY
Newcastle Knights 6 (T: Snowden, G: Roberts 1/1)
South Sydney Rabbitohs 52 (T: Walker 3, Johnston 2, Inglis 3, Goodwin, T Burgess, G: Reynolds 6/10)
