Canterbury-Bankstown 32–8 South Sydney Rabbitohs — Preliminary Final, 2012 NRL Finals Series
22 Sep 2012 · ANZ Stadium, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 70,354
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2012 NRL finals series: Canterbury-Bankstown 32–8 South Sydney Rabbitohs, at ANZ Stadium, Sydney, NSW on 22 Sep 2012.
Sourcing caveat: Sources were not fully consistent on the referee count (one fetch returned only Ben Cummins, another returned both Cummins and Hayne); the two-referee version is used as it matches the era's two-referee system. Greg Eastwood's try minute and the exact breakdown of Reynolds' 2/2 goals (which conversion vs penalty) could not be independently confirmed.
Scoring timeline
| 3′ | Canterbury-Bankstown — try, Krisnan Inu |
| 36′ | Canterbury-Bankstown — try, Sam Perrett |
| 55′ | Canterbury-Bankstown — try, Sam Perrett |
| 59′ | Canterbury-Bankstown — try, Frank Pritchard |
Tries with a sourced minute, in order scored, with the conversion kicked/missed alongside each one where source data lets us match a kicker to that specific try. Tries whose exact minute isn't recorded in available sources appear in the Scorers table below but not here; goal tallies we can't attribute to one specific try are shown as descriptive text in Scorers rather than guessed into this timeline.
Scorers
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Tries: Krisnan Inu 3'; Sam Perrett 36'; Jonathan Wright ~40'; Sam Perrett 55'; Frank Pritchard 59'; Greg Eastwood Goals: Krisnan Inu (4/7 conversions) |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | Tries: Issac Luke Goals: Adam Reynolds (2/2 goals) |
Team sheets
| Canterbury-Bankstown | South Sydney Rabbitohs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Barba | Fullback | Greg Inglis | 1 |
| 2 | Sam Perrett | Wing | Nathan Merritt | 2 |
| 3 | Josh Morris | Centre | Chris McQueen | 3 |
| 4 | Krisnan Inu | Centre | Dylan Farrell | 4 |
| 5 | Jonathan Wright | Wing | Andrew Everingham | 5 |
| 6 | Josh Reynolds | Five-Eighth | John Sutton (c) | 6 |
| 7 | Kris Keating | Halfback | Adam Reynolds | 7 |
| 8 | Aiden Tolman | Prop | Luke Burgess | 8 |
| 9 | Michael Ennis | Hooker | Issac Luke | 9 |
| 10 | Sam Kasiano | Prop | Roy Asotasi | 10 |
| 11 | Frank Pritchard | Second-Row | Sam Burgess | 11 |
| 12 | Josh Jackson | Second-Row | Dave Taylor | 12 |
| 13 | Greg Eastwood | Lock | Michael Crocker (c) | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | James Graham | Nathan Peats | 14 | |
| 15 | Dale Finucane | Dave Tyrrell | 15 | |
| 16 | Corey Payne | Eddy Pettybourne | 16 | |
| 17 | David Stagg | Ben Lowe | 17 | |
| Des Hasler | Coach | Michael Maguire | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Ben Cummins and Shayne Hayne (two-referee system) |
Match report
Canterbury-Bankstown reached their first Grand Final since 2004 with a commanding 32-8 win over South Sydney at ANZ Stadium, watched by a crowd of over 70,000. Krisnan Inu opened the scoring inside three minutes, but the Rabbitohs pressed hard for long stretches of the first half, with hooker Issac Luke's dummy-half try keeping them within touch. The contest turned when Souths' influential young halfback Adam Reynolds was forced off with a hamstring injury; without their playmaker, South Sydney's attack lost its edge, and the Bulldogs pulled away. Winger Sam Perrett crossed twice either side of halftime, while Jonathan Wright scored right on the siren to make it 16-8 at the break. Canterbury dominated after the interval, with Frank Pritchard and Greg Eastwood, finishing off a long solo run, adding further tries as the forward pack wore Souths down. The result ended South Sydney's finals campaign and sent the Bulldogs into the Grand Final against Melbourne Storm, a match Canterbury would go on to lose 14-4.