Chủ Nhật, 24 tháng 2, 2013

Bunnies reclaim Shield from Dragons

Greg Inglis

Fend ... Greg Inglis brushes off a couple of Dragons defenders. Source: Mark Evans / News Limited

South Sydney claimed the Charity Shield with a comfortable 28-10 win over an injury-hit St George Illawarra at ANZ Stadium.

Aside from a 15-minute spell in the second half, the Dragons struggled in attack, but coach Steve Price will be more concerned by a raft of injuries to his side just two weeks from the start of the NRL season.

Hookers Mitch Rein and Cameron King were both forced off the field as were veteran backs Jason Nightingale (sciatica) and Matt Cooper (calf).

King, who has endured a number of setbacks over the last three years, looked the most serious with the young rake taken from the field on a medicab after been knocked out by the arm of George Burgess as he dived towards the try line out of dummy half.

The giant younger Burgess also inflicted the damage on Rein, who damaged his shoulder attempting to tackle the 194cm, 118kg prop.

Souths dominated the first half and raced into a 16-0 lead at halftime thanks to tries from Bryson Goodwin, Beau Champion and Nathan Peats.

The Dragons struggled to complete their sets and made mistake after mistake as the Rabbitohs' forwards made plenty of inroads.

Goodwin opened the scoring after 14 minutes, putting the finishing touches to a sweeping move having been named in the starting line-up after Nathan Merritt was stood down after turning up late for training.

Champion added the second four-pointer when he hauled in a ball batted towards him by Andrew Everingham following a clever kick from Greg Inglis.

Peats round off a sparkling opening 40 minutes from Souths when he raced under the posts after two quick passes from Jason Clark and Michael Crocker ripped through the Dragons defence.

The Dragons maintained their sluggish approach at the start of the second half before a piece of brilliant footwork from Brett Morris 11 minutes after the break sparked his side to life.

The NSW winger kept the ball alive as he danced past three Souths players then found giant centre Daniel Vidot who bulldozed his way to the line.

Price's side added a second try a minute later when Trent Merrin darted over, but Jamie Soward was unable to add the extras.

But the loss of Rein and King knocked the wind out of their sails and the Rabbitohs iced the victory with late tries from youngsters Dylan Walker and Mitch Buckett.

Adam Reynolds and Goodwin kicked two goals apiece.


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