Sam Burgess scored a double as South Sydney produced an excellent second-half display to blow away St George Illawarra Dragons, 34-18.
After Tariq Sims had failed to give the Dragons an early lead after a good break, Cameron Murray opened the scoring for Souths after a great break made by Damien Cook out of dummy half.
The Dragons responded quickly when Tim Lafai set up his winger Jordan Pereira in the left corner. Then as the first quarter ended, Pereira got his second, showing great speed after a looping pass from Corey Norman.
St George held out the Rabbitohs well at the end of the half but weren’t able to do the same after the break as Sam Burgess crashed over to level the scores. Sam Burgess then turned provider with an offload for a Cody Walker try.
Souths’ lead grew further when Braidon Burns took in Adam Reynolds’ crafty grubber kick and Alex Johnston set up Campbell Graham as the Rabbitohs’ left edge picked up where it left off last year despite the departure of Robert Jennings to Wests Tigers. Sam Burgess earned his double with another try off a crash-ball from Cook.
Lafai’s try for the Dragons was a mere consolation.
Dragons: Widdop, Pereira, Aitken, Lafai, Ravalawa, Norman, Hunt, Graham, McInnes, Vaughan, Host, Sims, Lawrie; Interchanges: Latimore, Dufty, Kerr, Leilua
Tries: Pereira 2, Lafai; Goals: Widdop 3
Rabbitohs: Johnston, Gagai, Inglish, Burns, Graham, Walker, Reynolds, Tatola, Cook, T Burgess, Sutton, S Burgess, Murray; Interchanges: Knights, Nicholls, Lowe, Turner
Tries: Murray, S Burgess 2, Walker, Burns, Graham; Goals: Reynolds 5
Full match reports of all this weekend’s NRL games will feature in Monday’s League Express.
