What a difference a year makes. Having lifted the ‘chokers’ tag of previous seasons, the St. George-Illawarra Dragons are seeming to enjoy their new tag of ‘NRL Champions’ after showing the NRL of their talented squad with a resounding 32-10 win over South Sydney in the annual Charity Shield at ANZ Stadium.
Dragons fullback Bronx Goodwin scored 18 points, (2 tries, 4 goals) leading the impressive Dragons squad who dominated the under-strengthed Rabbitohs throughout the match.
Below: Match Highlights
Souths came out firing in the start of the first half with their forwards, led by Eddy Pettybourne, Roy Asotasi and Scott Geddes hitting the ball up with authority.
They dominated possession in the Dragons half and capitalised off undisciplined attack and defense from their opposition.
After the Dragons conceded a penalty, Souths halfback Chris Sandow caught out the Dragons backline with winger Jason Nightingale left well off his wing after attempting an interception on a pin-point Sandow cut-out ball.
It landed on the chest of his unmarked winger, Kane Morgan who scored in the corner uncontested for a 4-0 lead.
Dragons’ reserve backrower Jake Bosden came on and sparked their attack.
He sliced through the Rabbits ruck defense on his first touch and with just one to beat, he drew in fullback Rhys Wesser and had support in the flying Bronx Goodwin who dived over under the sticks.
He converted his own try for a 6-4 Dragons lead. After setting up the Dragons’ first try, Bosden was at it again, but this time he was unstoppable close to the line and a determined Ben Lowe could not keep the Cronulla junior out.
His try was converted and the Dragons looked dangerous with a 12-4 lead.
The Dragons continued to pile the pressure on Souths for the remaining minutes of the first half.
A set play by the Dragons got Matt Cooper changing the direction, catching out some tired Rabbitohs defense and again some great backing up from Goodwin had the fullback in under the posts for a first-half double. Goodwin conversion gave the Dragons a 18-4 into the main break.
The second half began exactly how the first started. Souths came out hard in trying to close the deficite.
They again dominated field position and possession. It took only five minutes for the Rabbits to get back on the scoreboard. It was Sandow with a second try assist, his cross kick to the corner found young centre Dylan Farrell, who leaped above the shorter Nathan Fien to score and cut the Dragons lead down to eight.
Unfortunately for John Lang and Souths’ fans, it would be the closest they would get.
The Dragons closed out the match just before the 60th minute drinks break with two tries in succession. Darius Boyd was on the end of some nice second-phase play and crossed in the corner.
Then off the set after the restart, Mark Gasnier displayed some good hands off an Adam Cuthbertson offload. Gasnier got on the outside of his defender Junior Vaivai and sent his winger Peni Tagive down the left touchline with an impressive ball.
Tagive had no problems crossing over for a try with his size and strength too much for Rhys Wesser to contain. The sideline conversion from Goodwin had the ‘White V’ up 18 (28-10) with 20 to go.
The Dragons crashed over for their sixth try late in the second half, to ex-Rabbitoh Michael Greenfield.
After some good runs from youngsters Cameron King and Mitch Rein again attacking Souths right flank, Jake Marketo delivered a sweet no-look pass to Greenfield who dived over, securing the Dragons first Charity Shield win since 2007.
Wayne Bennett would be pleased with his teams’ performance and specifically with the depth of the side.
The Dragons were missing some key attacking contributors in captain Ben Hornby, Jamie Soward, Dean Young and try-sniffer Brett Morris.
They even showed that their still is some grunt in the pack even with the departure of Neville Costigan and Jeremy Smith.
The best performer for the Dragons was backrower Jake Bosden, who seemed to not put a foot wrong when he was on, scoring a try and setting up another.
Cameron King looked impressive both at dummy half and at first receiver, playing a similar role to Kiwi international Nathan Fien.
Darius Boyd was solid in attack and defense. The Dragons didn’t really miss a beat with him taking over at five-eighth for Soward. Bronx Goodwin had a great first half, his support play was rewarded with two tries.
Souths struggled with a bevy of their stars unavailable including Sam Burgess, Dave Taylor, Greg Inglis, Michael Crocker, Nathan Merritt and Isaac Luke.
Their best was halfback Chris Sandow who assisted both their tries and his shoulder charge on Nathan Fien was the highlight of the match.
Lock Ben Lowe got through plenty of work when on the park and centre pairing Junior Vaivai and Dylan Farrell caused problems for the Dragons.
Vaivai did a stellar job for most of the match, marking the Dragons’ Mark Gasnier and Farrell who continued his hot form from 2010 scoring another try to keep his try per game average ticking along.
Both players are hotly contesting the second centre position once star recruit Greg Inglis comes back into the side.
The Dragons will back up this Friday night with a game against the Bulldogs in the annual Mercury Challenge at WIN Stadium.
They will then head to England in preparation to contest the World Cup Challenge against the Wigan Warriors on February 27
Souths have one remaining trial match next Saturday in Coffs Harbour against the Gold Coast Titans.
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Souths scored three unanswered tries in the second half, threatening to make a comeback. However, Melbourne quickly snuffed it out.
