Pure, straight-up and unadulterated brute force was the key to Souths’ 28-8 shellacking of the Roosters at ANZ Stadium in Thursday night’s NRL season opener.
On the back of a monstrous forward pack, Greg Inglis scored a hat-trick that was equal parts raw power and sublime skill, while Adam Reynolds was deadly from the kicking tee, slotting eight from eight.
“There’s quite a number of our players I could single out,” said Souths coach Michael McGuire after the match.
“John (Sutton) sitting next to me, Issac (Luke) and Joe Picker for his first game, he made a special tackle underneath the posts with big Hargreaves right on the line.
“Lote Tuqiri, he put a lot of energy into the team as well. GI gets to do those special things off the back of the team which is really pleasing.”
The “special things” Madge referred to include a burrowing try through three defenders close to the line (which Mark Geyer said only three out of 100 people could score), a brilliantly-timed run from a set move on the right and an opportunistic dive close to the ruck as the seconds ticked down.
“You try and tackle him up top and he’s so hard to bring down,” said Roosters captain Anthony Minichiello, who Inglis steamrolled in the second half.
“Our tackling wasn’t up to scratch tonight and he found his way to the tryline a few times. He played well and we’ve gotta make sure we tackle better there as well.”
Sutton, who said his time at lock was tougher than expected even though he’d trained there throughout the offseason, said Inglis, “looked like he was playing under sevens the way he was bowling people over. He’s all class.”
The defending premiers scored a runaway first-half try and kicked a penalty after the break for an 8-6 lead early in the second half but the Roosters’ reversion to taking two points seemed to spur the Bunnies into action.
First, Tuqiri looked dangerous and was hauled down by Daniel Tupou but when Inglis ran onto a short ball ten metres out from the line for his second, the flood gates opened.
Adam Reynolds, with a heavily-strapped knee, kicked two penalties as the Rabbits quickly gained supremacy through the middle of the park and the Roosters wilted.
“They carried the ball well – they bump and drop to the ground well, they got some quick play the balls and they controlled our carries really well,” said Roosters coach Trent Robinson.
“It was about who was going to control the tackle the best and they did that. It was going to sap us of energy at some stage and that’s what it looked like.
“They were running home and we were hanging on and that’s when the score got away from us. We didn’t have enough energy to hold the middle.”
At 16-8 with 15 to play, the Roosters were still in it, until Bryson Goodwin rose above two defenders, plucked a bomb out of mid-air and scored under the posts.
Inglis’ third was just salt in the wounds of a well-beaten Roosters side.
For their part, the defending premiers rarely looked like troubling the Rabbitohs’ defence, while the Bunnies were denied over or near the goal-line on four occasions.
You could tell the Chooks were upset too, because Sonny Bill Williams didn’t even want to say hi after the match; just a quick handshake and off he walked with that weird moustache.
The Roosters host the Eels next weekend, while the Rabbitohs have another tough encounter with Manly at Bluetongue Stadium.
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