Rabbitoh fans poke fun at Dragons during record win

[Newcastlerabbit]

• <LI class="byline first ">By James Hooper at ANZ Stadium
• From: The Sunday Telegraph

Relentless: Isaac Luke bursts through the St George defence at ANZ Stadium last night. Picture: Mark Evans Source: The Daily Telegraph



ST GEORGE Illawarra are officially in a slump and in danger of losing the minor premiership after crashing to a third successive loss - this time a hammering from South Sydney.

hokingDespite being out of finals contention, the Rabbitohs put seven tries past the Dragons' normally impregnable defence to have alarm bells ringing in the ears of coach Wayne Bennett with the finals just two weeks away.
Favourites to hoist the J J Giltinan Shield as minor premiers and branded cocky a month ago, the wheels have fallen off the Dragons in spectacular style as they crashed to their third loss in 14 days.
The 35-point margin made it the Dragons' worst loss of the year and it was also a record victory for the Rabbitohs against any Dragons team going back to 1921.
"I don't know where it came from actually. I certainly wouldn't have picked it before the game," Dragons coach Wayne Bennett said.

"The other two (losses) were manageable, but I don't know where tonight came from. It's a mental thing so they can turn it around as quickly as they lost it.


Captain Ben Hornby described the performance as "embarrassing".
"That's the best way to sum it up. All season we have prided ourselves on our defence and tonight it was non-existent."
John Sutton started the rot when he powered over from close range after five minutes, hitting and spinning through the Dragons defence.
Chris Sandow converted for a 6-0 lead.
St George Illawarra were denied a slick set-piece try to left winger Brett Morris when Rabbitohs fullback Nathan Merritt produced a superb cover tackle to force the flyer into touch.
They blew another chance five minutes later, this time when centre Matt Cooper dropped the ball over the line.
The Rabbitohs raced to a 12-0 lead when Sutton held up a perfectly timed ball for Best to make the Dragons defence look second-rate.
But their luck ran out when centre Chris McQueen fumbled the kick-off, inviting the Dragons back into the match. The red and white army finally had cause for celebration in the 23rd minute when five-eighth Jamie Soward finished off a Beau Scott break.
Soward converted his own try for a 12-6 scoreline, but the Dragons were visibly off colour.
From the following set, Soward went for a 40/20 only to kick the ball out on the full.
The wheels really came off for the Dragons when Sandow drifted across field and found backrower Ben Lowe running an angle for an 18-6 lead.
The intensity increased near the end of the first half as the Dragons became more desperate. Backrower Matt Prior appeared to accidentally poke Souths opposite David Fa'alogo in the eye before Scott caught Merritt with a knee with two minutes remaining.
Sandow kicked a field goal on the stroke of halftime to stretch the lead to 19-6.
The Dragons continued to self-destruct in the second half as the game threatened to explode.
The first flashpoint came when Dragons centre Scott lashed out at Merritt with a kick, the Souths custodian standing over the top of Scott before being pulled away by Wendell Sailor.
The second was reminiscent of the classic nose-to-nose confrontation between "Raging Bull" Gorden Tallis and Terry Hill in State of Origin.
Dragons enforcer Jeremy Smith and Souths prop Jaiman Lowe stood toe-to-toe for several seconds as players rushed in.
At one point, it looked like there might be a headbutt but referee Ashley Klein moved quickly to calm the situation.
The rest of the half turned into one-way traffic as the Bunnies raced in tries with alarming ease against a side with designs on a premiership.
The Dragons will have to regroup quickly before they run into the red-hot Eels and a rampant Jarryd Hayne next Friday.
SOUTH SYDNEY 41 (J Sutton 2, J Simpson, B Lowe, N Merritt, C Best E Pettybourne tries; C Sandow 6 goals, field goal) ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 6 (J Soward try, goal). Referees: A Klein, S Lyons.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...title-favourites/story-e6frexnr-1225767369976

 

[STG-Dragon]

To be honest was it really a great win or were saints f**king disgraceful???

 

[Dave Q]

We humiliated them by singing their club song.

I wanted some photos of the burrow, so I just pointed the camera at them....

AND WAITED FOR A FEW MINUTES UNTIL WE SCORED!

We were good and they were awful.

Top night lads, worth the entire years ticketed membership fee.

Rugby League Nirvana.

Oh when da Saints..............!

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Its a fair cop. Congrats on the win Soths fans.

Saints can play bad better than anyone else in the comp & I believe we are gone. Could go out the back door with 6 straight losses on form.

See youse again at the Charity Shield.

 

[jpaciocco91]

Well done guys.
We are a disgrace.

 

[Dave Q]

Its a fair cop. Congrats on the win Soths fans.

Saints can play bad better than anyone else in the comp & I believe we are gone. Could go out the back door with 6 straight losses on form.

See youse again at the Charity Shield.

Your a class act Ronnie.

Good luck in the finals mate.

 

[sharkfinsoup]

Are Souths in the top 8? Enjoy your victory as we still have a chance of the big one!!!!!

 

[Dave Q]

Are Souths in the top 8? Enjoy your victory as we still have a chance of the big one!!!!!

Oh when da Saints....

haw haw haw.

Souths rejects, juniors and yummy scrumpets obliterate youse.

Even if you win the GF, you will still be bending over and smiling at us..

Oh when da Saints...

:lol:

 

[boo_boo]

All throughout the season i have never had much reason to doubt that the Dragons were nothing more than imposters.
Last night proved to me that i am justified in thinking that.

 

[sharkfinsoup]

Keep on singing Oh when the Saints....believe me it feels good to be in a RED V! Weve been marching all year and where have you been? FIRE-UP SAINTS!

 

[Aaron_sfas]

i wonder if the TAB has a market on wether the dragons will win another game this year... cause i'd get on that

 

[Dave Q]

They are in a go slow mode.

But Im not sure if they expected the hammering.

But it wont worry them.

 

[Sonic Star]

Are Souths in the top 8? Enjoy your victory as we still have a chance of the big one!!!!!

Did that post make you feel any better?

Doubt it :lol:

 

[Midnight Rabbit]

Hahaha it was hilarious laughing my head off at the dragons, they just couldn't handle the heat. Everytime they tried to surge they got put back on their ass by a makeshift team, it was a thing of beauty. Poore's effort at the end was comedy gold!

 

[Achillies]

Weve been marching all year and where have you been? FIRE-UP SAINTS!

Souths fans are the first to admit we underachieved this year. All we need now is for the delusional Dragons fans to admit there side had been impersonating a title contender all year.

 

[Paul Hewson]

To be honest was it really a great win or were saints f**king disgraceful???

I think it was a bit of both. Early in the game when Souths wer 6-0 up you guys had 2 tries disallowed by great last ditch efforts. Had the Dragons scored there I think there tails would have been up and we would have had a different game.

 

[Paul Hewson]

Keep on singing Oh when the Saints....believe me it feels good to be in a RED V! Weve been marching all year and where have you been? FIRE-UP SAINTS!

Well if they play like they did last night there won't be much more marching left this year.

 

[Sugar]

Oh when da Saints....

haw haw haw.

Souths rejects, juniors and yummy scrumpets obliterate youse.

Even if you win the GF, you will still be bending over and smiling at us..

Oh when da Saints...

:lol:

When the saints go merging in

 

[Different kind of Rabbit]

Two things you can count on each year.

1. Souths to underperform until they get to the point where they can no longer make the finals. Then we look like world beaters all of a sudden.

2. The Dragons to look like world beaters all year until it comes to crunch time and then they choke their way out the back door.

Next couple of weeks will be interesting, especially if the Dragons find themselves lining up against Parramatta two weeks in a row.

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

The reality is that we could still conceivably lose our next two games, win the two after that and be in the Grand Final.

On form that seems crazy, but I suppose thats the catch in such a long season. Bank points early on & you can have a slump.

Not saying thats what will happen and in all likelyhood it won't, but that is the reality of the situation.

In the cold light of day, Saints still have time to turn it all around.

Congrats again Souths. A sweet victory I am sure. Be good to see you guys play up to potential for three and four week blocks at a time next year, rather than pull the big ones out when they can't help you. Must be very frustrating.