The Dragons are once again the holders of the Charity Shield having downed the Rabbitohs 46-26 in Mudgee behind a first-half blitz.
The Dragons found themselves up 34-0 less than half-hour in as the starting spine enjoyed another strong hit-out a fortnight out from the season’s start.
Sione Finau notched four of the side’s six first-half four-pointers as Clint Gutherson and Valentine Holmes made repeated incisions down the left edge.
Finau was unable to finish the clash due to a failed HIA, but he did more than enough work in his 30 minutes on-field before the younger players filtered onto the pitch to finish things off.
Match: Dragons v Rabbitohs
Round 3 -
home Team
Dragons
2nd Position
away Team
Rabbitohs
15th Position
Venue: Glen Willow Oval, Mudgee
The Dragons got off to an ideal start with Finau scurrying over in the left corner for first points after a sweeping Clint Gutherson stripped South Sydney’s right edge for numbers and moved the ball onto Valentine Holmes who showed a terrific pair of hands to reel the ball in and put his winger over.
Holmes’ conversion snuck in from just inside the chalk to make it 6-nil the way of the Red V.
Shane Flanagan’s men went straight back to work off the back of it with Mathew Feagai joining his wing partner in the try-scorers column after another Gutherson sweep paved the way for Moses Suli to hit his winger with a nice flick pass.
Holmes slotted another conversion from the touchline to put his side ahead by a pair of converted tries.
The Red V’s perfect beginning continued the following set with Lachlan Ilias finishing off a phenomenal effort which started from inside Dragons territory.
Jaydn Su’A fended his way into space down the right-hand corridor before sending a stepping Mathew Feagai into the backfield with Gutherson backing his winger up and offloading the ball to a supporting Ilias who held off the cover and stretched out to plant the ball down.
The Dragons could do no wrong in Mudgee with an attacking South Sydney grubber ricocheting in the arms of Holmes who raced into the clear before handing the ball off to a supporting Finau for the home stretch as he claimed his second of the afternoon.
Holmes produced another arrow-straight conversion from the sideline to make it a 24-point Dragons advantage less than a quarter of the way into the contest.
The Dragons found more success down the left edge moments later with South Sydney again finding themselves short of numbers off some Gutherson playmaking with Luciano Leilua obliging to put Holmes into space before Finau flew down the left flank to nab a deserved hat-trick.
The Red V’s incredible opening forty was not yet over with as Finau claimed his fourth over the opening half-hour after a brilliant Leilua tap-on opened up a two-on-one scenario for Gutherson to sum up.
Finau was unfortunately helped from the field following the try with the 22-year-old failing a HIA back in the sheds.
Officials sent South Sydney half Lewis Dodd to the bin for a high shot he was penalised for earlier in the match on Finau in a show of the NRL’s new rules roll-out.
The Rabbitohs managed to claw back some momentum prior to the break with Jye Gray zipping through to ground his own grubber before slipping into the backfield soon after to put Jayden Sullivan over and cut the deficit back to 34-10.
South Sydney grabbed first points of the second stanza with Keaon Koloamatangi cleaning up a Jamie Humphreys kick to score in the corner.
Momentum had turned decidedly the next set with Koloamatangi busting through a hole to slam the ball down for his second and bring his side back with 14.
The Rabbitohs made it three in as many sets with Humphreys this time nabbing a try of his own to score his side’s fifth score.
A South Sydney error gifted the Red V desirable field position with Suli slipping through a hole down the right edge to stroll over and halt some of the Rabbitohs momentum.
With Holmes off the paddock, Kyle Flanagan stepped up to knock over the extras and put his side back ahead by more than two converted tries.
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NRL Match Highlights: Charity Shield v Rabbitohs
Gutherson injected himself into the attack at the perfect time once more hitting a hole off the hip of Flanagan and offloading the ball to a supporting Ryan Couchman who came around to touch the ball down and stretch the scoreline out to 46-26.
All eyes now shift to the Dragons’ highly-anticipatrd Round 1 clash against the Bulldogs at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium which is headed towards a sell-out.
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