Queensland duo dominate for Souths - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Queensland duo dominate for Souths

Joe Barton 17/06/2011 10:39:24 PM Comments (0)

South Sydney's Queensland contingent guided the Rabbitohs to a comfortable 31-8 NRL win over a disappointing Gold Coast outfit at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.

Despite backing up from a State of Origin loss on Wednesday night, giant second-rower Dave Taylor was the Rabbitohs' best.

Taylor set up two tries in the crucial victory while his Maroons teammate Greg Inglis grabbed a runaway late try to finish the scoring and delight the crowd of 8021.

The Titans, who looked devoid of options in attack, were missing NSW lock Greg Bird, but had Ashley Harrison backing up from Origin duties.

But it was Taylor who wreaked havoc with his powerful runs and monstrous hits.

He set up the opening try of the match to James Roberts when he latched onto a Chris Sandow bomb before offloading out wide.

The 22-year-old Taylor was in everything all night and showed his full set of skills in the 74th when he made a bust down the right hand side in a movement that led to Nathan Merritt bagging his ninth try of the season.

The Titans briefly made the home team work hard for the victory, scoring two tries from kicks to David Mead and Joe Tomane in a five minute period in the second half to reduce the lead to just six.

But a Chris Sandow field goal in the 68th minute iced the game for the Rabbitohs before late tries to Merritt, Issac Luke and Inglis blew out the score.

The win was built on the back of a dominant first half in which the Rabbitohs led 14-0 thanks to tries to Roberts and Eddy Pettybourne.

Rabbitohs' hooker Nathan Peats was put on report in the 37th minute for pulling the hair of Titans' backrower Ryan James, who suffered a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury right on halftime that looks likely to end his season.

The win sees the Rabbitohs break a three game losing streak and move within one win of the top eight, while the Titans were unable to build on their win last weekend over an Origin-depleted St George Illawarra.

John Cartwright's men, who have lost five of their past six matches, now slip back to 16th place on for and against.

Rabbitohs coach John Lang praised Taylor's 80-minute effort while saying the 118kg beast had the potential to be one of best forwards in rugby league history.

"I thought Dave was magnificent," Lang said.

"As I said before Dave's probably the most talented forward I've ever seen and I think sometimes it's harder for a guy like that because he's got so many options when he's got the ball.

"Dave wants to do it all, he wants the big three - State of Origin, Test football and premierships. At some stage you've got to make use of those great talents."

When pressed on whether he had the potential to be the best, Lang answered: "That's his challenge, and it is a big challenge for a young man. Great talent brings pressure."

A downcast Cartwright confirmed James' season was over.

"(James' injury is a) bad one," Cartwright said.

"They'll know more when they do the scans but it looks like an ACL for sure.

"... You get him out there when the team needs a lift, he's a young guy but he goes out there and lifts his team."

Brought to you by AAP AAP © 2024 AAP

0 Comments about this article

Post a comment about this article

Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.

« All sports news