Dragons roast Rabbits in Saturday night carve-up

Fulltime score: Round 9 St George Illawarra Dragons 42 v South Sydney Rabbitohs 10

Match summary: The St George Illawarra Dragons have put in a dominant 80 minute effort to defeat the South Sydney Rabbitohs by 42-10 at WIN Stadium this evening.

With the centre pairing of Mark Gasnier and Matt Cooper being named in the side this afternoon, the Dragons were able to field a near full strength team.

The Dragons found opportunities to attack down the middle of the ruck before skipper Trent Barrett, backing up from the previous night's City v Country match, ran at the line to score after just 10 minutes.

Lock forward Shaun Timmins scored in similar fashion three minutes later to put the home side up by 10.

The Rabbitohs struck back with a well worked try to Luke MacDougall in the 23rd minute. But for most of the night, the South Sydney side would rarely trouble the score board.

Gasnier and Cooper then stepped up, scoring tries in the 28th and 33rd minute and at half time, the Dragons held a 22-6 lead.

With the wind at their backs, the Rabbitohs were still a chance to mount a second half challenge. But it was the Dragons who scored next with Lance Thompson crashing over out wide in the 43rd minute.

In the 49th minute, centre Shannon Hegarty scored out wide to get the Rabbitohs' second try.

In the latter stages of the match, the St George Illawarra backs found plenty of room, crossing for three more tries and defeating the Rabbitohs at every point on the park.

Stand-in Dragons' half back Ben Hornby, also backing up from Friday's City v Country match, was named man-of-the-match. The utility continued his excellent form, setting up play in attack while keeping an eye on his regular position of full back in defence.

The loss may have cost Souths dearly with full back Adam MacDougall and forward Bryan Fletcher being forced off with possible hamstring injuries.

Scorers: DRAGONS 42 Tries: Cooper 2, Youngquest 2, Barrett, Timmins, Gasnier, Thompson Goals: Ennis 3/5, Gasnier 2/3, Hornby 0/1 RABBITOHS 10 Tries: L MacDougall, Hegarty Goals: B Walker 1/2

WIN Stadium Referee: Sean Hampstead

Live commentary: 0 min: Dragons have made a couple of well publicised changes to the team named earlier in the week with Mark Gasnier and Matt Cooper coming into the side after they were earlier unavailable for last night's City v Country match. Clinton Greenshields and Michael Henderson are out. Albert Torrens has been named at full back. For Souths, the team is unchanged however, there has been a shuffle and Ben Walker will be playing at half back and Ashley Harrison at five eighth.

Weather: A chilly evening in Wollongong and a few dark clouds hanging overhead.

1 min: Dragons to kick off! Souths are running into a fairly strong breeze for the first half.

10 min: TRY - Dragons. Trent Barrett runs at the line and goes through a gap to score 10 metres to the right of the posts. Saints finding opportunities to attack down the middle of the ruck and come up with the points following repeat sets. Conversion Michael Ennis is successful. Dragons 6-0

13 min: TRY - Dragons. Shaun Timmins gets past Ben Walker and scores on the left side, 8 metres in from touch. Conversion attempt from Ennis is unsuccessful. Dragons 10-0

23 min: TRY - Rabbitohs. Luke MacDougall scores out wide. A nice set play with decoy runners appearing across the line. Video ref asked to check a possible obstruction from Adam MacDougall but its deemed to be OK. Sideline conversion from Ben Walker is a beauty. Dragons 10-6

25 min: NEWS - Adam MacDougall(Rabbitohs) has left the field with a possible hamstring injury and will not return.

28 min: TRY - Dragons. Mark Gasnier steps through from 30 metres out and then beats several players to score under the posts. A sensational solo effort. Gasnier converts his own try. Dragons 16-6

33 min: TRY - Dragons. Matt Cooper scores near the posts after Gasnier, Barrett and Jason Ryles combine near half way to put Torrens through a gap. Cooper backing up in suppoort takes a classy final pass on the inside. Conversion Gasnier. Dragons 22-6

HALF TIME: Dragons 22-6. Saints have managed to rack up handy lead with punishing runs up the middle of the ruck. Ben Hornby is playing a top game and appears to be standing at full back in defence but feeding the scrums and up in the line in attack. Both sides completing their sets well enough with Saints simply doing more with the ball and making the line breaks. But Souths are not out of this and will have a strong breeze in their favour in the second half.

Second half underway...

43 min: TRY - Dragons. Lance Thompson crashes over and slams the ball down in the corner. Comes on the back of a 40 metre run from winger Colin Best down the left flank, and then from centre Gasnier who charged down the right flank. Conversion attempt from Ben Hornby is waved away. Dragons 26-6

49 min: TRY - Rabbitohs. Shannon Hegarty scores in the left corner after an overlap appears. Conversion attempt from Ben Walker is hooked to the left of the posts. Dragons 26-10

60 min: Still 26-10 to the Dragons who are still getting the run of play with good field position and possession. Souths have been battling to get out of their own territory.

64 min: TRY - Dragons. Matt Cooper gets a double, running onto a Ben Hornby grubber kick into the in-goal, and improving his position to score behind the posts. Conversion Ennis. Dragons 32-10

66 min: NO GOAL - Ennis misses penalty goal attempt, 15 metres in from touch. Follows a penalty after a Rabbitohs' player (Hegarty) tackles Dragons winger Nick Youngquest without the ball. Looks like Youngquest would have scored. NEWS - Bryan Fletcher (Rabbitohs) forced from the field with a possible hamstring injury, no chance of returning.

75 min: TRY - Dragons. Nick Youngquest crosses out wide and then has time to run around to good position for the conversion. Follows a great 30 metre run up the middle from Michael Ennis before Lance Thompson sent the ball to right winger Youngquest. Conversion attempt from Gasnier is a shocker. Dragons 36-10

78 min: TRY - Dragons. Youngquest gets his second in just about as many minutes. Follows a bust from Best down the left wing. Conversion Ennis. Dragons 42-10

FULL TIME: Dragons 42-10 Third win on the trot for the St George Illawarra side with their backs dominating proceedings. Excellent showing from Ben Horbny who may have had the No.7 on his back, but often played at full back and was everywhere in defence and attack. Hooker Michael Ennis was strong around the ruck and made plenty of yards from dummy half. Also strong up the middle were Dean Young and Albert Torrens. Centres Mark Gasnier and Matt Cooper were carving them up just wide of the ruck.

Souths made too many errors and battled all night to mount any sort of presssure. They tried hard at times with Ashley Harrison, Shane Walker and Luke MacDougall all having a dig. But overall, they were never in the match with Saints running at will towards the end.

----------------------------------------- Leagueunlimited.com players of the match: 3 - B Hornby (Dragons) 2 - M Ennis (Dragons) 1 - M Cooper (Dragons) -----------------------------------------