The Canterbury Bulldogs have kept their undefeated start to the season going with a dominant 32-0 win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs in front of a record crowd of over 65,000.
The hosts opened the scoring after 12 minutes when Josh Curran ran a strong line and despite the efforts of Jye Gray, Curran scored. A sin bin to Euan Aitken in the 18th minute gave Canterbury an extra man advantage when it was ruled Aitken grabbed Matt Burton in a professional foul.
A Crichton penalty goal extended the lead to 8-0 subsequent to the penalty. The Souths defence during that 10 minute period was strong however with just 12% possession in that time, the Bunnies had to crack and did when Max King crashed over under the posts.
Just shy of the halftime break, the Rabbitohs fragility in defence was on show again when Isaiah Tass failed to make a simple tackle on Jacob Kiraz who threw a ball infield to Sitili Tupouniua who scored. Stephen Crichton added his fourth goal of the game for a 20-0 lead at Half Time.
The first half though did leave fans questioning whether the NRL's high tackle crackdown has ended with two tackles one from Viliame Kikau and one from Davy Moale that looked forceful enough to be binned but officials elected for both to stay on the field.
The second half possession was just as dominant for the Bulldogs but errors crept into their performance despite and early second half try to Jacob Preston when he was able to barge his way to the line and despite a brave effort in defence, Preston was able to get over.
Continuing to press the Souths defence, the Bulldogs couldn't get across the line again until inside the final 10 minutes when Bronson Xerri got over the line and scored despite bobbling the ball.
A late sin bin to Marcelo Montoya for a slap, gave Souths an extra man and Tevita Tatola got over the line with the replay showing the ball hit the grass although not officially on the ground with the bunker upholding Grant Atkins' live no try call.
Next week, the Bulldogs will look to keep their strong start to the season going with a trip to Brisbane for a clash against the Broncos, whilst the Rabbitohs don't get things much easier with a trip to Melbourne next week.