Roosters defeat Rabbitohs
14 Mar 2008
Rabbitohs Head Coach Jason Taylor has denied a Roosters ‘cheap shot’ on halfback Craig Wing cost his side victory in their first game of the NRL’s Centenary Season.
Wing was taken off in the eighth minute with a dislocated shoulder in the 34-20 loss after being felled in a three man tackle. Roosters hooker Riley Brown was the main aggressor in the tackle in a hit Taylor described as a ‘cheap shot’ but stopped short of calling it illegal.
In his first game since switching from the Roosters to the Rabbitohs at the end of last season Wing did not return to the game and his is expected to be out of action for between six and 12 weeks.
“It was a cheap shot I don’t think there was any doubt about that,” Taylor said.
“They held him up in the tackle and then the other guy came at him. It’s not illegal but teams are coached to hold up the player in the tackle and I think that is something that needs to be eradicated from the game. It’s about fair play and sportsmanship.”
The loss of Wing compounded the loss of five-eighth Ben Rogers in the halves in the lead-up to the game but Taylor said it did not cost his side the game.
“It impacted upon us but at no stage did we lose that game because Craig Wing wasn’t there, the Roosters were too good for us on the night.”
The Roosters opened the scoring in just the 4th minute through a converted try to centre Setaimata Sa and then added to that with another converted try to back rower Nate Myles for a 12-0 lead after 10 minutes.
Rabbitohs flyer Nathan Merritt showed his knee injury last season has cost him none of his pace when he crossed on the 19th minute for the Rabbitohs first try of their Centenary Season. But that was to be the only points scored for the half for the home side.
A couple of defensive misreads on the Rabbitohs right hand side allowed Roosters back rower Anthony Tupou over for tries in the 25th and 32nd minutes and the Roosters led 24-4 at half-time.
In a match somewhat reminiscent of the Roosters final round win last season the Rabbitohs fought back in the second half but ran out of time to snatch the victory.
In the second stanza Souths scored tries through Yileen Gordon (59th minute), Merritt (63), Luke (65) and Paulson (72) against Roosters tries to Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Sa in the 48th and 51st minutes for the eventual scoreline of 34-20.
Souths co-captain Roy Asotasi said it was not the start to the season he had hoped for.
“It was pretty disappointing,” he said.
“We didn’t really do what we had trained to during the game and we need to fix that but credit to the Roosters they were the better team.”
Wing told reporters in the dressing room post-game that he bore no ill-feeling for the tackle.
“I’m gutted, it was just a really unlucky thing,” he said.
“But I’m not blaming anyone for what happened. I’ll be back.”
Wing will have diagnostic scans tomorrow to determine the full extent of the damage to his should and Rabbitohs Director of Athletic Performance Errol Alcott said at first diagnosis he could be out for between six and 12 weeks.
To listen to Assistant Coach Mark Ellison's post-match interview click here 
Mark Ellison post-game interview v Roosters
Sydney Roosters 34 (A Tupou 2, S Sa 2, N Myles, S Kenny-Dowall tries; C Fitzgibbon 5 goals) def
South Sydney Rabbitohs 20 (N Merritt 2, Y Gordon, G Paulson tries; I Luke 2 goals)
ToyotaCup
Sydney Roosters 14 (A Cherrington, S Waqa, G Teo tries; B Cronin goal) def
South Sydney (E Pettybourne try; C Sandow 3 tries)