My biggest memory from Saturday night's Charity Shield was Souths No 6 Chris Sandow and his hilarious attempted shoulder charge on Ben Hornby.
With the Bunnies defending in their own quarter, Sandow came rushing out of the defensive line aiming to put a huge hit on Hornby. Apparently Sandow believes he has the power of invisibility because he must have figured he could run across 10m of open grass without Hornby noticing.
But Hornby did. And just took a simple step to the side and Sandow whooshed past, laying a huge shoulder charge on nothing but air.
That's right - Sandow didn't even touch him.
There are a few reasons why this is my biggest memory of the game. Firstly, it was bloody funny to watch. Secondly, Sandow's stupidity allowed us to score because it left Souths a man shy in the defensive line. And thirdly, I was amazed that incoming coach John Lang hadn't told Sandow to give up the shoulder charges.
Last season Sandow loved the shoulder charge and would act like a big tough guy every time one came off, even when the charge was on a stationary target - like a fullback taking a high bomb.
Everyone remembers these big hits, and if you don't you can see them on You Tube. But what you won't see on You Tube are the number of times his charges don't come off. And they don't come off most of the time.
Most of the time, his opponent just bounces out of the hit and keeps moving forward. Sometimes he even misses altogether - though never as bad as last Saturday night. The shoulder charge is just such a low-percentage move that I'm sure Souths coach John Lang had a word in Sandow's ear after the game about giving them up.
And I'm also sure that Sandow won't. He just can't help himself.
As for the rest of the game, well Souths big guns Sam Burgess and Dave Taylor weren't anywhere near as scary as I'd thought. The Dragons defence seemed to handle them pretty well. Darius Boyd's metamorphosis as a ball player was fantastic - and I reckon Wayne Bennett has a few more changes like that up his sleeve for the regular season.
And the fact that it was a draw doesn't bother me. Who cares about not winning a trial? I'm more interested in seeing what sort of game the Dragons bring and gauging what sort of year they (and, by extension, I) will have.
And, allowing for the need to blow out a few cobwebs, I liked what I saw.
Now I have to wait two whole weeks to see it again. Bring on round one.
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