RUGBY LEAGUE

After 43 long years South Sydney are once again the pride of the league, delivering long-suffering fans the club’s 21st premiership with a 30-6 grand final victory over a brave Bulldogs outfit in front of ground record 83,833  on Sunday.

On a night in which club legend Bob McCarthy rang-in the new Rabbitohs era prior to the match, departing English superstar Sam Burgess established his own legacy by playing through a fractured cheekbone suffered in the opening tackle via a head clash with fellow English heavyweight James Graham. 

In an effort reminiscent of the club’s last premiership-winning skipper John Sattler’s heroics in the 1971 grand final, Burgess played on, holding nothing back in his game-high 23 hit-ups in an 80-minute performance. 

‘‘Feel like I’ve cracked [my cheekbone] in the first tackle,’’ Burgess said after the game.

‘‘I played on adrenalin and my teammates talked me through.

‘‘I’m pretty sure I’m going to be sore tomorrow, but I’d do it all again.’’

It halted the Bulldogs own fairytale run after they limped into the finals with two wins from eight games only to power their way to a grand final where they were sunk by a hungrier  Rabbitohs outfit.

The Rabbitohs opened the scoring in the 20th minute when Luke Keary caught the Bulldogs napping on a short-side allowing Alex Johnston to post the opening try. Reynolds’ conversion sailed wide. 

Leading 6-nil at the break, the Rabbitohs shot out of the blocks in the second half with Adam Reynolds forcing a line drop-out with his first touch of the half. Tony Williams who won the race to a deft kick from Josh Reynolds. Hodkinson’s conversion squared the ledger at 6-all with 29 minutes to play. 

But it was all Souths thereafter with Greg Inglis closing the contest with a spectacular try.

This grand final was a domination, five tries to one and the best team were absolutely clinical when it mattered most.

 With his brother battling, it was George Burgess who took the lead for the Rabbitohs in the 58th minute barging his way across from 10 metres out to put the Rabbitohs ahead 12-6. Reynolds had the chance to put the Rabbitohs further ahead with a difficult penalty shot in the 62nd minute but his shot waved away. He made no mistake from an almost identical position two minutes later to extend the lead to 14-6 with 15 minutes to play. 

Stand-in Dogs skipper Graham did his best to lift his side with a brutal shot on Dave Tyrell that saw the Rabbitohs prop taken from the field on a medicab with 12 minutes to play. Despite three repeat sets on the Rabbitohs line the Bulldogs couldn’t find the crucial try with Kirosome Auva’a’s 73rd minute try sealing the match for the Rabbitohs.

Adam Reynolds capped a coming of age performance with a try in the 78th minute before Inglis crossed with 30 seconds remaining to bring the final score to 30-6.