St George Illawarra's nightmare start to the NRL season has continued, with the Dragons falling to South Sydney at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on Thursday night.
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The home side controlled much of the first half, leading 12-6 at the break, however they ran out of puff in the second 40, with the Rabbitohs blasting their opponents off the park during a stunning opening 20 minutes of the second half.
The Rabbitohs scored four tries in 18 minutes to blow the game wide open before closing out the match in the final 20 to secure a 34-18 victory, a late Tim Lafai try narrowing the margin.
The blitzkrieg began in the 43rd minute when Sam Burgess crossed for the first of his two tries to level the scores and the Dragons never recovered, with Cody Walker crossing four minutes later, before Braidon Burns and Campbell Graham added to the tally.
Read more: Frizell on the mend after painful injury
The second half dominance was built on the back of a pin-point kicking game by the Souths halves, with Adam Reynolds and Walker ensuring the Rabbitohs won the territorial battle.
The South Sydney forward pack also gained the upper-hand throughout the second half, with the Rabbitohs recovering from a poor first half to dominate their rivals.
The Dragons will be disappointed, however, with their second-half performance, with the forwards well and truly outplayed and the halves shut down after a promising first half.
Coach Paul McGregor likened the performance to the side's round one loss to the Cowboys, a quality start followed by a mounting error count which ultimately cruelled the team's chances.
"It was a little bit like last week," McGregor said. "We played some good quality footy, this week we held onto possession, so went into second half nice and fresh, but we didn't sustain it, for two weeks in a row.
"They had six sets to one and scored two tries in seven minutes and the game swung the other way. There's good there, but it's not sustained for 80 minutes and that's the disappointing thing at the moment.
"We've got quality and experience missing, but, after having a good spell at halftime, there's no reason why the attitude and intent didn't need to be as good as it was in the first half."
With Jack de Belin and Korbin Sims suspended and Tyson Frizell injured, the Dragons forward pack is currently undermanned. With his side in such a position, McGregor said they must eliminate the errors from their game to compete with the likes of South Sydney.
"There were signs last week as well when we got the footy and held possession. When you're missing important players, you've got to have completions above the 80 per cent to win games against quality football teams and that second half we were at 65%,that just fatigues you. It's our doing, so we've got to fix it.
"We held the ball over 80 per cent in the first half, we led at half-time 12-6. When you've got your full squad, you can afford to drop possession and defend it, but when you've got players missing you need to be really clinical and play footy in the right areas. At the moment, we're not doing that consistently and for long enough. That's where we lost it tonight, not the spine."
St George Illawarra had the first of the scoring opportunities in just the third minute, with Tariq Sims bursting through the Souths defensive line to charge towards the line, only to spill the ball over the paint.
The effort was a sign of things to come throughout the first half, with the Dragons enjoying the better of the field possession throughout much of the half.
It was South Sydney, however, who would open the scoring in the fifth minute through lock Cameron Murray. After Damien Cook ran from dummy half, Murray burst through Blake Lawrie's attempt at tackle to find open space before beating Widdop to finish off a 50-metre effort.
The Dragons hit back almost immediately, however, with Jordan Pereira the beneficiary of a brilliant Lafai offload to cross in the corner.
Pereira would extend St George Illawarra's lead 19 minutes into the half, this time latching onto a looping Corey Norman cutout pass before beating his opposite Dane Gagai on the outside to cross on almost the exact same patch of grass.
The first-half scoring would finish 10 minutes later, with Widdop converting a period of St George Illawarra dominance into two points after Liam Knight was put on report for a chicken-wing tackle on James Graham.
While that would mark the end of the scoring, it was not the end of the action, with South Sydney sending wave after wave of attack at the Dragons throughout the final five minutes of the half.
The St George Illawarra defense held firm, to ensure the home side went into the sheds holding a 12-6 lead.
That final five minutes of the first half would prove a sign of things to come, with the Rabbitohs maintaining their dominance after the break and running away with the match.
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