In front of a record Charity Shield crowd of 27,221 fans at ANZ Stadium, the Dragons and the Rabbitohs played out an entertaining 26-26 draw.

In what was an exciting spectacle for the record crowd, the Rabbitohs retained the Charity Shield despite the even score-line, having won last year’s fixture between the two sides.

“It was a really good quality game of football for this time of year”, said Dragons Coach Wayne Bennett after the match.

“The real thing starts soon. But we will enjoy the week off, the boys will freshen up and we’ll be ready to go”.

Captain Ben Hornby was pleased with the never-say-die attitude of his troops,

“We defended quite well and they got a few tries off kicks which we need to work on, but we did well to hang in there and to fight back”.

In the seventh minute of the match the Dragons found some space down the right-hand side, when Beau Scott found a trailing Nathan Fien who sent the ball wide to Jason Nightingale, who was caught by Rhys Wessrer, but not before offloading to Fien again who was pulled up 10 meters short of the line.

Two minutes later and the Dragons looked to have scored when Brett Morris crossed the line out wide, after a well worked backline move that seen Darius Boyd wrapping around the back of two players before throwing a long cut-out ball to Morris. However the video ref ruled no try and the scores remained 0-0.

It wasn’t long however before the Rabbitohs bounced back, as the ball was sent wide close to the Dragons line and center Colin Best got away an offload to Fetuli Talanoa, who wrong-footed a covering Beau Scott to score out wide. Chris Sandow converted and the Rabbitohs took a 6-0 lead.

The Dragons were quick to hit back, when Jason Nightingale found room to move down the right-hand side touch-line. The winger showed good speed and footwork to step Rhys Wesser at fullback and score close to the posts. Jamie Soward converted the try and the Dragons evened up the scores at 6-6.

There was plenty of feeling in the opening twenty minutes, with some brutal defense from both teams.

In the 30th minute a Chris Sandow chip into the corner for a flying Fetuli Talanoa, seen the big winger plant the ball down, only centimeters from the touchline. The decision went to the video referee, who ruled the try had been scored. Sandow converted from out wide and the Rabbitohs took a 12-6 lead.

Yet the Dragons hit back almost instantaneously, as a well orchestrated backline move, seen Jamie Soward send the ball wide to Darius Boyd, who threw a beautiful cut-out ball to a wide running Jason Nightingale who had too much pace for his opposite in TaLanoa and scored in the corner. Jamie Soward nailed the conversion from the sideline and leveled the scores up at 12-12.

With three minutes to play before half-time, the ball was sent wide by Ben Hornby to Darius Boyd who gave Kyle Stanley room to move. The young center shrugged off his opposite number Beau Champion, before putting Brett Morris over in the corner. Soward missed the conversion and the Dragons took a 16-12 lead into half-time.

The Rabbitohs opened the scoring in the second-half, when an inside ball from John Sutton to Nathan Merrit saw the winger in space. Merrit calmly turned the ball inside to Ben Lowe who scored under the posts in the 45th minute. Sandow converted and the Rabbitohs took a 18-16 lead.

The Rabbitohs were in a again six minutes later, when Fetuli Talanoa got his third try of the night, after pouncing on a John Sutton grubber. Chris Sandow missed the conversion and the scores remained Souths 22, Dragons 16.

Yet it didn’t take the Dragons long to hit back, when Nick Emmett crashed over in the 54th minute, after some good lead-up work from Darius Boyd, who beat one defender, before putting the big center over. Jamie Soward converted and locked the scores up at 22-22.

In the 69th minute the Rabbitohs took the lead again, when Chris Sandow chipped close to the line, and Nathan Merrit raced through to plant the football down. Sandow missed the conversion, with the Bunnies taking a 26-22 lead.

The Dragons played some enterprising football in the final ten minutes, as they looked to chase down the Rabbitohs, with Brett Morris heavily involved. Yet the Rabbitohs defensive line held firm.

However with fifty seconds to play the Dragons had one final chance, and sent the ball wide to Brett Morris, who carried two defenders over the line, to score in the corner. Jamie Soward had a chance to win the game with the conversion from the sideline, however the kick just went wide and the scores remained 26-26.

DRGAONS 26 (Nightingale 2, Morris 2, Emmett Tries; Soward 3 Goals)

RABBITOHS 26 (Talanoa 2, Lowe, Sutton, Merritt Tries; Sandow 3 Goals)

CROWD: 27,221