Doubles to youngsters Jesse Williams and Lyric Craft-Te Moananui helped lead the Dragons to a 32-22 win over South Sydney at Redfern Oval on Saturday afternoon.
Both appearing in just the second Knock-On Effect NSW Cup outings of their careers, the duo – who together won an SG Ball title with St George a year ago – have been in elite try-scoring form at Jersey Flegg level and have retained their form a grade up.
Match: Rabbitohs v Dragons
Round 20 -
home Team
Rabbitohs
13th Position
away Team
Dragons
2nd Position
Venue: Redfern Oval, Sydney
It took just four minutes for the Red V to get on the board with Jonah Glover crafting a sweet, over-the-top ball for Craft-Te Moananui to stroll over in the right-hand corner.
Glover knocked over the conversion from the touchline to make it an early 6-0 Dragons advantage.
Ruatapu Laurence Ngatikaura was placed on report moments later as the visitors charged back onto the attack.
A last-tackle Glover bomb manufactured a result for the Dragons off it with Craft-Te Moananui going up to force a Rabbitohs drop which bounced into the waiting arms of Lachlan Ilias who waltzed over untouched.
The hosts were able to wrestle back some ascendancy a quarter of the way in through Matthew Humphries who finished off a messy sequence in which an Ashton Ward kick ricocheted into the No.7's arms.
Willie Talau looked to his bench off the back of it with Ryan Hutchinson, Haele Finau, and Ben Murdoch-Masila all being inserted into the action soon after.
The Red V were able to respond five minutes shy of the break via an effort sparked by Finau from inside their own half.
The savvy hooker darted out of dummy-half to put the visitors on the front foot before halves partners Glover and Ilias linked with the latter sending a looping pass over the top to a flying Williams who shot down the left touchline and past the fullback to cross.
Finau put Jacob Halangahu through a gap the next set to put the Dragons right back on the attack.
Williams, not content with just the one first-half try, finished off a left-side shift several plays later with Mathew Feagai throwing the final pass as the visitors took a 22-6 edge into the half.
Toesami Junior Toevai was placed on report early in the second forty for a dangerous tackle as the Dragons were handed another opportunity on the attack.
A Raymond Faitala-Mariner offload saw Glover shrug away from multiple defenders to slam the ball down and make it an imposing Dragons lead.
The good times continued to roll for the Red V with Craft-Te Moananui on the end of a Glover cut-out which slipped through the hands of a Rabbitoh to nab his second try.
Knock-On Effect NSW Cup Highlights: Round 20 v Rabbitohs
Matt French crashed over off a Salesi Ataata offload to snag a needed try for the hosts an hour in to cut the deficit back to 32-12.
Leonard Skelton burst through for South Sydney the following set and handed the ball off to Declan Casey to score and keep their chances alive.
Front rowers Shaquai Mitchell and Tayson Fakaosi combined to lay on a late try for the hosts, but their fightback attempt had run out of steam as the Red V held on for their 11th win from their past 12 outings.
