Souths coach Jason Taylor was convinced that the tackle which took Craig Wing out of Friday’s game against the Sydney Roosters was a ‘cheap shot.’
South Sydney coach Jason Taylor was absolutely convinced that the tackle which took Craig Wing out of Friday’s game against the Sydney Roosters was a ‘cheap shot.’
Wing – playing in the red and green uniform for the first time since 1999 – had his homecoming cut short after his successor at the Roosters, Hooker Riley Brown, delivered a questionable shoulder charge.
"They deliberately held him up so the other player could come in and hit him with his shoulder in his back," Taylor said.
"If you look at it closely you can actually see his eyes light up saying to the other bloke 'I've got him, I'm holding him up, get him'.
"There's a lot been talked about cleaning up the game ... he got held up so someone else could smash him."
"It was a cheap shot.
"I'd imagine that would be something that they train for and they did it well."
In a move bound to have Bunnies fans salivating for the next showdown between these two rivals in round 25, five-eighth Braith Anasta was spotted clapping following Brown’s infamous effort.
Some viewed it as an effective tackle which left South Sydney shell shocked enough for the Roosters to wrap up the game with a 24-4 lead at half-time.
Coach Taylor – while obviously frustrated at not having his number 1 halfback out on the field to execute his game strategy – didn’t use the loss of Wing as an excuse for losing the match.
“"At no stage did we lose that game because Craig Wing wasn't there, let's be clear about that," Taylor said.
"The Roosters were too good for us tonight."
The Roosters scored first in the second-half to extend their lead to 30-points before South Sydney turned into energizer bunnies and crossed over three times in 12-minutes to cut back the Roosters lead to just 14.
Riley Brown didn’t get away with what will probably end up being the most famous tackle of the opening round. Roy Asotasi made sure of that when he picked him up and dumped him on his back.
Fittler said he felt sorry for his former teammate but was confident none of his players had done anything wrong.
"It might sound cruel … but that's rugby league," Fittler said.
To be fair the scoreline didn’t necessarily define the Roosters as a premiership force other teams should worry about. One win can be very misleading in this competition.
It more or less reflected a superb ability to take advantage of another team’s misfortune.
Sydney Roosters 34 (S Sa 2, A Tupou, N Myles, S Kenny-Dowall tries; C Fitzgibbon 5 goals) d South Sydney 20 (N Merritt 2, Y Gordon, G Paulson tries; I Luke 2 goals) at Stadium Australia. Referee: Tony Archer. Crowd: 29,386 Penalties: Souths 7-3 Line Breaks: Roosters 6-5 Completed Sets: Souths 23/37, Roosters 22/35.
