The Souths juggernaut rolled on as they steamrolled past the Dragons 34-14 at ANZ Stadium, but the win may have come at a cost – with Souths all but likely to lose fullback Greg Inglis, following a sickening collision with Dragons lock Dean Young.
Whilst it was another strong performance by Inglis, the Bunnies win will be marred by that incident, with some fans believing that the incident should have seen Inglis sent from the field.
Young was taken from the field in a medicab, and put in a precautionary neck brace, before being taken to hospital for treatment.
The tension was already rife between the two teams, but the hit sparked an all-in brawl, as players came from left, right and centre, to defend their mate.
The Dragons were far from happy about the hit on Young, with Dragons coach Steve Price comparing it to Matt Prior’s hit earlier in the season on JT, that saw him suspended for five weeks.
“He certainly got him, he’s lucky he didn’t break his jaw,” Price said.
“We copped a guy (Prior) in North Queensland who got sent off and copped five weeks so we’ll have to leave that up to the match review (committee).”
Inglis himself believes that there was not a great deal in it, and is not concerned at the penalty he will receive.
“Looking at the replay I didn’t think there was too much in it … it’s one of those things, but we’ll wait and see,” he told Fox Sports.
Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire praised Inglis’s performance, but said that he would not comment on the tackle itself.
“I thought he was great,” Maguire said.
“The way he saved tries and turned up on the right plays was outstanding. With Greggy, he just credits the team but he does some great things for us.”
The Dragons loss was compounded by a hamstring injury to centre Matt Cooper.