The South Sydney Rabbitohs have ruined St George Illawarra's perfect pre-season with a solid 18-6 victory over their arch-rivals to claim back-to-back Charity Shields in front of 25,871 fans at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

Going into this match the new-look Dragons were viewed as the stand-outs of the trials with comfortable wins over the Roosters and Bulldogs giving the club's loyal fan base hope that legendary coach Wayne Bennett's arrival would bring instant success.

But the gritty Rabbitohs, armed with a workmanlike forward pack and some impressive backline talent, including Panthers recruit Rhys Wesser and the gifted John Sutton, proved too strong for their disjointed opposition in a stop-start encounter.

The scores were locked at 6-6 at half-time despite the Rabbitohs being the superior side in the opening stanza, but Jason Taylor's men put it together in the second 40 minutes, posting two unanswered tries to complete the 12-point victory.

The match featured two referees and both Tony Archer and Gavin Badger worked seamlessly together, giving the NRL's bold new initiative an early pass mark.

Souths dominated the play early and posted the opening try in just the eighth minute, courtesy of a slick second-man play to the right which saw Sutton and Wesser provide the passes to set up a Nathan Merritt four-pointer in the corner.

Hooker Issac Luke converted from the sideline to give the Rabbitohs a 6-0 lead.

Souths continued to impress, but a Beau Scott charge-down on a Sutton kick resulted in the Dragons' back-rower diving on the ball for a try after Wesser fumbled whilst attempting to clean up for his team.

Half-back Matthew Head converted from mid-range to level the scores at 6-6 after a quarter of the match.

Both sides engaged in a typical pre-season arm-wrestle for the remainder of the first-half with only the Rabbitohs going close to scoring on the stroke of half-time when Wesser was penalised for running behind one of his own players in the process of sending Merritt over for what would have been his second try of the night.

But it took the Bunnies just four minutes into the second-stanza to make up for the miss when Sutton poked through a well-weighted grubber for Canberra recruit Colin Best to chase down for a converted try and a 12-6 lead.

Best ran onto a short Sutton ball in the 57th minute to snare the match-sealer, handing the Rabbitohs the 12-point lead they would take to full-time.

Apart from a few bumps and bruises, both sides appeared to escape unscathed from the match, however new Dragons recruit Darius Boyd did spend much of the game on the bench with a hip problem.

South Sydney Rabbitohs 18
Tries: Best 2, Merritt
Conversions: Luke 3

St George Illawarra Dragons 6
Tries: Scott
Conversions: Head