AUDIO - Brian Smith and Steve Simpson front the media

AUDIO - Jason Taylor: ''There was a lot of fight in what we did''

AUDIO - On the sideline with 200-gamer Steve Simpson [Fox]

AUDIO - Jarrod Mullen: ''We got a bake off the coach at half time''

An explosive second half performance has delivered Newcastle a 25-20 win over South Sydney at Energy Australia Stadium on Monday night, moving the Knights into fifth spot on the NRL ladder.

Trailing 12-6 after a pedestrian first half effort, the home side upped the intensity noticeably after the break, taking their game to a level the Rabbitohs simply couldn't match.

A barnstorming run by Richie Fa'aoso set the tone from the restart, and the hulking prop followed it up with another strong effort from close range to give the Knights their second try in the 46th minute.

Kurt Gidley's conversion levelled the game up at 12 points apiece, but it didn't take long for the home side to take the ascendancy.

A heavy tackle on Colin Best resulted in a turnover, and the Knights took full advantage from the resulting scrum with a try to Keith Lulia, who crossed untouched after a clever draw-and-pass from Adam MacDougall in the 54th minute.

MacDougall benefited from a super cut-out ball from Jarrod Mullen five minutes later to charge into space before linking up with Lulia, who in turn hit Steve Simpson on the chest with an inside pass, allowing the backrower to charge over for a try in his 200th NRL appearance.

Unfortunately for Simpson, he was forced from the field shortly after the try following a head clash with teammate Matt Hilder.

Simpson said he will remember his milestone game despite coming from the field with what looked like a concussion shortly after his try.
  
"I will, I'm not too bad at the minute, I was a bit hazy there for 10 or 15 minutes but I'm coming good now," he said.
  
"I haven't scored one yet so it's always important to get off the duck-egg for Mad Monday ... it was great.
  
"It's certainly a game I'll cherish."
   
Mullen added a field goal in the 74th minute to ice a brilliant half of football from the Knights, before the Rabbitohs crossed for late tries through David Fa'logo and Jamie Simpson to make the result appear a lot closer than it really was.

The visitors started the game poorly when skipper Roy Asotasi knocked on from the kickoff, but in a promising sign, Souths defence was up to the task.

The Rabbitohs dodged another bullet in the 6th minute when the Knights crossed through Lulia, but final pass from MacDougall was ruled forward.

Souths were unable to repel a third raid from the home side, with Akuila Uate barging over in the corner following a neat face ball from Zeb Taia in the 10th minute.

Some brilliant footwork at the line from Michael Crocker stood up Junior Sau pointlessly to deliver the Rabbitohs a reply in the 24th minute, with Issac Luke's conversion giving the visitors a 6-4 advantage.

Souths made it two tries in the space of five minutes when Chris Sandow threaded a clever kick across field that was fielded on the bounce by Jamie Simpson, who was able to run around and touch down next to the posts.

Luke's conversion from adjacent to the posts extended the visitors lead to eight points, before a penalty on the stoke of half time allowed Gidley to make it 12-6 at half time.

Knights coach Brian Smith said his team's second-half performance had been one of their better displays this season.
  
"We played probably about 10 lengths better in the second half than the first," Smith said.
  
"And I'd say that's probably close to our best almost-half of football. Controlled and physical and as a full team unit it was great to watch.
  
"I didn't care for the last two minutes too much, and I didn't care for the first half at all."
  
Souths coach Jason Taylor was upbeat despite the loss, saying his team has to find its effort and intensity for a full 80 minutes to turn things around.
  
"We're a competitive team there tonight but you've got to be able to do it for 80 minutes," Taylor said.
  
"What we did in that first 40 minutes, we'll take that every week.     

"They just came out stronger at the start of the second half but we still fought hard. We were working our way out of it, I thought, and we were probably going to get back into the grind of the game with the score at 12-all but then we made an error and it went to 18-12 ... tough from there."

NEWCASTLE 25 (R Fa'aoso K Lulia S Simpson A Uate tries K Gidley 4 goals J Mullen field goal) bt SOUTH SYDNEY 20 (J Simpson 2 M Crocker D Fa'alogo tries I Luke 2 goals) at EnergyAustralia Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Gerard Sutton. Crowd: 14,204.
 

Once we got that rhythm and dominance, it was beautiful to watch. Brian Smith, Knights coach