Sportal

A Craig Wing-inspired second-half fightback has enabled the South Sydney Rabbitohs to emerge from a sluggish first-half to finish 22-12 winners over the Newcastle Knights at Bluetongue Stadium on Sunday.

The Bunnies struggled early in the warm Gosford conditions and were caught on the hop a couple of times in the first half by some enterprising Newcastle play with the Knights taking an 8-0 lead into the break.

But Wing, in his first NRL match of the season, turned the match on its head with a 56th minute solo try that sparked a flurry of Rabbitohs' points in a 15-minute period to which Newcastle never recovered.

The former Australia Test star was over again in the 69th minute, crashing through the defence for a typically strong dummy-half try that would put the Bunnies into the comfort zone.

After the match Wing dedicated his stunning performance to his late grandmother who passed away on Saturday night.

The Knights shocked everyone on the final tackle of the very first set of the game by shifting the ball wide for mammoth second-rower Cory Paterson to find space and link with centre Adam MacDougall who sent winger James McManus racing away to complete a well-constructed 60m try.

Full-back Kurt Gidley missed the conversion, but the Knights had the start they were after, leading 4-0.

The crafty Knights continued their early onslaught in the 13th minute when a well-directed right-edge grubber from half-back Scott Dureau resulted in Fijian flyer Akuila Uate collecting the ball on the run to spin over for an unconverted try, doubling Newcastle's lead out to 8-0.

Newcastle maintained its domination for the remainder of the half, but wasn't able to post any further points as errors crept into the match from both sides in the heat.

Souths barely improved in the opening part of the second-stanza, but the brilliance of the returning Wing finally sparked Jason Taylor's men into action.

After initially coming off the bench to replace Issac Luke at hooker, Wing shifted to five-eighth midway through the second-half with immediate impact, using his footwork to split the defence for a 56th minute try off a deft Chris Sandow pass.

The Rabbitohs were an inspired lot after that and were in again just two minutes later when Luke, John Sutton and Colin Best combined to send winger Fetuli Talanoa over for a fine left-edge try.

Sandow converted from mid-range to put the Bunnies in front for the first time in the match (10-8).

Wing virtually sealed the match for Souths with 11 minutes remaining, taking advantage of a tiring Knights' defence to score from dummy-half.

Luke completed a 50m try in the 72nd minute to seal the match for the Rabbitohs before the Knights grabbed a late consolation effort via centre Junior Sau to complete the scoring.

South Sydney Rabbitohs 22
Tries: Wing 2, Talanoa, Luke
Conversions: Sandow 3

Newcastle Knights 12
Tries: McManus, Uate, Sau