Burgess Staking Claim for England Call
South Sydney Rabbitohs 28-10 North Queensland Cowboys
NRL Round 9ANZ Stadium
Attendance: 15,972
England head coach Steve McNamara recently went on record as
saying that his side “could not be in better shape” ahead of hosting this year’s
world cup, which kicks off in October.
How many exiles he picks for his squad remains to be seen,
but South Sydney Rabbitohs youngster George Burgess (right) can’t be doing much more
right now and should make early morning viewings of the NRL easy for McNamara.
The uncapped 20 year old, often just referred to as ‘Sam’s
younger brother’, is rapidly making a name for himself down under and he did
his reputation no harm when coming off the bench in Friday night's defeat of
North Queensland Cowboys.
It wasn’t until the introduction of the giant prop forward
on twenty minutes that this game came to life.
Though Antonio Winterstein had gone over on eleven minutes
for the visitors, there was little between the two sides in a nip and tuck
opening quarter.
Cue the entrance of the boy they’re ironically labelling ‘gorgeous’.
A powerful surge through the middle put the Rabbitohs on the
front foot and, in the next play, his brother crashed over to level things up,
before Adam Reynolds swept home the extras.
England play Australia in Cardiff in the opening group game of
the Autumn competition and if anyone is learning about the physical demands
needed for international rugby league, Burgess junior is taking lessons week
in, week out.
A hulking great figure of a man at 6’4” and 17st, he is also
capable of dishing it out too though.
South’s centre Bryson Goodwin capped off a wonderful display
of composed last-ditch juggling, where the ball went through eight pairs of
hands on the last tackle, to extend the hosts advantage to eight points before
the half time oranges.
And things went bitterly wrong for the Cowboys within thirty
seconds of the restart.
A slack play-the-ball gifted the home side vital territory
and, just when Adam Reynolds’ perfectly weighted kick was being ushered out of
play by visiting captain Jonathan Thurston, Greg Inglis stole in under his nose
to apply the faintest of touches.
Thurston briefly atoned with a sumptuous kick of his own; a
juicy cross-fielder which was plucked out of the air by Winterstein who notched his second
of the night, before the former arced the conversion home from the sideline.
Burgess, by this time though was in his element; full of
hard running, line breaks and brushing off defenders.
A tired Cowboys defence was picked apart on the last tackle
again late on when Nathan Merritt slid over in the corner to round off some
impressive handling before Inglis grabbed his double; the full back cruising
home under the sticks from 70 metres out as he swooped on a loose ball and showed a clean
pair of heels to take his side top of the ladder.
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